B&O Museum controversy

[John]

The B&O museum recently announced a name change

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[Mark5]

Yeah, I saw that. 

[Dave V]

So... I'm seeing a lot of angst about this on social media. Why are we supposed to be upset?

[N Scale Train Boy]

IDK, this just feels like a kinda corporate and unnecessary rebrand. I know a lot of folks are worried this means they will lose a lot of the focus the museum has traditionally had on Baltimore history/the B&O, I don't have a strong feeling on that as someone who isn't from the area, but I think that is a valid concern. My biggest personal gripe is the new logo looks very underwhelming graphically, LOL. We'll just have to wait and see what happens I guess.

[Mark5]

So... I'm seeing a lot of angst about this on social media. Why are we supposed to be upset?

From my perspective, the museum has always been the B&O museum, located in a very B&O historical site (B&O Mt Clare shops, roundhouse from 1884, etc) and is arguably the birthplace of American railroading.

The museum was created by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the early 1950s, so it seems to be a bit of a slap in the face of its own heritage.

I do recognize that the museum owns significant non-B&O historical equipment.

I have no control over them, so they will do what they're gonna do - I'm just not particularly liking this decision.

[Dave V]

I mean yeah, I know the B&O history (although I was just a kid when I went the one and only time) but if this also comes with an expansion and major funding, I guess it's not all bad?

[John]

I don't know how I feel about it .. BANTRAK sets up some NTRAK every year around the holidays, and it used to be our major fund raiser -- It's not really my favorite place.  The last time I was there, some homeless guy on crack a block from the place jumped on the hood of my truck and started beating on it .. had to "nudge" him out of the way ..

[Jesse6669]

I think "management" has a tendency to do things just to appear busy, that, in retrospect, are a waste of time and money.  We shall see.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Being a Baltimore guy who's professionally involved with modernizing railroad preservation efforts I here are my thoughts on the B&O Museum's name and mission change.

I think the preservation community needs to give them the benefit of the doubt. I think a lot of train people don't really appreciate the potential of train "stuff" outside of dedicated enthusiasts and forget that a public museum like this needs to cater to them as much, if not more so, than railroad enthusiasts. The name change reflects their attempts to do that.

In a world where you've either gotta grow or die it's tough to grow when the thing you're supposedly telling the story of ended decades ago and you've already mined it for modern interpretive content you can. In order to do that they've got to rescope their mission.
Lets be honest, plenty of train people care about the B&O, but as time goes on it has less and less relevance to the general public on who the museum relies for support.

Museums are not just a place to store a bunch of old stuff. They exist to connect the dots between that old stuff and its significance.
 
Focusing on the innovation side of things is actually a pretty smart approach. It's a space that OTHER rail museums don't focus on. The B&O museum is literally the home of a number of important "firsts" and their collection includes a great illustration of rapid technological progress. This is a great thing to focus on because the history of railroading and innovation actually has lessons applicable to people of today.

I'm involved in the web development world and, as you can imagine, generative AI is a huge topic of conversation. I find myself drawing analogies to the early days of rail transportation in many conversations with colleagues and clients when talking about it.

During that period of rapid advancement there were lots of things that people tried that DIDN'T work, or at least weren't optimal. This is something that people who are only familiar with the successes usually aren't aware of. Grasshoppers, Winans Camels, burning anthracite, running 3' railroads up every creek to serve every small town, building five different mainline routes between NYC and Chicago, etc... There's lot of gain but ALSO a lot of pain along the way (like the multiple financial panics that made 2008 look trivial) that people are generally not aware of. And eventually we've ended up with something that provides us an incredible economic advantage.
If they focus on telling THAT type of story then they're gonna do well and remain relevant far into the future. I think the enthusiast world really needs to get some perspective outside its own bubble.

The B&O Railroad was not a person that can have feelings that can be hurt. The best tribute to it is to create a space that tells its story and teaches the lessons that can be learned from it that can apply directly to visitors.

I do agree that there are a number of things that have been handled poorly here. I think the new logo is pretty bland in a corporate consultant way. I think the name doesn't roll off the tongue the way the old one did. And it sounds like the management of the organization is having a hard time executing on some of the fundamentals of being a railroad museum (like maintenance and supporting volunteers). Those things deserve the criticism they're getting.

The reflexive "everything new is terrible" and "change is bad" responses that I've seen all over the place seem to be missing some critical perspective. It's doing the avocation a disservice and I think is counterproductive to advancing the cause of railroad preservation.

[delamaize]

To me, It seems like they are changing the name for the sake of changing the name. I'm not opposed to changing something if it has a positive benefit to whatever you're changing. In this case, and in a lot of cases of things being changed lately, It doesn't see to provide any positive benefit, and simply is causing drama, for the sake of drama.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

To me, It seems like they are changing the name for the sake of changing the name. I'm not opposed to changing something if it has a positive benefit to whatever you're changing. In this case, and in a lot of cases of things being changed lately, It doesn't see to provide any positive benefit, and simply is causing drama, for the sake of drama.

It's more than that.

They're trying to set the museum up for its next phase of life. They need to have a better answer than "Trains are cool" for when a donor in 2070 asks them "why does this museum exist?".

Now, I don't know if I trust the current management to really do a great job of managing the transition. Obviously they haven't thus far. But there is a good idea buried in there somewhere if they can pull it off.

[Chris333]

Maybe the Wilmington & Western can take them over?   

[John]

It's like trying to pass Cracker Barrel off as a Michelin ranked restaurant ..

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's like trying to pass Cracker Barrel off as a Michelin ranked restaurant ..

I wouldn't go that far. The museum actually is a pretty good operation. They might not be IRM, but they're far from the worst. Making moves like this to stay relevant is an important part of staying that way.

Also, us railfans may cast aspersions, but the same folks who are doing this also just brought in tens of millions of dollars to restore an entire building to use that's sat dormant for decades. They must be doing something right, even if the railroad enthusiast community doesn't see it that way.

[johnb]

ok, my take...this happened to my favorite, Southern California.

name changes cam destroy heritage, and the initials can be an issue. The former Orange Empire Railway Museum is now the Southern California Railway Museum, and if you say the initials phonicly as a word, it sounds like SCRaM! That doesn't feel welcoming. By removing the name, you can confuse people who are planning a visit or researching the collection.

For the B&O Museum, they could have named the new hall the new name, or make the old round hoise be the B&O Museum at the new name.