Train lovers have something to say about the B&O museum’s name change

The B&O Railroad Museum has a new name, and a vocal corner of the rail-fan world is steamed.

The Baltimore institution rebranded last month as the National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation, a shift museum leaders describe as necessary to stay relevant and boost fundraising.

But “B&O” had been in the museum’s name since it opened in 1953 as the B&O Transportation Museum. It stands for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the country’s first common-carrier railroad, chartered in Baltimore in 1827.

The more generic name erases that local connection — and pride — some argue. Museum leaders counter that the name change is about adding, not subtracting.

Jonathan Claire, a 35-year-old Gaithersburg resident, said he bought a museum membership earlier this year and understands the financial logic of the name change. Still, he said, the museum could have picked something snazzier.

“It almost comes off as an SEO type name,” he said. “There was a valid reasoning to do it, but I don’t think this was it.”

(He plans to renew his membership regardless.)

Backlash to the name change was immediate in online rail-fan forums, and an online petition calling for the museum to reverse course is circulating.

“It rubbed everyone in the community the wrong way,” said Raph Snow, 22, a New York-based railroad enthusiast who is active in several forums.

“It’s a spit in the face to organizations like the ones that I run and volunteer at where it’s like trains aren’t good enough,” Snow said of the museum’s new focus on innovation.

With the B&O’s bicentennial right around the corner, the timing of the name change struck Richard Slattery, 68, of Alexandria, Virginia, as especially terrible. He’s also active in rail-fan forums.

“It’s sort of like killing off Grandma right before her 100th birthday party,” Slattery said.

Having visited more than 100 railroad museums, Slattery also criticized the museum for not laying out enough of a public plan for how it intends to become a national institution.

“If there was some need to change the name, I would think they owed us an explanation for that,” Slattery said.

Kris Hoellen, the museum’s executive director, said the B&O isn’t disappearing. It’s in the museum’s roundhouse, car shops and grounds.

“The B&O will never be left behind,” Hoellen said. “It is our foundation, and we are ensuring its long-term sustainability and bringing it forward for future generations.”

Hoellen said the change to the National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation will also help the institution attract more donors.

“Anyone who cares about the B&O Railroad and the B&O historic site must want us to be financially sustainable into the long term.”

Brad Rogers, president of the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, which pledged $2 million to the restoration of the South Car Works building, called the backlash “well-intentioned but misplaced.”

He pointed to the redesigned campus and its opening of an archival room as proof that it wasn’t abandoning its history.

Rogers said the campus expansion, which will open toward the Pigtown neighborhood rather than turn inward, should drive more foot traffic to local businesses.

Nick Bulgarino, 30, who volunteers in the museum’s archives, said he shares some frustrations with other train enthusiasts — but thinks the backlash has gone off the rails.

He said it overshadows a renovation plan that he considers largely positive, including the restoration of the South Car Works building and public access to the archives.

“I see this move as one that’s going to help extend the longevity of the museum and bring in money for the general fund,” Bulgarino said.

John Geist, a museum volunteer since 2005, said the shift fits the institution’s history of changing names for the better.

It dropped “Transportation” from its name decades ago.