B&O Railroad Museum Phases I & II

ABOUT B&O RAILROAD MUSEUM

The B&O Railroad Museum is a museum exhibiting historic railroad equipment in Baltimore, Maryland, originally named the Baltimore & Ohio Transportation Museum when it opened on July 4, 1953. It has been called one of the most significant collections of railroad treasures in the world and has the largest collection of 19th-century locomotives in the U.S. The museum is located in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s old Mount Clare Station and adjacent roundhouse, part of the B&O’s sprawling Mount Clare Shops site begun in 1829, the oldest railroad manufacturing complex in the United States.

PROJECT DETAILS

The project involved replacing the Historic Landmark’s roof structure that collapsed during the President’s Day weekend snowstorm of 2003.  The roundhouse roof consists of 22 equal sides creating a nearly circular brick structure; 22 corresponding steel columns support the high roof and cupola.  Roofers Incorporated installed King and Queen trusses with new cast-iron stand-off posts to match the original, new purlins, new tongue and groove decking, new underlayment, slate, lead-coated copper trim and reinstalled the decorative cornice gutter.

CHALLENGES

After the initial opening of eleven bays, demolition restraints were placed on the project, allowing only three bays open at a time.  Since this is a National Historic Landmark, the authenticity of the 19^th Century structure had to remain intact.