Our Previous Mission

This is a historical description of the complex and our plans. We will be following the intent of this mission in our ongoing efforts.

The roundhouse complex

The 45-acre roundhouse complex was the largest steam-era complex remaining in the United States, and contained the following:

• A 25-stall brick and steel roundhouse
• A 115 foot turntable
• Overhead cranes and drop tables needed for locomotive restoration
• Two erecting shops
• Warehouse building
• Heating plant
• Approximately 20 undeveloped acres

Plans for restoration

We proposed the creation of a National Roundhouse Center and working museum of railroading at the former Western Maryland Railway and shop complex in Hagerstown. We envisioned a wide range of activities to entice and educate visitors as to the past, present and future importance of railroads and railroading, including an elevated safety walkway in the Roundhouse allowing visitors to observe work in progress on the shop floor as railroad equipment is serviced and restored. We also envisioned regular excursion train operations to bring visitors from points such as Martinsburg, West Virginia, Cumberland, Maryland, and other appropriate points to be developed as well. Hagerstown is served by both major eastern railroads (CSX and Norfolk Southern).

Visitors would have received an orientation to the Museum at a facility for that purpose, and we envisioned food service, gift shop, lounge, and other appropriate facilities as part of the excursion train depot (the former stores building).

The roundhouse and shop complex comprised some 46 acres, on which 22 acres may have been developed for rail-related commercial purposes. The total site was large enough for displays of railroad equipment under roof, any form of exhibit installable on flatcars, and even display trains of historic and modern passenger and freight equipment. Along with this facility, room was available for a rail passenger station for possible future MARC or AMTRAK service to Hagerstown, and other commercial development such as shops and accomodations. We also envisioned a parking area that serviced the Museum, the Hagerstown City Park and commercial development on the site. In total, the concept had been described as a Williamsburg of Railroading.

Shuttles would have moved people around the complex and to other facilities and to observe vehicle displays. We envisioned both buses and smaller electric trains as appropriate, and also saw a trolley connecting the complex with City Park and downtown Hagerstown.

We envisioned working in close cooperation with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum, in Baltimore, and with other transportation museums and tourism operations in the mid-Atlantic areas, offering servicing, storage, and restoration capabilities based on the increasingly scarce railroad maintenance equipment - i.e. drop table, banding press, drop forge, and the main 115-foot-long turntable available at the site.

In addition, we hoped to work with the Smithsonian Institution, which had expressed an interest in the storage, maintenance, and display capabilities for its collection of historic American railroad equipment. The Winchester and Western, a shortline railroad operating between the Norfolk Southern in Hagerstown and Winchester, Virginia, had also expressed interest in occupying a portion of the facility as a terminal and for equipment maintenance.

We recognize that one-fifth of our national economy is embodied in Transportation, and we feel that it is of the utmost importance to educate American people. This, we believe, would have made a significant contribution to transportation in the 21st century and beyond, and would have provided a world-class tourist attraction to both educate and entertain far into the future.