B&O Railroad Museum — Attraction in Baltimore

I brought my 2yo here for a weekday puppet show event. The event was fine but we showed up for the last half of it since we were running late due to traffic and ended up coming in during a craft they were doing and they didn’t have enough materials so I was going around the tables trying to scrounge up scraps myself so my kid could be part of the activity. She ended up getting fussy and we just left the event completely to go explore the museum. The museum is very pretty and was interesting to me but there weren’t too many activities for my very active 2yo to stay entertained for long. There seemed to be so many options for things to do in the outdoor playground/park outside, but everything was closed/not being actively operated by an employee which was a bummer. As a SAHM, weekday activities are huge for us so if we came here for just the museum, I would be highly upset with what was offered as activities for toddlers and young kids (aka hardly anything). If we hadn’t gone to the puppet show event, we’d basically be paying to play at a very mediocre train-themed playground. And the fact that it was a $15 ticket for a two-year-old is one of the reasons why I’m pointing this out. Young kids aren’t even free yet hardly have much to do to really be entertained for a whole morning or afternoon, especially with all the outside train rides not in service. Not sure if these ever work since this was our first visit and there were no attendants operating anything.

The museum is in a pretty creepy and dangerous looking part of Baltimore. The parking lot is gated but anyone can enter since there’s no attendant, so it doesn’t really feel safe.

Lastly (and most importantly in my book), they have all gender restrooms but when I went into one of them to change my daughter’s diaper, the changing table was right there out in the open instead of being tucked away in a stall for privacy. My god. What genius thought that was okay? I wouldn’t expose myself in front of men or boys so why the hell would I expose my child? Stick the damn changing table into a stall and give families some privacy. I don’t even necessarily love when changing tables are out in the open in the WOMEN’S restroom let alone one where any random man or boy could come in and see my child getting changed. Absolutely NOT okay and definitely something to keep in mind for any families with young children. I ended up changing her in the privacy of our car and heading home.

Maybe if your kid is older and is obsessed with trains this place will be a hit but the whole experience just wasn’t...

This experience, was magical for my daughter. It is something we wanted to do as a family for a long time and the tickets are so hard to get. I was a bit unsure about parking my car in the lot, it's not in the best neighborhood. However, they have attendants and it is gated/free.

When we first got there and we're waiting in the Warehouse, where the old trains are, I was pretty nervous about the experience with how old everything looks. But, that's all part of it, because the railroad has been there for a long time.

After most of the people get inside the warehouse and tickets checked, they turn on some music and the kids dance a bit, most people were in pajamas And then the show starts with the conductor and the little girl. It looks like exactly the same as the movie.

They call the classes and you walk through a maze of lights along with some actors that portray the movie characters And then your shuttled into your cabin. I can't speak for the other cabins because you only walk into yours, but we had the first class - parlor and it was great. You can tell it's pretty old and they do a lot of shows, but there was no lackluster in the theme or smiles on everybody's faces. They passed out hot chocolate and cookies (again, I think only for First Class they do that?) And there were two girls that were dancing to the music just like they did on the movie. It was quite magical, my daughter had a smile from ear to ear the entire time. Santa came on and the train, talked with the kids, took pics and gave out bells. The train does move, felt like a quarter of a mile( I have no idea how far) each direction. Everything seemed pretty quick, maybe an hour from start to finish on the train. Our showtime was 5:30 and We got there around 5:00, I would recommend definitely getting there at least 20 minutes early. And we exited the train into the museum around 7:00 p.m.. however, we did not get on the train at 5:30 it was more like 6:00.

The museum was quite amazing too, just to see the old history and the trains that they have preserved. That's all indoors, they have a beautiful tree, activities for the kids, a little food truck for purchase, and just fun things to do and see. We were in there for about 30 minutes and then we left because we had to drive home.

Was it worth the price? I think it was because when you have kids at a young age it's more about the experience and memories. My daughter is still talks about it, and she's 10. So for me it was...

This review is in reference to the polar express train offered each holiday season.

My extended family and I purchased bronze tickets several weeks before our arrival and looked forward to our experience. One of the children in our party was handicapped, and as a result we were instructed to relocate to the gold line in order to view the pre-boarding performance, after waiting an hour for the experience to begin. Before we boarded the train an adult in our party confirmed with a staff member that it was ok to remain in the gold line while boarding; we were instructed that it was.

Unfortunately, once we arrived at the gold car, after disassembling the handicap child’s wheelchair, we were told that there were not enough available seats for our party and that we were required to present gold car wristbands. Unable to do so, we were escorted from the gold car, through the silver car and eventually to the bronze car which appeared drastically different in terms of seating options and amenities. In fact, the seats were not upholstered as described and instead were visibly soiled and disheveled as pictured below. In addition, the windows were covered in soot as pictured below.

Once the show began, which only consisted of one performer and walk throughs by actors playing Santa and the homeless character, we were told we were only entitled to one tote bag per family despite the website advertising that each passenger would receive their own tote bag and hot chocolate to drink. Recognizing Covid may have impacted their ability to serve hot chocolate, there is still no excuse for their failure to provide each member of our party a tote bag.

As you can imagine, this did not meet my family’s expectations based on the website’s description and ultimately led to an inconvenient and embarrassing experience for a group of Black American children, their parents and caretakers. Moreover, it was a direct result of a simple misunderstanding induced by B&O staff and false advertising with regard to the bronze experience. I advise anyone who is considering this as an alternative to their typical holiday plans, to save their...