From the B&O Museum Web Site--

Dear Friends of the B&O Railroad Museum:

The museum team is overwhelmed by the concerned response from our City and State leaders, Museum members, longtime friends and visitors from all over the Country and England, as well as our valued volunteers, and members of the media. The offers of financial and manpower assistance, as well as the regard for the welfare of the collection reaffirms our teams mission to provide all who visit the museum with an appreciation of the Birthplace of American Railroading.

As discussions and plans with structural engineers, historians and construction companies are on going to "sure up" the building, extricate the pieces of the collection and restore the integrity of the 1884 Baldwin Roundhouse, please continue to visit our website at www.borail.org for the most up to date information.

And, at the request of so many via e-mail and phone, the museum has contacted a financial partner to facilitate The Roundhouse Restoration Fund. This information will be posted soon for all those who have generously offered contributions.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding as the B&O Railroad Museum remains closed.

For further questions please contact:
Stefanie Fay
Director of Development & Sponsorship Programs
B&O Railroad Museum
901 West Pratt St.
main: 410-234-0674
e-mail: sfay@borail.org


eledbetter@rypn.org

The roundhouse, as I type, is being examined by structural engineers. No access to the Museum grounds is being permitted except for key operational staff and engineers, although an exception was made for Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich and support staff, who visited early this afternoon. Also on site is Smithsonuan Curator of Transportation Bill Withuhn, in hard hat and snow overalls. Long-time pros that predate the current staff--including a pair arriving in a World War Two Jeep--were being turned away for the time being.

Current activity is focused on stabilization of the structure plus rescue of such things as patent models, scale models, etc. from the roundhouse.

Withuhn disclosed to a reporter that two 1800s passenger cars were severely damaged; I am taking this to mean both 20 and 21.

Courtney Wilson reminded several of us that this is NOT the first time this sort of thing has happened--almost every artifact under the fallen roof, with the exception of Pere Marquette SW1 11, was also inside a warehouse in Halethorpe, Md. after the Fair of the Iron Horse when the warehouse collapsed in a 1933 hurricane.

Snow seems to have pretty well blown off of or melted from the Restoration Shop to the rear, or at least the section of roof actually over rolling stock. Snow still appears dangerously deep over the untracked section of the shop, however.

The B&O Museum's primary communications has been knocked out by the collapse; the Museum's phones and e-mail should be redirected to other numbers in the next day or two. Meanwhile, Stephanie Fay is doing a good job via the website from off-site.

In other Baltimore updates, the Jeep duo reported that the Baltimore Streetcar Museum's three buildings appear intact, although Falls Road is being closed just north of the Museum for emergency water main repairs, expected to last a month. Also, the Baltimore region is now getting into a nasty melt-and-freeze cycle, which could develop the potential for mnor or major flooding if an anticipated storm this weekend becomes rain. The Streetcar Museum is in a flood plain, and was flooded in 1972 and 1979.

lner4472@bcpl.net

God, this has been an awful month for railway preservation.

First you had those low-lifes stealing from Strasburg, a private collector, and--ironically--the B&O Museum. And now this. Makes you not want to turn on the computer and go online for fear of hearing more bad news. At least with the thiefs, you could get angry.

My thoughts, well wishes, and donation go to the folks at the B&O Museum. Howard Pincus is right--this is like giving blood after 9-11. Dig as deep as you can in your pocket--this is the most important cause right now in railway preservation. Money is the life blood of railway preservation and this museum--this world-class museum--has a serious wound. Tell everyone you know that isn't online and/or hasn't yet heard the news and the need for donations.

Hopefully things inside aren't as bad as photos first suggest. These old trains are often a pretty tough lot. A glimmer of hope--in one photo I noted that ancient (and presumably fragile) 4-wheel wooden derrick car sticking up in the rubble. Also noted a diamond stack, box headlight, and bell seemingly intact on at least one locomotive. Still there is going to be plenty of things needing fixing and money to fix them.

Unlike most railroad museums, the B&O museum roundhouse isn't a "big box full of trains" building. The roundhouse itself is an "exhibit" in the same terms as any of the historic equipment contained within. To lose this structure would be lot more than losing a city landmark. Hopefully the structual engineers and contractors can stablize and rebuild what is truly "The Cathedral of American Railroading" in a timely fashion. The building alone is a worthy cause to dig deep.

Also offer thoughs and prayers to hold off any high winds, rain, and snow until the building can be stablized and its contents protected or removed.

Still in shock.

Regard,
Jim Robinson

This month has been a tough one, but the nothing that cannot be recovered from. Like everyone else, I am concerned about the damage to the equipment but the bigger concern is going to be the structural intergrity of the roundhouse which must certainly have been seriously compromised by the partial collapse of the roof. My fear is that they may be eventually looking at having to pull down the remaining roof as well as the cupola building a entirely new roof. I can't see any building/code inspector worth his salary signing off on a replacement of the missing section without being extremely critical of the cupola and remaining structure.

I have had the privilage of visiting the museum and love that building, but let's be honest. The building was beyond its life expectancy and probably was in need of major repairs to the roof's supporting members. While they're at it, do the smart thing and pull the rest of the roof and the cupola down before it collapses and replace the supporting structures with modern steel or composites that are much stronger and have a longer life expectancy than the original material. Just like most everyone else here, I'd love to see historic railroad buildings and equipment restored or preserved, keeping as much original material as possible but that's irrelevant here where the roof is concerned as this is obviously both a public safety and historic preservation concern.

As for the cars and locomotives, the damage is unfortunate but as has already been pointed out, nothing has been irrepairably damaged that we know of. If nothing else, look at all the locomotives in the past that were in roundhouses that collapsed. Most of them came through the incidents pretty well considering that the buildings were often totally demolished.

awalker2002@comcast.net

Gads,
If you are a structural engineer, then I will defer to your observations, but from my observation, the center cupola structure appears to be quite intact, and even handling the extreme side loading caused by having only one-half of the roof against it. That right now would be my major concern, that and wind loading/unloading stresses. The collapse of the roof structure probably put very little side stress against the center ring. I suspect one rib segment gave way, and the rest of the structure dominoed.
Just because something is built of modern materials does not make it better than something made "back when"! This was a beautiful building, I can only hope that it can be once again--with as much of the original fabric as is practical AND safe (for the building and its contents).
Let us pray for better weather until the building can be stabilized.
Steamcerely,
David D.


djdewey@cncnet.com