Baltimore Streetcar Museum

John Stearns Thomsen, a retired Johns Hopkins University physicist who was a founder of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, died of respiratory failure Wednesday at his North Roland Park home. He was 88. Born in Baltimore and raised on Mount Royal Terrace in Reservoir Hill, he was a 1939 Boys' Latin School graduate. A year later, he joined the National Railway Historical Society and remained a train and streetcar aficionado throughout his life. He earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Hopkins.

Earlier this month on an insufferable Baltimore summer's day, the only thing my colleague and friend Jacques Kelly and I wanted after work were a couple of tall cool gin-and-tonics. And in pursuit of those wonderful English Raj heat beaters, our journey to McCabe's took us out Falls Road. As we came abreast of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, there sitting in the middle of the North Avenue streetcar loop, chained to a piece of track fixed aboard a flatbed truck, was a harbinger of winter.

Henry S. Wells Jr., a founding member of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum whose love of streetcars and trains defined his life, died in his sleep Saturday at his nephew's home in Manassas, Va. He was 95. Mr. Wells was born in Baltimore and, before moving to his nephew's home in 2003, spent his entire life in a rowhouse in the 1900 block of Mount Royal Terrace, on Reservoir Hill, which gave him a front-row seat as a child watching No. 13 streetcars as...

James C. Robertson Jr., a retired Baltimore police officer and a streetcar buff who was a longtime active member of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, died Saturday of respiratory failure at the Oak Crest Village retirement community. He was 100. The son of a physician and a homemaker, Mr. Robertson was born in Baltimore and raised at the foot of Broadway and later in a rowhouse near Patterson Park. He was a 1929 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree in history and political science in 1935 from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also played varsity football.

Harry G. Gesser Jr., a retired Bendix Radio engineering draftsman and a lifelong rail and streetcar fan, died March 16 of kidney and heart failure at St. Agnes Hospital. The former longtime Woodlawn resident was 85. Mr. Gesser was born in Baltimore and raised in West Arlington. After graduating from Forest Park High School in 1943, he began his career working for Bendix on East Joppa Road in Towson. He entered the Navy in 1945 and, after serving for a year, resumed his career as an engineering draftsman.

Bear comes alive Come spend a morning, afternoon or evening next week with the cuddly bear from the children's television show "Bear in the Big Blue House." Bear has a musical called Bear in the Big Blue House Live's "Surprise Party." The two-act production, at the Mechanic Theatre, features dancing and songs, including favorite TV-show tunes "The Bear Cha-Cha-Cha" and "What's That Smell?" The show takes place Wednesday-Sunday at the Morris Mechanic Theatre, 1 N. Charles St. Times vary.

Warren Evans Olt, a retired high school teacher who was a train and streetcar enthusiast, died of cancer Friday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The former Timonium resident moved to Oak Crest Village in Parkville last year. He was 78. Mr. Olt was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved to Baltimore as a child. He grew up in Rodgers Forge, graduated from McDonogh School in 1942 and earned a degree at the University of Maryland, College Park. During World War II, he served in the Army in the Philippines and in Japan.

A ride with Santa Hitch a ride with a right jolly old elf on the Baltimore Streetcar Museum's "Tinsel Trolley" Saturday and Sunday and Dec. 15-16. From 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Santa Claus will be on board the streetcar handing out gifts to all children under 12. In addition to enjoying a 1 1/2 -mile streetcar ride, visitors to the museum can see a 16-foot-tall Christmas tree, operating train and streetcar layouts, an outdoor holiday-lights display and...

BY THE TIME he died a year ago, Dr. Hugh Francis Hicks had assembled the world's foremost collection of electric light bulbs, a 50,000-piece treasure that ranged from the inspirational - such as an original bulb from the torch of the Statue of Liberty - to the chilling: two headlights from Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler's car. The good news is that his collection will stay in Baltimore. It's moving to the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Key Highway, where it will be accessible to many times the 6,000 visitors who saw it each year in the basement of a Mount Vernon townhouse.

Walter W. Windsor, a retired accountant and World War II veteran, died of heart disease Dec. 1 at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was 89 and had lived in Towson and Mount Washington. Born in Baltimore and raised on Harlem Avenue, he was a 1938 City College graduate. During World War II, he served in the Army and was stationed in England, where he was a bomb loader and worked in telecommunications. He received a business degree from the University of Baltimore and was a certified public accountant.

Harry G. Gesser Jr., a retired Bendix Radio engineering draftsman and a lifelong rail and streetcar fan, died March 16 of kidney and heart failure at St. Agnes Hospital. The former longtime Woodlawn resident was 85. Mr. Gesser was born in Baltimore and raised in West Arlington. After graduating from Forest Park High School in 1943, he began his career working for Bendix on East Joppa Road in Towson. He entered the Navy in 1945 and, after serving for a year, resumed his career as an engineering draftsman.

John Stearns Thomsen, a retired Johns Hopkins University physicist who was a founder of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, died of respiratory failure Wednesday at his North Roland Park home. He was 88. Born in Baltimore and raised on Mount Royal Terrace in Reservoir Hill, he was a 1939 Boys' Latin School graduate. A year later, he joined the National Railway Historical Society and remained a train and streetcar aficionado throughout his life. He earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Hopkins.

Henry S. Wells Jr., a founding member of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum whose love of streetcars and trains defined his life, died in his sleep Saturday at his nephew's home in Manassas, Va. He was 95. Mr. Wells was born in Baltimore and, before moving to his nephew's home in 2003, spent his entire life in a rowhouse in the 1900 block of Mount Royal Terrace, on Reservoir Hill, which gave him a front-row seat as a child watching No. 13 streetcars as...

Henry S. Wells Jr., a founding member of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum whose love of streetcars and trains defined his life, died in his sleep Saturday at his nephew's home in Manassas, Va. He was 95. Mr. Wells was born in Baltimore and, before moving to his nephew's home in 2003, spent his entire life in a rowhouse in the 1900 block of Mount Royal Terrace, on Reservoir Hill, which gave him a front-row seat as a child watching No. 13 streetcars as...

Ever since Baltimore Streetcar Museum members acquired a 1923 Philadelphia Rapid Transit snow sweeper, I have been dreaming of a real storm, one that dumps half a foot or more squarely in the Jones Falls Valley. This past Saturday, I had my day. Streetcar sweepers are large, boxcar-like streetcars that never carry paying passengers. They are run by streetcar employees who set out at the first sign of snow. They are not plows. They sit high off the ground and carry enormous spinning brushes, which broom the snow off the rails and keep the rails open so transit patrons can get to work.

John J. Diefenbach Jr., a retired Bethlehem Steel Corp. draftsman who enjoyed sharing his affection and extensive knowledge of streetcars with visitors to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, died of pneumonia Tuesday at St. Agnes HealthCare. The longtime Catonsville resident was 78. Mr. Diefenbach was born in Baltimore and reared on Arunah Avenue, the son of a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad clerk. "His dad did a lot of traveling by train, and he'd take him along once in a while. The family also took vacations by train, so he grew up riding them and streetcars, which were his first love," said his wife of 53 years, the former Jane Dowling.