The Baltimore and Ohio Museum site in Baltimore, Md., is universally recognized as the birthplace of American railroading and  is a must-see for anyone interested in railroads. Dating from the beginning of American railroading, the former railroad station and roundhouse holds the oldest, most historic and most comprehensive American railroad collections in the world. The B&O Museum offers lots of family-friendly activities, especially during the holiday season.

HOLIDAY EVENTS

The B&O Museum has plenty planned for the holiday season (Nov. 23 to Dec. 30). It begins its Holiday Festival of Trains on Friday, Nov. 23, with the morning arrival of Santa by locomotive. Santa will visit with kids Saturdays and Sundays throughout the festival. Every weekend will also bring different visiting model and toy train layout groups. There’ll be small trains, big trains, a layout built entirely of Legos, and everything in between. Holiday music and entertainment

will be featured throughout the festival, and the museum will host “Breakfasts with Railroad Santa” on

Sundays, Dec. 2 and 9. The breakfast will start at 9 a.m. Children (and parents alike!) will enjoy a delicious hot breakfast, take a train ride with Santa and get to enjoy the model train layouts.

TAKE A RIDE ON THE NATION’S FIRST COMMERCIAL RAILS

From April through December, you can take a 1.5-mile ride on the first commercial track laid in America. A train car will take you to the site where the First Stone of the B&O Railroad was laid on July 4, 1828, by the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. This “First Stone” can now be seen in the museum.

LEARN THE HISTORY OF RAILROADING

Adjacent to the B&O Roundhouse, the Museum’s Exhibit Gallery will take you to the beginning of railroading in America. Models of steam, diesel, and electrical engines will greet you as you learn about their history. A large collection of fine china, known as “B&O Blue,” used  in the railroad’s passenger dining cars to celebrate the B&O’s 100th anniversary, is displayed in the museum, along with a dining car place setting. You can also view the clocks and watches that kept the railroad on schedule. (Before railroads the nation did not have a system of standardized time.)

Your walk through the Exhibit Gallery next takes you to the Mount Clare Station. A fun place to visit, the Mount Clare

Station was where the first publicly demonstrated telegraph message was received. The message, “What hath God wrought,” was sent by Samuel F.B. Morse on May 24, 1844.

Your visit then takes you to the B&O’s 1884 Roundhouse, where you will see locomotives and rolling stock, which are the

first, last, best or only of their kind. A number of the museum’s locomotives and railroad cars have been featured in movies (such as “Tuck Everlasting”) and on TV.

In Feb. 2003, a snowstorm caused a partial collapse of the Roundhouse roof, and the building was almost lost. It took 22

months of painstaking work to rebuild and restore it. While in the Roundhouse, you can climb inside railroad cars and imagine you are on an 1800s journey. Be sure to visit the Clinchfield No. 1 locomotive, known as Old Number One. Walk up the wooden ramp and enter the locomotive’s cab, where you can twist knobs, pull handles and make things happen. (Don’t worry, the train won’t go anywhere, even though you feel like it might.) During my visit, guide Bill Janyska explained all the knobs, dials and handles of the locomotive, including the critical throttle and brake controls. This

was one of the best parts of my visit to the Roundhouse.

From the engine, you can move on to the mail car (note the tiny bathroom to your left as you enter) and the combine car.

There are plenty of things to see in and around the B&O Roundhouse. Be sure to leave time to visit the platforms and the

passenger car shop located outside the Roundhouse.

The B&O Railroad Museum was established in 1953. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the

Department of the Interior and is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. For more information, visit the B & O

Museum website at http://www.borail.org or call 410-752-2490.