Trains don?t literally leave the station at Baltimore?s B & O Railroad Museum, but money for new facilities and the first profitable year in the museum?s history mean times are good at the iconic city institution.
“We?ve had our best year ever,” Chief Operating Officer Stefanie Fay said. “For the first time in our history we?re profitable.”
Fay attributes the museum?s record 200,000 visitors in 2006 to bad weather.
During the blizzard of 2003, the roof of the roundhouse, the museum?s main attraction, collapsed.
“It was heart-wrenching and devastating,” she said of the damage.
But since what Fay calls “The Collapse Heard ?Round The World,” the museum has raised attendance by adding nearly 80,000 square feet of exhibition space during its 21-month hiatus, including interactive attractions that draw more visitors.
“Since the accident, we?ve become more interactive and we?ve increased the number of exhibits,” she said. “People can now experience what it was like to be on the trains.”
Money for the latest expansion was approved on Wednesday by the city Board of Estimates, part of a $2 million grant to renovate the south car shop. The nearly 150-year-old building, which will be opened in late 2007, will add to the museum?s depth, Fey said.
“It will have some really old railroad artifacts, pieces that have never been seen by the public,” Fay promised.
Meanwhile, for train lovers who want to purchase a piece of the railroad history, parts of the collapsed roundhouse roof will be auctioned to raise funds on Feb. 17.
Fay said people interested in attending should visit the museum?s Web site at www.borail.org.
