Please Note: The tour departs by motorcoach from downtown Washington, DC with a designated secondary pick-up outside the city. Content delivered by the study leader on the way to the destination, after the secondary pick-up, is an integral part of the study tour experience. Meeting the group once the tour is en route is discouraged.
Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required for participation on all tours; additionally, current CDC and Smithsonian COVID-19 guidelines (at the time of the tour) will be followed, including but not limited to masks on the bus and indoors.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, America’s first common carrier, was a pioneer in many components of railroading in the United States. None was more important than motive power. From animal power through steam, electric, and diesel locomotives, the B&O met the challenges of pulling ever-increasing loads of freight and passengers on schedule over hundreds of miles. Step into more than 100 years of motive power history on an insider’s visit to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore guided by rail historian Joe Nevin.
The museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, contains the finest collection of 19th-century railroad motive power in the United States, including an extensive display of locomotives on loan from the Smithsonian. Tour these models with Nevin, as well as visit the oldest continually operating railroad restoration shop in the world.
Established in 1829, maintenance and restoration of more than 200 pieces of 19th- and 20th-century locomotives and rolling stock still takes place in the facility. Nevin traces the timeline of power evolution, discussing the original, replica, rebuilt, and modified artifacts on display in the museum’s roundhouse.
What’s a day focused on rail history without a train ride? Weather permitting, travel along the first 1½ miles of mainline railroad right-of-way to the site of the first stone of the Baltimore & Ohio, laid in 1828.
A catered box lunch is included.
Please note: The tour includes extensive indoor and outdoor walking.
General Information
- Registration for this tour will end by 2 p.m. ET on Friday, April 1, 2022.
- The tour meets at and leaves by bus from Holiday Inn Capitol, 550 C St., S.W. (corner of 6th and C Sts., S.W.), with a pickup stop at the I-495 Exit 27 carpool parking lot at about 9:10 a.m.
- For additional tour information:
