Roundhouse after collapse of half of its roof.
Posted on 02/19/2003 2:38:39 PM PST by Swordmaker
A section of the roof of the B&O Museum's Roundhouse in downtown Baltimore collapsed between midnight and 12:30 on the morning of Monday, Feb. 17th, as a record snowfall continued to fall. An additional section collapsed ca. 5:30 am. The high cupola over the turntable is still intact.
Roundhouse after collapse of half of its roof.
B&O Museum Roundhouse as it was before collapse.
The sections that fell covered fully half--180 degrees--of the "stalls" or storage tracks facing to the southwest. The collapse was concentrated on the vintage steamers starting with the "Andrew Jackson" and working around clockwise to the main access track. The majority of the most fragile jewels in the roundhouse--the Royal Blue coach, the Ma & Pa baggage-mail car, the 1927 Stagecoach replica cars, and the 1830s Nova Scotia directors car--SEEM to have escaped serious collapse damage; ditto Jersey Central boxcab diesel 1000 and several rare patent models.
Some of the rolling stock that may have been damaged or destroyed in the collapse.
There is considerable damage to B&O wooden caboose C-2222, and it is possible that one or both of the 1880s wooden B&O coaches, 20 and 21, may have been seriously damaged or destroyed. It appears that the damage to the older vintage steamers is somewhat serious cosmetic damage at worst, although damage to the "Andrew Jackson", the vintage B&O "Grasshopper" steam locomotive, may be considerable. Also trapped in the rubble is Pere Marquette SW-1 #11, the "shop switcher" of the Museum (although several of the Museum's other diesels are fully operational and safely outside).
Other Locomotives in the museum's collection that may have been damaged.
The roundhouse was being examined by structural engineers on the afternoon of Feb. 18th. No access to the Museum grounds is being permitted except for key operational staff and engineers, although an exception was made for Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich and support staff, who visited on the 18th. Also on site is Smithsonian Curator of Transportation Bill Withuhn, in hard hat and snow overalls. Current activity is focused on stabilization of the structure plus rescue of such things as patent models, scale models, etc. from the roundhouse. Needless to say, the Museum is closed indefinitely.
Courtney Wilson reminded several of us that this is NOT the first time this sort of thing has happened--almost every artifact under the fallen roof, with the exception of Pere Marquette 11, was also inside a warehouse in Halethorpe, Md. after the Fair of the Iron Horse when the warehouse collapsed in a 1933 hurricane.
Snow seems to have pretty well blown off of or melted from the Restoration Shop to the rear by Tuesday afternoon, or at least the section of roof actually over rolling stock. Snow still appears dangerously deep over the untracked section of the shop, however.
The B&O Museum's primary communications has been knocked out by the collapse; the Museum's phones and e-mail should be redirected to other numbers in the next day or two. Please do NOT phone the Museum or staff for updates at this time.
At the request of so many via e-mail and phone, the museum has contacted a financial partner to facilitate The Roundhouse Restoration Fund. This information will be posted soon for all those who have generously offered contributions. Please go to the Museum's website at www.borail.org for more details; donations to the Museum may be made online via credit card at Roundhouse Donations. At his point, no decisions have been made regarding the planned Fair of the Iron Horse in June and July 2003.
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