Oh. It looks like there will be a creek which Lombard street bridge crosses, to protect the roundhouse from flooding. Pretty smart.

Looking closely at the drawings, the Lombard bridge will be part of the yard lead between the mainline and the turntable.

Wesley

Yup. I wonder if there will be a need for wiring up the round house. I also wonder if any old turntable would do.

That makes sense. Almost exactly a decade ago I was given a tour of the entire former steel mill site at Sparrows Point and almost everything had been torn down, destroyed or scrapped. (The enginehouse remains in use.) I remarked to my host that it looked like the perfect place to film a zombie apocalypse movie. Other than the handful of locomotives retained for Tradepoint Rail use, I didn't see any inactive ones set aside for future scrapping, sale, donation, etc., so when it was mentioned there was a former Ma & Pa locomotive on site that was to go to the BSM, I wondered where it could have been hiding.

The story from decades ago:

https://www.baltimoremd.com/streetcar/t ... dcharm.htm

It should be noted that this project was instigated long before the "ready-to-run" (well, after modest regauging and other tweaks) Philadelphia PCCs, the Philly snow sweeper, and the NJ Transit Newark PCC all showed up, AND as other Philly PCCs came and went for truck swaps, parts salvage, etc.

They're finally making true progress. Look in the recent newsletters for "7303".

And for all I know, *I* got my wires crossed too. It may be that my memory confused the Republic Steel Ohio deadline with the deadline in Sparrows Point. And all of this was LONG before Beth Steel died and was demolished at Sparrows Point. I know that whatever loco Ed allegedly found and targeted, we used Barry Hollingsworth's encyclopedic roster binders in the Md. Rail Heritage Library to confirm whatever he was scouting was, indeed, a former MPA switcher.

But, seeing as I see nothing in the most recent design layout proposals for any space for a Ma & Pa piece of rolling stock; they've proposed a turntable that a former (late) VP-Operations had rejected as "unfeasible"; and that they're showing a library/archives in the Roundhouse where some of us had already said it was still at risk from flood waters................. don't even bother listening to me anymore on this topic, OK? <:-)

Stewartstown RR has an ex-Maryland and Pennsylvania SW9 that they have been working on for several years (Kyle Edwards photo, click to expand):

For the sake of transparency, let me include the history of "Ma & Pa 84". You'll note that this locomoive was acquired in March 1976, nearly 20 years after the Ma & Pa ceased operating out of Baltimore.

M&PA No. 84 EMD SW9 Number: 16330
Built: September, 1952 Acqired: March, 1976 Retired:
Horsepower: 1200 Tractive Effort: 60,720 lbs. Weight: 246,230 lbs.
NOTES:
Was built as Pittsburgh & Lake Erie No. 8952, and renumbered to 1243 in 1972.
Was leased to the Montour Railroad as their No. 85 in 1974-1975.
Was acquired by the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad in March of 1976.
Was leased to the Saint Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad in February of 1990, and returned to York in November of 1990.
Was donated to the Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad in March of 2018.

Honestly, 84 would make more sense somewhere near Pittsburgh since she was built new for the P&LE.

Also, I've been told that despite what these specifications say, I believe what's given is the stock as-built "standard" weight for an SW9. Due to being used for moving steel around Pittsburgh, it's been told to me that 84 was ballasted heavier than the usual models, and was the best pulling locomotive during the late 1970's and 1980's while working for the MPA.

I'm sure now you're thinking, "why would the weight of the locomotive matter?". Well, when the Stew had Ex-MPA 83, they quickly learned it was too big for the 85 and 75 pounds rail between New Freedom and Stewartstown when it was snapping some sticks. The current people involved with the Stew have been purposely avoiding any questions about this concern.

The Waterloo,Cedar Falls & Northern Railroad in Iowa used a former railroad roundhouse with a turntable for its car barn. Unfortunately it burned with much equipment destroyed.

I knew I had seen a photo of an interurban trolley on a turntable somewhere, but couldn't remember which line until now. Obviously, not all the trolley wires could provide continuous running through the middle, but that's only an issue for (1) single end cars and (2) if there are more than two tracks leading away from the roundhouse.

/s/ Larry
Lawrence G. Lovejoy, P.E.

another picture of the turntable and roundhouse:
https://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2018 ... s-and.html

The rails by the ncr interchange that it sits on are in god awful condition. It was shoved there with several lightweight cars between locomotives. It was amazing it didn't derail. Honestly the rail it sits on is likely to roll from lack of restraint and defects in gauge retention, cross level deviation, poor tie conditions. It is likely it will never see service as the track conditions from the interchange to the current end of class 1 are abysmal at best and a willful FRA violation in all likelihood.also several bridges in terrible condition including one that's bad multiple vehicle strikes, necessitating tweaking it with a wrecker as proudly featured on strt social media

It’s great to see so much interest in Baltimore Streetcar Museum’s New Campus Plan centered around a repurposed former Maryland & Pennsylvania Roundhouse.

For the latest and most accurate updates on this project, be sure to utilize official museum sources such as:

BSM Webpage: https://baltimorestreetcarmuseum.org/
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/BaltimoreStreetcarMuseumInc/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/baltim ... car-museum

Membership is a great way to get the most up to date information on this project and the museum in general; each issue of the museum’s magazine “The Live Wire” contains an update on the new campus, and specific messages are sent directly to museum members via email.

Unrelated to the new campus, there is some confusion in this discussion regarding the museum’s plans to provide an accessible vehicle for museum guests with mobility challenges. Former Public Service Coordinated Transport/New Jersey Transit PCC car #26 is being configured to serve to carry passengers in wheelchairs/mobility devices and grant funding has been provided specifically for this purpose. Car #26 can handle these devices safely, in tandem with a platform-based lift, without permanent modifications to the car’s historical configuration. The car is being restored to a circa 1964 appearance to demonstrate public transportation in the immediate years after Baltimore closed its last streetcar lines. The 11-year restoration of this car is about 80% complete and is in the reassembly stage. There are no plans to modify the former San Diego/El Paso PCC car being configured into a replica of similar Baltimore Car #7303 as an accessible vehicle.

More information and an update on the new campus, as well as Car #26, can be read at:

https://baltimorestreetcarmuseum.org/wp ... 4-Full.pdf

Sincerely,
Matt Nawn

I was citing part of the original rationale for acquiring what will become the "7303," the San Diego/El Paso PCC. At that time, no one was imagining the prospect of several Philadelphia cars, let alone the Newark car, showing up on the property.

But the mission remains the same: To provide wheelchair and other disabled access for streetcar rides without having to drastically modify the original, one-of-a-kind Baltimore streetcar fleet.