Railroad Museum

Temperatures climbed into the 50s and gentle winds buffeted those who had gathered outside Mount Clare Mansion to celebrate its reopening and affiliation with the B&O Railroad Museum. While bystanders waited for the official ribbon-cutting ceremonies to begin last week, they reveled in the spectacular view of Baltimore from atop the gently sloping hill where Mount Clare, built in 1760, stands overlooking Southwest Baltimore's Carroll Park. The Monumental City Fife and Drum Corps, dressed in colorful period costumes and wearing tricorn hats, serenaded those waiting with a selection of peppy 18th- and 19th-century airs.

The beige-plastic Wilkins-Rogers Mill is unmistakable, as are the red B&O Freight House and the purple Obladi hotel. Rendered in toy building blocks, the replicas of historic Ellicott City landmarks lend an air of authenticity to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum's newest train garden, a 360-degree, custom-built feature that is proving to be a major attraction on Main Street. "This is definitely something unique," Tom Hane, site manager at the Ellicott City Station, said of the display by the Washington Metropolitan Area Lego Train Club.

The waitresses wore whiskers as they served hors d'oeuvres, and a couple of actresses in cat costumes wandered through the formally dressed throng inside the B&O Railroad Museum's roundhouse. The gala's title -- "All Aboard for a Purr-fect Evening" -- was taken from a 1956 Chesapeake and Ohio Railway calendar illustration. As far as most of the 200 guests were concerned, no excuse was needed to come support one of their favorite Baltimore institutions. "This is one of the greatest museums in America," commented guest George Wills.

Edgar Allan Poe was possibly the most original literary talent ever to reside in Baltimore, and his death here, in 1849, at the age of 40 left an indelible mark on the city. Today, the house on North Amity Street, west of downtown, where the writer lived and worked for a time during the 1830s is a local landmark that draws visitors from across the country and around the world. But last week the Poe House Museum was forced to close temporarily, after the city ended its decades-long financial support for the institution.

Emmett Howard Allen Sr., a retired machinist who spent his later years helping rebuild trains at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, died of heart and lung conditions Wednesday in his Northeast Baltimore home. He was 85. Mr. Allen was born and raised in West Baltimore, served in the Army and retired from Westinghouse Electric Co., where he worked as a machinist in its Linthicum plant. From his first marriage, which ended in divorce, Mr. Allen had two children who survive him: Emmett Allen Jr. and Linda Allen, both of North Carolina.

A backhoe and a heavy chain will soon drag the Sykesville Model Railroad Museum to its new track home.The museum, an 80-foot-long Pullman car that CSX Railroad pulled into town last week, will be transferred to the town track near its maintenance shed.It's "no big deal," said Harold Dorsey, assistant curator for the B&O Railroad Museum, which is leasing to the car to Sykesville for $1 a year. "We do this stuff every day."Mr. Dorsey will assist in the move, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Baltimore loves dining car china that was used on the B&O Railroad.And what better evidence of that than the fact that in three months, the B&O Railroad Museum's supply of reproduction 1927 dining car china has been purchased by collectors of what has become a most famous tableware."

The traffic gets hectic at the venerable B&O Railroad Museum in Southwest Baltimore.Visiting the rich collection of retired locomotives has become an entrenched Baltimore tradition once schools close for the holidays.Thousands of families converge on the 1883 brick roundhouse for a day's worth of viewing the mighty show at the birthplace of American railroading. It's the time of the year when baby strollers outnumber the steam locomotives by about 10 to 1.People who haven't been inside the museum (about five blocks due west of Oriole Park at Camden Yards)

Any day now, Sykesville's model railroad museum could pull into town.The museum, a one-time parlor car built by the Pullman Co. in 1910, is to arrive by rail on the train that services the Old Main Line daily from Baltimore.In April, the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore offered Sykesville an 80-foot-long Pullman car for $1 a year as a "most appropriate home" for Sykesville's $10,000 model collection, said John Ott, director of the embryonic museum.Before that car could be brought to town, vandals destroyed it."

