This tour starts at Mt. Clare which is located about a mile west of the center of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. In 1828, B&O wanted to begin its railroad downtown at the city's harbor, but wrangling over the exact route delayed progress, so construction started near what was, at that time, the western edge of the active city. Over the century that followed, Mt. Clare would evolve into a major terminal, with a large train yard, car repair shops, locomotive construction facilities, and even the passenger station shown in this photo.

Mt. Clare is the second-oldest railroad station along the Old Main Line (OML), younger than only the Ellicott City station we'll see later in this tour. The station is now home to the B&O Railroad Museum. Behind the station is the 1885 roundhouse that originally served as a car repair shop. Now the structure houses the museum's impressive collection of old locomotives. The B&O Museum is open most days, and is a highly recommended stop for all railfans.

The 1936-dated photo linked below shows a plaque mounted on the exterior of the building which reads, "This Building Erected 1830 is the first passenger and freight station in America and the oldest in the world. At the time of its use, trains were pulled by horses between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills. Baltimore and Ohio, The Pioneer Railroad of America, the cornerstone of which was laid by Charles Carroll of Carrollton, July 4, 1828."

Other historical documents show this station building was actually constructed around 1850. A passenger "shack" may have previously occupied this spot, but other records place it a short distance west.

Links: 1936, 1969, 1975

Two feet (60 cm) of snow that fell February 16, 2003 caused much of the roundhouse's roof to collapse and damage the historic equipment on exhibit below. Though this photo appears to be shot outdoors, it was actually snapped from what had been the interior of the roundhouse.

Some unique pieces were damaged beyond repair, but a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution supplied critical experience and funding. A 12-year project followed that restored all that was salvagable. Funding also provided for a new service facility to be added west of the museum within what had been B&O's Mt. Clare Yard.

Links: 2003 snow damage, LoC source photo, storm aerial vidcaps

Resting behind (west of) the roundhouse is one of the more impressive modern locomotives in the B&O Museum's collection: Chesapeake and Ohio 1604. This 2-6-6-6 Allegheny weighs in at 778,000 pounds, making it the heaviest reciprocating steam locomotive ever built. It's tough to appreciate the immensity of this beast from a photo. Those wheels are about the height of a person.

Despite its size, the power of the steam engine is dwarfed by that of newer transportation technology. For example, the weight of this unit is just about the same as that of a Boeing 747 aircraft. This locomotive generates 7,500 horsepower, but each of the four jet engines on the 747 generate about 15,000 horsepower.

Union Pacific's "Big Boy" locomotives were even larger. UP restored its 4014 Big Boy to operating condition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike during 2019.

Links: 1970?, Golden Spike

For the museum's All Aboard Days during spring 2002, they operated one of their more recently restored steam locomotives, a Porter 0-4-0 type. This locomotive has been used to switch inbound coal deliveries at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Washington, DC. The locomotive itself is coal fired.

Links: 1955, ~1970

In the back lot, the museum keeps a few truck trailers that had been used for B&O's TOFC ("trailers on flatcars") service, such as B&OZ 200490. BOZ was the reporting mark. This particular logo is notable because the engine depicted shows the "sunburst" paint scheme used only briefly during the 1960s. TOFC was one of the earliest forms of the now-ubiquitous intermodal, containerized shipping.

After these photos were snapped, in the wake of the roundhouse's 2003 roof collapse, the museum reconfigured its back lot.

The roundhouse is at upper right. At the time of this photo, Mt. Clare Yard's repair shops had reached their peak expanse: soon the less-labor-intensive diesel engines would dominate motive power.

Steam engines needed their boiler tubes regularly cleared of mineral scale deposited by evaporating water. The soot of burning coal would clog valves and reduce efficiency. The largest engines had close to a mile worth of pipes that required cleaning and checking. Every steam engine spent a significant portion of its life in maintenance shops like those in this photo.

Link: 1901 Sanborn map

This aerial looks back toward the roundhouse near top center. The complex included machine shops, a carpentry shop, foundries, and more. At bottom right, an elevated siding serves a bulk materials / coal yard's drop bins. That's the Carey Street bridge at bottom.

