Baltimore Streetcar Museum, Inc.

06/19/2026

Welcome to Feature Friday! This week, we feature a unique sponsorship opportunity for a unique artifact.

While streetcars are the main focus of both the artifacts and the living history experience at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, in order to tell the complete story of public transportation, our collection includes several historic motor buses. Approximately 18 months ago, we acquired former Baltimore Transit Company (BTC) bus 1426 from another museum, and this week we moved the vehicle to temporary offsite storage.

BTC 1426 was constructed by General Motors in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1947 and served Baltimore for many years. Originally purchased to replace streetcars, BTC 1426 outlived the last streetcar lines before newer bus models finally replaced it. A private owner saved this historic vehicle from scrap, restoring it to its 1947 appearance. It was subsequently featured in movie shoots and past MTA Bus Rodeos before the owner donated it to a museum focused on rubber-tired vehicles. BTC 1426 wears the same colors and has the same general design as the bus made famous by the late Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama.
This vehicle has the potential to be a rolling ambassador for our museum and Baltimore history in general. It needs a general freshening up and a little TLC to be roadworthy and presentable again, but the potential is there. A refurbished BTC 1426 could be available for parades, parties, community events like Touch A Truck, and public display in areas beyond the limits of our demonstration streetcar line.

Here's where you can help, we are looking for sponsors to fund portions (or all) of the refurbishment work necessary to bring this vehicle back to its former glory. We are also seeking an enclosed storage location where this artifact can be protected from the elements while our new museum campus is constructed, perhaps one where it can be also visited and displayed. Please reach out to us for more information on sponsoring the return of this bus as a living part of Baltimore's public transportation history!

For a glimpse of BTC 1426 in operating condition after its first restoration, we welcome you to watch the following videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bu5xJtv2Cg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOMW80FkLUQ

Artifacts like BTC 1426 help us fulfill our mission of being an educational and cultural resource on the history of public transportation in Baltimore and beyond. We welcome you to join us in this noble endeavor!

06/17/2026

It’s a great day for a streetcar ride! We are open today 10AM-3PM for Special Summer Wednesdays.

06/16/2026

We are proud to be partners in the beautification of our community!

The Baltimore Streetcar Museum has recently made substantial progress improving the physical appearance of our museum grounds and facilities. We are excited to share a few examples of what we've accomplished and discuss some of our future plans.
Over the past several weeks, our cleanup efforts included repainting the exterior sign and benches, planting and maintaining our flower stands, deep cleaning the windows at our Visitors Center, renewed efforts to remove graffiti from our buildings, and completely trimming and cleaning grass, weeds, and shrubs along the entire length of our demonstration streetcar line.

Our generous donors have sponsored the work on our sign, benches, planting, and window cleaning, and our new landscaping contractor has done an outstanding job bringing our lawns and right-of-way to a higher level of upkeep. Our partners at the City of Baltimore have aided our efforts with their ongoing work to assist with debris cleanup at our 28th Street Loop and continue to curb, deter, and remove illegal dumping along Falls Road. Furthering these efforts will require time, effort, and collaboration but we are very pleased with the progress to date.
To further improve our appearance, we are truly grateful to the National Railway Historical Society's Heritage Grants Program (https://nrhs.com/programs/heritage-grants/) for their recent grant award, which enables us to fence and protect the historic Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad Freight House at 2201 Falls Road. Their grant, along with a match provided by a museum donor, will enable our museum to protect this area from trespassing and vandalism. It will also allow for the removal of graffiti and the repainting of this structure to achieve a historic appearance appropriate for a structure submitted for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

We are always looking for new sponsors and volunteers to support these efforts! If you are interested in sponsoring a part of our beautification efforts, volunteering in hands on capacity, or both, please contact us and we will be happy to share ways to get involved.

Great things are happening at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum! We are incredibly grateful for all of our supporters and welcome new collaborators take part in our exciting future.

06/14/2026

This week, we celebrate something very special for Feature Friday - partnership! In particular, we celebrate the six decades of partnership and collaboration with our friends and colleagues at the National Capital Trolley Museum.

The Baltimore Streetcar Museum and the National Capital Trolley Museum were one organization until 1966, when the museum site near Lake Roland had to be vacated and obtaining a single new location to preserve the respective collections from Baltimore and Washington, DC was not feasible. Since that time, even as two separate organizations, volunteers and staff from both groups work together in many ways and share the joy and satisfaction that comes from making positive contributions benefiting a broader part of historic preservation and education.

This weekend, BSM and NCTM are collaborating to host a visit from noted artist J. Craig Thorpe this coming Saturday, June 13 (at National Capital) and Sunday, June 14 (at Baltimore). By working together, the public has a broader opportunity to meet Craig and learn about his exciting work, first hand.

Our partnership goes beyond special events. BSM and NCTM volunteers have worked together for the past several years to preserve and maintain the oldest cars in the NCTM collection: former Washington, DC streetcars 522 and 09, respectively. Last weekend, volunteers from both organizations installed custom-designed and fabricated resistor grid mounts under Car 522. This installation allows the resistor grids to be mounted properly, enabling the restoration of the car's interior to continue. Mike Lawson from BSM designed and fabricated the custom mounts for Car 522 and Richard Freedman from NCTM has been leading the interior restoration.

