B&O Railroad Museum - Ellicott City Station

Ellicott City Station

The B&O's station in Ellicott City, Maryland, also part of the museum, is the oldest surviving railroad station in America. The Main Depot building was completed in 1830-1831 by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The site also includes the 1885 freight house, a replica of the first horse-drawn passenger rail car, and a 1927 "I-5" caboose. Exhibits highlight the people who built and operated America's first railroad, the role of the railroad in the Civil War, and the changes wrought by the development of rail transportation.

The freight house features a 40-foot HO-gauge model railroad layout showing the first 13 miles (21 km) of commercial rail track between Baltimore and Ellicott Mills (as Ellicott City was known in the 1830s). The museum announced plans to sponsor an Explorer post under the aegis of the Boy Scouts of America beginning in 2010, for teenage participants to help maintain the freight house's model railroad, as well as helping with large events at both the Ellicott City Station and the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.

The museum also offers living history programs. Museum members are entitled to visit the Ellicott City Station free of charge.

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