The last big burst of activity here came with World War II. During the 1980s, what remained of B&O buildings at center and left would be sold, and the area redeveloped for shopping.

Link: source photo

The yard west of the roundhouse had this appearance during the 1970s. Redevelopment would clear out all of the foreground material, save for one track from/to the museum.

Link: Mount Clare Shops 1976

Along the one remaining track, the museum operates a train ride to almost the location of the ceremonial "B&O First Stone". This photo shows much the same view as the prior, but 20-some years later.

The Mt. Clare Express tour doesn't quite reach the "first stone" location because that's on part of the active CSX railroad, but even so it makes for a fun experience.

Link: ~1970?

At one time, six tracks crossed Carey Street via this 1924-built bridge. Note the B&O logo on the bridge.

About a half-mile west of the roundhouse had stood single-stall engine repair shops. Wilkins Avenue is now named Fulton Avenue, and now leads to museum facilities built during 2005.

Periodically, the museum hauls out some of its collection for Live Steam Weekend along the stretch of track it controls west of the station. The event is a great opportunity to see some of this old equipment in operation.

This is the museum's Lafayette engine, a reproduction of a 19th century design built for the B&O's 1927 Fair of the Iron Horse. The coaches being pulled illustrate how, at the beginnings of passenger service, horse-drawn carriages were adopted for use on the railroad. Scientific American's first issue bemoaned the state of the "awkward and uncouth cars of (18)35."

Kudos to the museum staff for the dedication it takes to get these old beasts to breathe once more, and all the work required to keep them in shape for us to enjoy.

This is the William Mason, the world's oldest railroad locomotive still in operation. This 4-4-0 design dates to 1856 when it was built by the William Mason Locomotive Works in Taunton, Massachusetts. Here it is still wearing the accoutrements and polish applied for its 1998 appearance in the Wild, Wild West movie. After so many mods, the "Ship of Theseus" philosophical question comes to mind.

The John Bull locomotive, now part of the Smithsonian's collection, is often called the "oldest operable locomotive". In 1981, for its 150th anniversary, the engine was operated for one last time.

Links: at 1939 NY World's Fair, 1969, Ship of Theseus

Here's the Porter 0-4-0 again, chugging out plenty of smoke while hauling visitors back to the museum.

CSX sometimes sends retired equipment to the museum for display and operation, like this GP38 that in 1982 Trains Magazine named All American Diesel. Shortly after that designation, it appeared in REM's Driver 8 music video. Here it is still wearing the orange of maintenance of way duty, but the museum has since repainted it into Chessie System livery. This had been B&O 3802 when built in 1967.

Link: pics of B&O 3802

This model GP30 has served the museum since the mid-1990s. A few years earlier, CSX restored its sunburst paint, the only unit on which it did so. This stretch of track (with BO 6607) appears in the first episode of The Wire.

Links: BO 6944, CSX 4253

Dravo Corporation's SW 58 was an ex-B&O GE 44-tonner switcher. It was built in 1950 as B&O 19 for industrial switching in Baltimore. Renumbered 8801 (1957) then 8301 (1964), it was in 1971 sold to Dravo Corporation, who operated it at their Neville Island, Pennsylvania location. Starting in 1992, it spent time with the Pittsburgh, Allegheny & McKees Rocks Railroad (reporting mark PAM) before being sold for parts.

B&O employed just two or three of this model, and by the time this example reached the museum, its innards were incomplete. As such, it wasn't the best candidate for restoration, and in 2004 was sent to Nelson Scrap Metals.

Link: B&O 44-tonners

This is about as far from its museum home that this 1942-built EMD SW 1 ever gets. The Pere Marquette Railway operated in the Great Lakes region from 1900 to 1947, at which time it merged into the C&O. PM 11 then worked about 20 years before being repainted into Chessie System livery as CO 8401. It remained in active service for almost another 20 years before being added to the museum's collection in 1985. The train on the right is on what had been B&O's Locust Point Branch.

Links: 1966, CO 8401

Change for: this site's Locust Point Branch tour