I believe the $30M is for the entire renovation, not just the amphitheater that CSX is putting $5M towards.

When I posted the wish for locomotive restoration it was a fanciful dream. I would love to see the 5300 or any of the collection restored to operation, but Alex #4 has a good point regarding keeping the museum an interactive part of the community. That's what keeps the lights on and pays employees. Roofing over the outdoor collection would be a great start for preservation, then paint jobs, etc. Tours and tourists, conferences, are essential. CSX has several options to revive steam for publicity runs, although the best of the choices are of C&O heritage. A larger B&O locomotive would be sweet, for certain.

This is exactly right. From allowing local artists to paint a caboose to many events focused on the local community, the current director seems to have a focus on community. If her job is to bring in money and improve the place, this seems to be a better path then the place just slowly rotting into the ground.

A major part of this project appears to be turning the not-open-to-public North Car shop into a venue. That is a HUGE, old building that likely needs millions in work that in the end will keep it from being demo'ed one day in the future. Currently the back lot is a bit of a junk pile that the public rarely gets to access (usually as overflow parking during Thomas).

Every year I go up there to run model trains during Christmas, the gentrification seems to have crept closer and closer to the museum. Even though our layout was set up in the South Car shop, we had a large number of visitors. During some events, the roundhouse was packed, almost to standing room only.

This approach, also flips the museum on it's head... it looks like the new main entrance will be on the south side, instead of the gate by the roundhouse. Why is this important? It will allow the property to be open to the public with controlled off-hours access to the collection. They will be able to host off-hours events without always opening the roundhouse as well as risking access to the equipment stored out by the roundhouse. Yet, they will have the track leads going into the North Car Shop to display equipment when the new areas are in play. I look forward to one day seeing a hot C&O 2716 on that track.

While this outward focus appears to be community, and yes, even politically focused (I don't think Republican Gov Hogan ever visited the museum), they seem to be knocking out smaller and mid-sized restorations just about yearly. While the focus has been on the EA and now 5300, the restoration of the CNJ 1000 is just as nice and a nice rare piece to fix up.

If you ask me, while outside the mainstream of the way we old guys think, this is a new approach that just might set the place up to be in good hands for the next generation while maintaining and improving one of the best collections in the country.

Bob

“ If you ask me, while outside the mainstream of the way we old guys think, this is a new approach that just might set the place up to be in good hands for the next generation while maintaining and improving one of the best collections in the country.”

Do you have any data to back up the idea that only “old guys” want to see historic steam in operation? That’s not what I’ve seen at Steam events across the country.

I agree. I see lots of young people at steam events. Perhaps worded a different way is the old school for a RR museum is 100% focused on the trains. While that has worked for a couple of generations, we are now in an age where most people, even if they see a train, never see the crew behind the tinted windows, let alone interact with them through a wave of the hand.

What I see at B&O is an attempt to make a venue where lots of people will want to go and they will be exposed to trains - the latest shiny restored piece of equipment - while they are there. More people than the standard x% who like trains. Many younger parents will be nostalgic, not because of Dad or Grandpa (more like Great Grandpa) worked the road, but because of Thomas. Why not draw these young people in to create a membership base and future, or even current donor base?

You badly misread what he said. Almost to the point of malice.

Let me retype with different emphasis:



There's nothing there that says "only old guys like steam trains." NOTHING.

The issue is that the way that the people who preserved this stuff for us 50-100 years ago approached collecting and presentation is not necessarily applicable to attracting people, interest, volunteers, and sponsors in 2023.

Times have changed. The major railroads don't welcome our participation anymore. What may have worked in 1953 or 1981 won't be enough in 2023. We're competing against SO many more things, not just in rail preservation (diesels!) but all over. We need to adjust to people who are addicted to screens, social media, and TikTok. Railroading is irrelevant to huge swaths of the world's population, unless they're stuck at a crossing or their package is on a train that derails or gets robbed in California. "Steam" is a minuscule part of the overall equation now.

But you have to admit, a live, large, steam locomotive draws visitors who are fascinated by the complexity, smells, and complex motion. It's not the whole of a museum, but it is a delicious draw.
Or am I wrong?

People go to museums when they have the time and inclination. They read about bicentennials in the paper and on various media.

On the other hand, something like 3985 brought crowds out at every little town it stopped at, and of course had many more following it, and reporting firsthand on it in ways that made the trip inself interesting and more newsworthy.

The 200th anniversary of practical American railroading is a Big Deal. It is not being treated like one. And it is not too early to start coordinating how to make it memorable.

I wasn't even alive in 1953 or 1981 so I'm not sure what was happening then. But I live in 2023, and I see a huge interest in steam and railway preservation. To me, it's only old guys and out of touch museum directors that think the priority should be elsewhere.

By the way, I just visited the B&O last month and had a fantastic visit! It's a great museum. But knowing they are raising so much money for an amphitheater while formerly operational steam locomotives sit cold is sad.

It is for far more than just an amphitheater. There is a huge, very old building that was used for industrial purposes that will need to be cleaned, upgraded and rebuilt as well. That isn't going to be cheap. Just saving that building from the wrecker's ball is a very nice preservation move.

Do I hope they find the funds to keep at least one steamer active? Oh yeah. Will the tracks leading into the North Car Shop, right beside the new area be an excellent (and easy to access from the 1st mile of track) location to display visiting live steam, like C&O 2716 one day when CSX gets a steam friendly CEO? You bet.

So the $5 million Amphitheatre project is part of the old building project?

The Maryland Department of General Services has shared some photos and information on LinkedIn about the renovation of the South Car Shop: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mdgeneralservices_dgscapitalgrant-activity-7103115830510419968-EBQB?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

Actually, if they are as I suspect a Sec 501(c)(3); they have an "exempt purpose" and hosting unrelated events such as weddings, concerts, corporate or group events; unless they are going to host and cater such events with volunteers, that is exactly how one incurs a liability for unrelated business income tax or UBIT. Excessive UBI (not defined by the IRS, so) can open an organization to the loss of exempt status.