Maryland Railroads: Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum

February 23rd, 2008

This is going to be the first in what I hope to be a running series of posts about the history of railroads in Hagerstown, Maryland. The best way to start learning about the lines running through the area is by stopping in at the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum on Burhan’s Boulevard.

Once there you will not find a more knowledgable volunteer staff of people then those running the model layouts. Whether you want to know the time tables of CSX trains coming through or if you want to learn about the various systems that have run through Hagerstown they can tell you. As a boy I had the fascination with trains that so many do and I was lucky enough to have an HO model set that I could run on my own. While I never got my dream O scale set, I still had the experience of trying to learn more about the rich railroading heritage of this country. The Roundhouse Museum is in a unique position to teach people about this history that we all share since they are right at the heart of the East Coast rail system. After all, they don’t call Hagerstown the “Hub City” for nothing. All you need to do is look alongside the roads that you travel each day to see the rail lines crossing your paths.

If you get excited about watching the intermodal transports go across the railroad bridges on route 40 or just want to learn what the phrase intermodal transport means, I suggest you stop by the Roundhouse Museum today.

Filed under: Hagerstown, Organizations, Technology, Washington County, maryland

Tags: chessie system, csx, hagerstown roundhouse museum, heritage, history, ho, hub city, intermodal transport, model, o, railroad, united states, western maryland