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Maryland Train Rides and Excursion Trains

Maryland train rides offer several different types of excursions today, despite there only being a handful located there. The state is well known as being the birthplace of modern railroading, when the Baltimore & Ohio was chartered in early 1827 in the port of the Baltimore. Today, you can still catch train rides at the railroad's former Mount Clare Shops, now home of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, which offers visitors short excursions along the property. Maryland's most popular and well known excursion is Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (WMSR), which uses a section of former Western Maryland Railway line west of Cumberland. If you might be interested to learn more about the state's many railroad museums please click here. In any event, the information below provides short snippets of all Maryland train rides along with how to find out more about them.

As mentioned above, if there is one tourist train in Maryland you are contemplating riding I would highly recommend visiting the Western Maryland Scenic first. Their 12 miles of railroad cuts through the beautiful Appalachian Mountains and passes along famed Helmstetter's Curve, across the "Bridge through the Narrows", and through Brush Tunnel. Their trains are usually pulled by a restored 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive, painted in original Western Maryland colors. Aside from the WMSR there is the Walkersville Southern Railroad located in Walkersville and two streetcar/trolley museums located in Washington, D.C. the National Capital Museum and Baltimore Streetcar Museum. Both the WMSR and Walkersville Southern host special events and trains throughout the year so be on the lookout for when they are happening.

Maryland Train Rides and Excursion Trains

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum today is one of the most recognized, respected and highly regarded railroad museums, not only in this country but also the world. It houses historic railroad equipment (not only from its namesake railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio but also many important historical pieces from other railroads around the country) in the B&O’s famous Mount Clare shops (which throughout the years would create and build a number of innovative cars and locomotives for the railroad). The museum also features two scales of large model railroads in G and HO as well as annual layouts brought in by model railroading groups during the holidays. Along with its extensive collection the museum also offers short train rides (about a mile or so) on its property. For more information about visiting the museum please click here.

Baltimore Streetcar Museum

The Baltimore Streetcar Museum looks to preserve the city's interurban heritage. In doing so it also offers short trolley rides aboard some of its restored equipment. The museum is open year-round. For more information about visiting the museum please click here.

National Capital Museum

Like Baltimore Streetcar Museum the National Capital Museum also looks to preserve the region's history of trolleys and interurbans, particularly around the Washington, D.C. area. Based in Colesville the museum operates about a one-mile stretch of track and offers charters and features other special events throughout the year. For more information about visiting the museum please click here.

Walkersville Southern Railroad

The Walkersville Southern Railroad, based in Walkersville uses ex-Pennsylvania Railroad trackage to take visitors along a rail line that travels through the state's beautiful and historic Monocacy Valley region. Trains board from the restored Walkersville depot and the railroad is hoping to restore more miles of rail line in the future to further extend their trips. For more information about visiting the museum please click here.

Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is a tourist railroad based in Cumberland, Maryland that operates part of the Western Maryland Railway’s former main line to Frostburg, Maryland, a distance of about 12 miles. While the railroad has a small fleet of diesels the star of the show is its 2-8-0 Consolidation Type steam locomotive, which carries passengers through some of the Western Maryland’s most famous locations like Helmstetter’s Curve and “the Narrows”. A few years ago the WMSR was in danger of losing its state-sponsored funding, which thankfully did not happen. Today, the tourist line has become a very popular attraction in western Maryland and offers you several different trains to ride, aside from its standard excursion to Frostburg. For more information about visiting the museum please click here.

Please Click Here To Return To The Main Tourist Railroads Section

To learn more about the history of Maryland's railroads please click here. Also, for more information about Maryland train rides you might want to consider the book Tourist Trains Guidebook, which is put together by the editors of Kalmbach Publishing's Trains magazine. The guide below is the latest, released in just April, 2011 that now includes more than 470 museums and tourist trains (it also lists all of Alabama's rail museums). In any event, if you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit the link below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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