B & O Railroad Museum, Baltimore

The B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, is a historic railway station and museum exhibiting a vast collection of historic railroad equipment. Founded on July 4, 1953, by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), it was initially named the Baltimore & Ohio Transportation Museum. The museum is considered one of the most significant collections of railroad treasures globally and boasts the largest collection of 19th-century locomotives in the United States.

The B&O Railroad Museum houses collections of 19th- and 20th-century artifacts related to American railroads. It includes 250 pieces of railroad rolling stock, 15,000 artifacts, 5,000 cubic feet of archival material, and four significant 19th-century buildings, including the historic roundhouse.

The museum also has a mile of track, which is considered the most historic mile of railroad track in the United States. Visitors can take train rides on this mile of track on Wednesday through Sunday from April through December and on weekends in January. In 2002, the museum had 160,000 visitors annually.

The museum also features an outdoor G-scale layout, two indoor HO scale models, and a wooden model train for children to climb on. During Thanksgiving through the New Year, local model railroad groups set up large layouts on the roundhouse floor and in select locations on the museum's grounds. A museum store offers toys, books, DVDs, and other railroad-related items.

In 1961, the museum and station were designated as a U.S. National Historic Landmark. In 2008, the museum won three awards in Nickelodeon's Parents' Picks Awards in the categories of Best Museum for Little Kids, Best Indoor Playspace for Little Kids, and Best Indoor Playspace for Big Kids. The museum's "celebrity spokesman" is television and film actor Michael Gross.

Every year, the museum hosts an annual Day out with Thomas event, complete with the train's excursion, including a non-powered Thomas the Tank Engine replica. The B&O Railroad Museum is a must-visit for anyone interested in the history of railroads and transportation in America.