(The following article by Laura Vozzella was posted on the Baltimore Sun website on January 7.)
BALTIMORE — The city’s Board of Estimates pledged $250,000 today to help the B&O Railroad Museum recover from the collapse of its roundhouse roof last winter.
The money will go toward a new $4.5 million restoration facility, where locomotives damaged in the Feb. 17 collapse will be rebuilt. Half of the roof over the museum’s roundhouse collapsed during a snowstorm. The museum has been closed since and is not expected to reopen before spring.
The city will not disburse the money until the museum secures funding for the whole project and enters into construction contracts for the repair.
As a condition of the funding, the museum agreed to make the project subject to the city’s minority contracting goals. The museum also will create a job and skills training program for residents at the facility.
A museum report blamed the collapse on what it called a poor design that failed under the weight of 6-foot snow drifts.
The cost to rebuild and restore the building and damaged exhibits is more than $15 million, most of that covered by insurance.