Baggage Car at Baltimore Camden Station

[Dino]

Can someone tell me what is the purpose of the old baggage car in faded MARC livery that sits at Camden Station in Baltimore? I have never seen it move, ever since I've been visting B'more sporadically since 2005 for Orioles games, etc.

 

[Acela150]

I believe it's an old HEP car that has no use anymore and that's where they decided to put it. Just a guess.

 

[CHamilton]

Many years ago (1970s-80s?) MARC used an old baggage car as a ticket office. I haven't been to Baltimore in a long time, but I wonder if that's the car you are referring to.

 

[Acela150]

That makes alot more sense.

 

[Ryan]

Many years ago (1970s-80s?) MARC used an old baggage car as a ticket office. I haven't been to Baltimore in a long time, but I wonder if that's the car you are referring to.

I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

 

[CHamilton]

I found a footnote about this in Baltimore's Light Rail (Harwood, 1995):

B&O's Camden Station "stayed active into the 1980s when it was finally replaced by a reconverted B&O dining car placed behind the building." (p. 24)

Amazing, the stuff one finds on one's bookshelves.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

I found a footnote about this in Baltimore's Light Rail (Harwood, 1995):

B&O's Camden Station "stayed active into the 1980s when it was finally replaced by a reconverted B&O dining car placed behind the building." (p. 24)

Amazing, the stuff one finds on one's bookshelves.

I don't know about the present car at Camden Station, but the old dining car that was there was donated by MARC to the B&O RR Museum - sometime after 2000 - where it is now located. Its been restored to an extent, and the former dining area now houses a historical display about the history of dining, and dining cars, along (primarily) the B&O. There is a really nice collection of B&O china in it - including some from the old Deer Park Hotel and Spa, which was owned by the B&O and was located in Garrett County (Named for a former president of the B&O.), Maryland. The hotel closed in 1929, but the name lives on in the form of Deer Park Spring Water, which was originally bottled at the springs by the B&O and served aboard the dining cars.

 

[CHamilton]

Thanks for the update! I haven't been to the B&O Museum in way too long, but may get there this summer. I'll definitely be on the lookout for the dining car you describe.