Railroad Museum

Come on, come on, do the locomotion this weekend and celebrate American railroading at the B&O Railroad Museum. "Labor Day Weekend at the B&O" takes place Saturday and Sunday with train rides, live entertainment, interpretive programs, exhibit tours and more on this 40-acre historic site. "There's plenty for folks of all ages and interests," says Amy Getz, B&O Railroad Museum spokeswoman. "We'll have free train rides throughout the weekend ... on the `1200,' the big red locomotive. And we'll have pump-car rides for the kids.

TODAY Rodeo at the State Fair The 124th Maryland State Fair will present Battle of the Beast, a professional bullriding rodeo, at 7 p.m. in the Horse Show Ring at the fairgrounds, York and Timonium roads, Timonium. Admission to the rodeo is included in admission to the fair, which is $6, and free for children under 12. The fair will continue through Sept. 5. 410-252-0200, Ext. 227, or www.maryland statefair.com. TOMORROW Summer music Aberdeen's free summer concert series will feature music from the 1950s to the present performed by Aberdeen Councilman Mike Hiob and Mark Boyle from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Festival Park.

To visitors in Pennsylvania Dutch country, Amish horse-drawn buggies are usually among the star attractions. But in the small hamlet of Strasburg, Pa., tucked in the shadow of Lancaster about 90 miles northeast of Baltimore, trains reign supreme. Steam locomotives dating to the turn of last century chug down the tracks of the Strasburg Railroad, the oldest continuously operating railroad in the country. Across the street, more than 100 vintage rail cars are on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

At the B&O Railroad Museum in Southwest Baltimore, and in the area surrounding it, the good times are rolling again. In the three months since the museum reopened after restoring its snowstorm-damaged roundhouse, 53,400 paying visitors have come through its doors. That's nearly half the 120,000 visitors the museum typically draws in a year. Membership has doubled. Group bookings are way up. And donations are pouring in, from money to china to a Pullman car donated by a South Carolina family that heard about the reopening.

After the turkey, it'll be time to start thinking about those other holidays (as if you had any choice). Proof that the holidays are on their way is in the holiday train gardens set up throughout the area. While they aren't as prevalent as they used to be, you can still find terrifically detailed layouts at some area firehouses and museums. Below are a few of the holiday train gardens you'll want to explore: The B&O Railroad Museum is making up for lost time. Closed for nearly two years because of the devastating snowstorm and resulting roof collapse of February 2003, the museum reopened its doors to visitors earlier this month.

NATIONAL Cheney found to have a cold Vice President Dick Cheney, who has had four heart attacks, checked into a Washington hospital yesterday after suffering from shortness of breath. He underwent several hours of tests before doctors concluded he was suffering from a cold. [Page 3a] Jury unlikely to seek death As jurors prepare to rule on Scott Peterson's sentence for murdering his wife and unborn child, legal observers say California juries are increasingly deciding against the death penalty.

Watching thousands of visitors streaming through the doors, Courtney Wilson said he felt like a proud father. He looked up and admired his "baby," the 120-year-old roundhouse building and home to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, which was badly damaged in a huge snowstorm last year. "I can't believe we almost lost all of this," the museum director said quietly, as visitors milled around where, in February 2003, debris and broken iron girders from the collapsed roof lay. After months of repairs, the museum at 901 W. Pratt St. reopened its doors yesterday.

A 22-sided "roundhouse" still serves as the centerpiece of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum. Its two-tier roof with bridge-like trusses has been faithfully reproduced, and its 60-foot-wide turntable has been rebuilt. Visitors nonetheless will discover a dramatically different place when the West Baltimore museum reopens to the public today - 21 months after it was shut down by a record snowstorm that caused much of its roof to collapse on prized locomotives and railcars below. With help from insurance payments and generous donors, museum directors launched an ambitious effort to rebuild the roundhouse and repair the collection - a project expected to cost $30 million and take years to complete.

THE POTATO famine struck the west of Ireland especially hard, and this presented the agents of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad with a golden opportunity. They flooded the rocky, Gaelic-speaking counties with handbills promising jobs to anyone with a strong back and a will to emigrate. That's most likely how James and Sarah Feeley, from County Mayo, found themselves in a brick rowhouse at 918 Lemmon Street, in 1848. James went to work for the railroad, building boilers at the Mount Clare shops across Pratt Street, later joined by his eldest son. In their 10-by-26-foot house, the Feeleys raised six children -- and also took in a boarder.

After the roof crashed in on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum during a monster snowstorm last year, executive director Courtney Wilson never suspected he might find good fortune amid the rubble. Little could he have known that the venerable museum, struggling for money and attendance in recent years, was about to receive an outpouring of support that would lead to its salvation. As one of the first to arrive on the scene, Wilson was too devastated by what he saw to think that far ahead.