Looks like before rebuilding as a ceremonial locomotive:http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/viewimage.x/00000000/tarpac/gMVC113S.JPG?allow_track_link=1&track=022f2cc5b2-407cb&pt=bidpay&sp=0

This photo looks like it was taken with the other "historic" C&O equipment. Note the covered stack on 377 and what I appears to be the smokebox of an Allegheny engine behind 377.I rode behind C&O 377 when it was in service in the 1970s on the Toledo, Lake Erie & Western in Toldeo, OH. The C&O wood combine was also used with the train.Wesley

My son Owen and I went to the B&O about nine days ago, and I am pleased to report that the 377 and a number of the museum's other most significant locomotives and cars are now displayed under cover in the newly-opened North Car Shop building.Built in the 1870s as a passenger car shop, the North Car Shop has a spectacular wood-truss roof, and gives visitors a sense of what a more "typical" 19C shop building looked and felt like. Though the museum's machine tools have all been moved to the newly-built resotration shop and the floors have been cleaned, the rest of the building still has a terrific "patina" from 140 years of continuous service.Displayed along with the 377 are the Allegheny, the 5300 P-7 Pacific, the EA, and the C&O "Yellowbelly" streamliner among others. My only hope is that the Q-3 USRA 2-8-2 will soon join them under cover (this is a little tricky, as one of the new display platform tracks will have to be pulled to get her out of the front yard).Kudos to the B&O for this double step forward--improving their collections care and expanding their interpretive capacity.Also noticed that on weekends the museum now offers a really nice program of interactive events--"Ask the Engineer" on the PM-11, pump-car rides with an explanation of section gang tools, things of that sort--great way to engage the visitors hands and muscles and make learning fun.

For the record, C&O 4-6-0 # 377 was originally built in 1902 for the Cincinnati, Richmond & Muncie Railroad as its # 108. The following year, she became Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville # 108 and in 1910, C&O of Indiana #1108. In 1915, she was renumbered back to 108. In 1922 she was formally leased to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway as its # 108 and not given the number 377 by the C&O until 1925. Our museum recently helped save a nice portion of the original CR&M (from North Judson to Malden) and the 377 (108) sure would look good back on home rails here in Indiana. However, it is nice to hear that the B&O Museum is taking good care of the old girl.Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

Can anyone shed light on how C&O 377 and a coach wound up in operation on the Toledo Lake Erie & Western in the 1970s?Wesley

C&O 377 and the wooden combine car spent the last 25 or so years of their service lives on the C&O's Craig Valley branch in western Virginia. In the mid 1950's, during dieselization, 377 & the combine were "restored" as exhibition pieces, as they were the oldest equipment left on the C&O at the time. When the Toledo, Lake Erie and Western was formed in the early 60's (?), they managed to lease the 377 & combine for their operation. Both pieces went to the B&O Museum in the late 1970's. The last time I was at Strasburg, 2 years ago, the combine was undergoing a restoration there.

Combine #409 was restored at Strasburg, and is now on display inside the roundhouse at the B&O Museum. The restoration was funded by the North American Railway Foundation, the charitable arm of railway labor. #409 was set up as a "Jim Crow" car, and this is pointed out on the sign describing the car and its history.