The B&O Railroad Museum, undergoing reconstruction from the heavy damage caused by February's record snowstorm, was awarded a $300,000 Community Legacy grant yesterday in Annapolis. The grant - one of the largest announced at a State House ceremony - will be used to build a restoration facility for the repair of historic trains damaged when the museum's roundhouse roof collapsed from the heavy snow. "This is an investment in a challenged part of the city," said Courtney B. Wilson, executive director of the Southwest Baltimore museum, "and a wonderful statement of significance for the museum."

Harry C. Eck, a former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad locomotive engineer who rose to become superintendent of locomotive operations and later, as a docent at the B&O Museum, shared his enthusiasm for railroading with visitors, died Saturday of pneumonia at Northwest Hospital. The Catonsville resident was 86. "You can't go wrong saying something good about Harry. He was bright and energetic," said Archie McElvany, a B&O veteran who retired as general manager of operations from successor CSX in 1988.

Temperatures climbed into the 50s and gentle winds buffeted those who had gathered outside Mount Clare Mansion to celebrate its reopening and affiliation with the B&O Railroad Museum. While bystanders waited for the official ribbon-cutting ceremonies to begin last week, they reveled in the spectacular view of Baltimore from atop the gently sloping hill where Mount Clare, built in 1760, stands overlooking Southwest Baltimore's Carroll Park. The Monumental City Fife and Drum Corps, dressed in colorful period costumes and wearing tricorn hats, serenaded those waiting with a selection of peppy 18th- and 19th-century airs.

Kenneth Allen Maylath, a veteran Baltimore broadcaster who had been host of "Conference Call" on WFBR-AM and was later news director at WCBM-AM, died Saturday of sepsis at Franklin Square Hospital Center. The longtime Parkville resident was 75. Born and raised in Westchester County, N.Y., Mr. Maylath was a 1954 graduate of Croton-Harmon High School in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. Mr. Maylath's love of radio began in the 1940s, when he listened to the network broadcasts of Arthur Godfrey, one of his favorite on-air personalities, on WCBS Radio.

Yes, Lego makes trains. And no, there's no telling how many thousands of bricks went into the making of this particular train garden. Abe Friedman smiles as he recounts the most frequent questions he's hearing this weekend at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, where an amazingly intricate and wondrously expansive Lego creation is kicking-off this season's Holiday Festival of Trains. Each weekend through the holiday season, different model railroading clubs will be setting up train gardens in the museum's roundhouse.

When the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation held its "35 Under 35 Finest" event at the B&O Railroad Museum, the 35 community volunteers being honored weren't the only winners. Anastasia Allen was a style standout in the crowd. The 31-year-old East Baltimore resident might work in a white coat during the day as a dental hygienist for Dr. Martin Levin, but she loves to dress up when she's on her own time. "Looking good always makes me feel better about myself," she says. Allen loves a "sexy chic" look, with a particular passion for handbags and shoes.

The first route of the Charm City Circulator - the long-delayed free bus service promised for central Baltimore - will make its debut Jan. 11, according to the city and the Waterfront Partnership. Previous start dates have come and gone for the project, but the city's deputy transportation director, Jamie Kendrick, insists this one is for real. "That's a hard, fast and furious date," Kendrick said. He said the reason for the holdup was a delay in receiving delivery of the clean-energy buses from the manufacturer.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and the Towson University fall film series marks the occasion with Jim Sheridan's "My Left Foot." It tells the tumultuous story of Irish author Christy Brown, who managed to write best-selling books despite cerebral palsy that left him with control only of his left foot (he used his little toe to type). Based on Brown's autobiography of the same name (he died in 1981), it's a robust, stirring, bracingly unsentimental account of a person overcoming disability.

Strasburg Rail Road Easter Bunny Train Where:: Strasburg Rail Road, Lancaster, Pa. When:: April 10-12. Train departs on the hour 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday and April 12; and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. What:: Ride a coal-burning steam train on a springtime trip through scenic farmland with Peter Cottontail as the conductor. How much: : Adults and children 12 and older, $15-$22; children ages 3-11, $9-$11. Children younger than 3 are free. A dining car is available. Tickets may be limited, so call before you go. What's nearby:: Across the street, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania features a collection of more than 100 locomotives and rail cars on display.