Baltimore Streetcar Museum Re-Opens September 22, 2019

Baltimore has many hidden gems that deserve more attention than they get, the Baltimore Streetcar Museum (Facebook) is one of them. The museum opened in 1970 at their Falls Road location with the visitor’s center opening 8 years later. Volunteers operate and maintain a fleet of beautiful streetcars, many of which are well over 100 years old.

This article from the Maryland Historical Society shows a map of the streetcar system in 1945 and also has a lot of good historical information on the system. A Redditor created this modern metro style map of the same system in 1950 showing the beginning of the system’s decline.

In March of 2019 a CSX freight train derailed with 9 cars going off the track and 3 of which went over the side of the bridge striking the museum’s power substation structure and tearing down 500 feet of the overhead wire which provide power to the museum’s streetcars. The train also struck an occupied car but fortunately neither she nor anyone else was injured.

The museum re-opened about a week and a half after the accident but without running streetcars. The rectifier that lived in the building destroyed by a fallen freight car survived and was able to be used again in a new power substation. More info and photos are in this WBALTV article.

CSX paid for the repairs to the substation, overhead lines, and damaged track. The museum opened with operating streetcars on September 22, 2019, 6 months after the derailment. Four of the museum’s streetcars came out to play and can be seen running in fine form in my video below.

This is a must-visit museum that is open every Sunday until December 15th. $10 for adults and $8 for children 4 to 11 and kids under 4 are free gets you all day riding of these historic streetcars. Be sure to also check out their calendar for upcoming events which as of this writing include a Halloween Pumpkin Patch, a Veterans Day event with free admissions, and Santa’s Streetcar.