Railroad Museums in Maryland

National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation (formerly B&O Railroad Museum)

Baltimore, MD · Major railroad museum

Baltimore’s former B&O Railroad Museum adopted the name National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation in July 2026. Its collections and historic railway setting connect the earliest development of American railroading with the broader changes the technology brought to the country. The museum combines major railway vehicles with exhibits about people, work and innovation. Retaining the familiar B&O name as an alternate search term will help readers find the institution while the new identity becomes established. The 1884 roundhouse is a highlight in its own right. Designed by architect E. Francis Baldwin, the 22-sided building was created to service passenger cars and arranged its work spaces around a central turntable. Its architecture helps explain nineteenth-century railway maintenance while providing a dramatic setting for the early equipment collection.

B&O Ellicott City Station Museum

Ellicott City, MD · Historic station and railroad museum

Ellicott City’s station marks the terminus of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s first thirteen miles. That connection gives this modest historic site an importance beyond the size of its exhibit space. The surviving railway buildings and interpretation help visitors imagine the early period of American passenger and freight rail service. It is a particularly useful companion to the larger Baltimore museum, offering a closer view of an early station and its relationship with a town.

Bowie Railroad Museum

Bowie, MD · Depot and railroad history museum

The Bowie Railroad Museum interprets the station’s role in the growth of Old Town Bowie. Restored railway buildings allow the city’s transportation history to be explored in the place where it happened. Exhibits connect the development of rail service after the Civil War with the community around the junction. The site is useful for readers interested in local stations and the ways a railway could create or reshape a town, rather than a large collection of locomotives.

La Plata Train Station Museum

La Plata, MD · Depot and local railroad museum

Status: Public openings reported suspended — confirm with town

La Plata’s train station museum preserves the connection between the town and the Pope’s Creek Line. Historical photographs and objects help explain how the station served the community and how the railroad fitted into local life. The town continues to seek material specifically connected with the building and route, giving the collection a focused local character. This is a compact heritage stop where the preserved station and the stories attached to it are more important than a large equipment display.

Oakland B&O Railroad Museum

Oakland, MD · Depot and railroad history museum

Oakland’s B&O Railroad Museum preserves a station associated with western Maryland’s railway history. Its building and exhibits connect local travel, railway work and the community’s development in the mountains. The station itself is a major reason to visit, allowing the architecture and arrangement of a depot to be considered alongside its historical objects. This is a focused regional attraction rather than a large train-yard collection, with current access dependent on the museum’s published opening days.

Queponco Railway Station Museum

Newark, MD · Historic depot and railroad collection

Queponco Station in Newark preserves a reminder of the period when the railroad was central to daily life on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The building’s value lies in its survival as a local railway landmark and in the history associated with the community it served. Interior access is not guaranteed, so it is best treated as a depot-heritage stop rather than a regularly staffed attraction. Avoid confusing this Newark with the separate depot museum in Delaware.

Western Maryland Railway Historical Society Museum

Union Bridge, MD · Railroad museum and archival collection

The Western Maryland Railway Historical Society preserves artifacts, memorabilia and historical material connected with a particular railroad. Founded in 1967, the society gives its Union Bridge museum a focused identity, allowing visitors to explore the Western Maryland in greater detail than a general transport museum normally provides. The collection is useful for enthusiasts researching equipment, operations and employees as well as casual visitors. Archive access should be arranged rather than assumed to accompany ordinary museum admission.

Walkersville Southern Railroad Museum

Walkersville, MD · Railroad museum and operating collection

The Walkersville Southern Railroad and Museum combines preserved railway equipment, local interpretation and scheduled train rides. The museum side adds context to the journey by exploring Maryland’s railway heritage and the line’s place in the surrounding community. This is best described as an operating preservation collection rather than merely an excursion business. Visitors interested mainly in the exhibits should check museum access separately from train departure times, particularly outside the operating season.

Irish Railroad Workers Museum

Baltimore, MD · Railroad workers’ homes and social-history museum

The Irish Railroad Workers Museum examines the lives of Irish immigrants in southwest Baltimore, placing railway history within the home and neighborhood. Its historic setting complements locomotive museums by showing the people whose labor supported the railroads and the communities they created. Personal and domestic history are central to the experience. It is a particularly useful addition for readers interested in immigration, working families and the human consequences of industrial growth rather than machinery alone.