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B&O Railroad Museum Unveils $38M Expansion

B&O Railroad Museum Unveils $38M Expansion

Published: February 19, 2026

BALTIMORE — The B&O Railroad Museum, long regarded as the spiritual home of American railroading, announced plans in late 2025 for a $38 million campus transformation that will reshape how visitors enter, move through, and experience one of the country’s most important railroad heritage sites. The project—already underway—centers on restoring major historic structures, creating new public green space, and expanding the museum’s capacity for exhibitions, education, and archival stewardship as the 200th anniversary of American railroading approaches in 2027.

Western Maryland Railway F7 #236 sits outside the Mount Clare Roundhouse on February 8, 2016. Jon Wright photo.

The museum’s plan is more than a cosmetic refresh. It is designed to reorient the campus toward Southwest Baltimore and create a modern visitor flow while protecting and showcasing irreplaceable railroad artifacts.

Key components include:

Restoration of the South Car Works building (a major historic shop complex on the site) and its conversion into a new main entrance for the museum. Plans call for the restored building to add new exhibit areas, enhanced visitor amenities, and substantial behind-the-scenes improvements.
Creation of the CSX Bicentennial Garden, envisioned as both a visitor feature and a community gathering space, tied directly to the museum’s broader “campus transformation” concept.
New or expanded spaces aimed at the museum’s educational and interpretive mission, including state-of-the-art classroom/learning areas and an Innovation Hall intended to interpret modern rail technology alongside the historic story.
Improved capacity for the museum’s archives and collections care, which is especially significant for an institution holding extensive historical materials tied to early American industrialization and transportation history.

Taken together, the upgrades are meant to help the museum meet the dual challenge of hosting bicentennial-era visitation while ensuring the long-term preservation of artifacts that document everything from 19th-century steam power to the evolution of modern freight and passenger railroading.

The expansion is a public-private effort supported by large gifts and broader campaign fundraising. In a November 2025 update, the museum said it had raised roughly $28 million toward the $38 million goal, leaving about $10 million to complete the campaign.

CSX plays a prominent role as a corporate successor to the original Baltimore & Ohio. The museum has highlighted a major CSX contribution tied to the garden component of the plan, and it announced new capital campaign leadership in November 2025 with CSX CEO Steve Angel joining as co-chair alongside campaign chair Benjamin H. Griswold IV.

As for schedule, reports and museum materials indicate construction began earlier (a groundbreaking was held in May 2025) and the museum has pointed to completion targets designed to land ahead of—or during—the 2027 bicentennial window. The museum has cited an October 2026 estimate in campaign communications, while at least one trade publication has reported a completion target extending into early 2027.

About The Museum

To understand the significance of a $38 million investment here, it helps to remember that the museum isn’t simply a collection of locomotives—it sits on ground that is itself a primary artifact.

The Mount Clare historic site: where it began

The museum occupies the Mount Clare complex in Baltimore, identified by the institution as the original site where the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad founded America’s first commercial railroad. The campus is recognized as a National Historic Landmark site encompassing historic buildings tied to early railroad operations, manufacturing, and passenger service.

The iconic Roundhouse

The museum’s visual centerpiece is its famous 22-sided Roundhouse, completed by the B&O in 1884 to service and repair passenger equipment. The museum notes the structure’s landmark scale—245 feet in diameter, 135 feet high, and nearly an acre under its roof—making it an attraction in its own right as well as a dramatic exhibit hall.

Opening and evolution

While the B&O had preserved historic equipment for decades, the museum formally opened to the public on July 4, 1953, originally established by the railroad to centralize and interpret its historic collection. Over time, as corporate railroading changed hands, the museum’s governance evolved into a nonprofit structure, and it later became a Smithsonian Affiliate (since 1999)—an affiliation that underscores its national standing.

A hard-earned lesson in preservation: the 2003 roof collapse

Modern visitors also encounter a story of resilience. In February 2003, heavy snow caused a major roof collapse at the Roundhouse, damaging the building and impacting artifacts inside. The museum’s recovery and restoration work in the years that followed became a defining chapter—one that still informs why upgraded facilities, proper conservation space, and durable infrastructure matter so much for institutions stewarding large industrial artifacts.

Interpreting more than technology

Today the museum also interprets railroading’s human history. Notably, the museum’s Mt. Clare Station is tied to Underground Railroad interpretation and is designated as part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, with exhibits that explore freedom seekers’ use of rail corridors and rail spaces.