Back & Operating
ON FEBRUARY 16, 2003, A BLIZZARD buried the East Coast in up to two feet of snow. In most places life was disrupted for a few days with little lasting damage, but in Baltimore at least one building took a catastrophic hit: the B&O Railroad Museum, which occupied a roundhouse built in 1884 by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, America’s oldest. Half the museum’s roof collapsed, sending down snow, steel ribs, and roofing materials. It was the worst natural disaster ever to strike an American museum.
The storm damaged artifacts ranging from nineteenth-century locomotives to an official B&O teabag, circa 1950. In an exceptionally precise estimate, officials placed the cost of recovery at $29,573,666, about two-thirds of which was covered by insurance.
The lack of shelter while the roof was being rebuilt caused additional problems, such as flooding and consequent damage to the turntable mechanism. Further complications arose in bringing the rebuilt roundhouse (actually a 22-sided structure 235 feet across and 123 feet tall) into compliance with modern standards on such matters as handicapped access, lightning protection, and lead-paint abatement.
For all the damage that occurred, the museum has been restored remarkably fast. A month after the collapse, what remained of the roof had been stabilized. By the end of June 2003, 250 tons of rubble had been cleared out of the roundhouse, along with all the artifacts except some large locomotives and rolling stock. Meanwhile, the slow process of restoring damaged locomotives and cars began, both on-site and elsewhere. The museum’s staff plans to build a new restoration facility to continue the work, which is expected to last six years.
Scaffolding and supports were set up, and new roof trusses—of steel, instead of the original wrought iron, to meet building codes—were installed to replace the collapsed ones. Then the remaining trusses, which were in a “pre-failure condition,” were replaced as well. Further inspection revealed that the upper, or clerestory, roof also needed renovation to meet code requirements.
By Thanksgiving the lower roof had been entirely restored, and the turntable deck had been removed to permit repairs to the underlying mechanism. By the storm’s first anniversary enough progress had been made to announce that the museum would reopen on November 13 of this year.
As the renovation continues, so does the need for money. The public’s response has been gratifying, but the museum still needs about $3.5 million more, and all contributions are welcome. To make a donation or find out how repairs are progressing, see the museum’s Web site at www.borail.org .
While in Baltimore, technology fans will also want to visit the Baltimore Museum of Industry, among whose many fascinating holdings is the former Mount Vernon Museum of Incandescent Lighting—a collection of especial interest for this fall’s 125th anniversary of Edison’s electric light. The Mount Vernon collection was accumulated by a Maryland dentist named Hugh F. Hicks over more than 70 years until his death in 2002. A few hundred of the most interesting or important bulbs are on display, but the complete collection contains more than 50,000, including some very early Edison examples. For information on the museum, see www.thebmi.org .