We also have a growing number of streetcar operators who have pursued qualifications at both museums, broadening the pool of volunteers available to provide a unique and special living history experience to visitors from the neighborhood and around the world at both locations.

Preserving our public transportation history and providing a related educational experience does not happen in a vacuum. We are honored to continue working together with all of our colleagues and partners both at NCTM and beyond to deliver the best possible experience to all visitors and provide a unique, motivating, and welcoming experience to our volunteers.

06/08/2026

We are excited to announce a remarkable and unique special event, in collaboration with our colleagues at the National Capital Trolley Museum (www.dctrolley.org).

The Baltimore Streetcar Museum and The National Capital Trolley Museum will host renowned artist J. Craig Thorpe (https://jcraigthorpe.com/) on the weekend of June 13-14.

Craig will speak about his works related to electric railways at the National Capital Trolley Museum on Saturday, June 13 at 1PM and at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum on Sunday, June 14 at 1 PM. Attendance is included with your admission to each respective museum on the date of the event - there is no additional charge!

Copies of Craig's book "Railroads, Art, and American Life: An Artist's Memoir" will be available for sale at both locations and prints of Craig's latest work "All In A Day's Work", commissioned by The Baltimore Streetcar Museum, will be available on Sunday. Craig will be available to sign autographs of his book and prints as well.

We are honored to host Craig for this remarkable event and hope you will join us for this unique opportunity.

06/05/2026

It's Feature Friday once again! This week, we celebrate the return of Baltimore Transit Company Car 6119 to public operation after a two-year absence.
Car 6119 is a favorite streetcar among many of our visitors, members, and volunteers. Constructed in 1930 as part of a fleet of 150 similar vehicles, Car 6119 represented substantial refinement in streetcar design compared with earlier vehicles, featuring comfortable leather seats, large windows, and rapid acceleration. This class of vehicle was Baltimore's last example of conventional streetcar technology, before PCC type cars (such as the museum's Car 7407) ushered in an entirely new generation of streetcar design, control, and comfort.
Over the last two years, Car 6119 received heavy maintenance including fabrication of new brake shoes, overhaul of the rear brake valve, replacement of its compressed air tanks, selected replacement of air piping, and fabrication of new underfloor splash guards.
Car 6119 returned to public operation on Sunday, May 31 and was in operation for the opening of our new Summer Wednesday operations on June 3 (which itself was a great success as we had a number of new visitors and welcomed a new member and volunteer).
The return of Car 6119 to public operation was made possible by the generous contributions of our donors combined with the hard work and selfless dedication of several of our maintenance and restoration volunteers. Thank you, all!
Be sure to visit our official YouTube page to see a short video of Car 6119 after its return to service - the direct link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBl7Sq76MME.

05/29/2026

Welcome to this week's Feature Friday! This week we feature some exciting progress on one of our most unique restoration projects and, most importantly, the growing team that makes this possible.

Thanks to the continued growth of our volunteer base and the support of our generous benefactors, our museum continues to accelerate progress on several long-term streetcar restoration projects, including our former Newark, NJ streetcar #26.

Car #26 is more than just an exciting restoration, it represents part of our transition to the future. When completed, Car #26 will be the first historic vehicle in our collection configured to provide access to visitors with limited mobility. This long-sought goal for our museum is getting closer to reality.

In recent months, thanks to a new crew of weekday volunteers, progress on this major project has accelerated. Our volunteers come from all walks of life, representing diverse ages and backgrounds, but all share a common passion - preserving our history for the educational benefit of visitors now and in the future. Additionally, as these photos show, our volunteers love what they do and have fun!

Our volunteers' amazing work includes both physical labor and research, such as recreating location and era-specific details, like vintage advertisements, for our historic vehicle collection and exhibits.

We want you to experience the joy of volunteering and join our growing team! We have many opportunities available, and we'd be happy to welcome you. Please contact us and our Volunteer Coordinator will reach out to you with more information about how to get started.

05/22/2026

Welcome to our latest Feature Friday! This week, we are happy to share a new documentary on streetcar preservation in Maryland, featuring our museum and our colleagues at the National Capital Trolley Museum.

Anthony Vo, a college student and active volunteer with both organizations, produced this excellent video. Thank you, Anthony!

The Baltimore Streetcar Museum and the National Capital Trolley Museum started as one organization more than six decades ago. As explained in the video, circumstances dictated that the single group become two separate organizations to find stable locations to preserve the Baltimore and Washington area artifacts, respectively. However, our museum and our colleagues at NCTM have maintained and continue to cultivate a cordial, collaborative, and mutually supportive relationship. We are truly grateful for all of our volunteers, including individuals like Anthony who graciously donate their time to support both organizations in a spirit of teamwork and for the broad interests of historic preservation. We believe that collaboration, both internal and external, is essential for delivering positive impacts to our local communities and beyond.

Video link:

Originally produced for a college project, this documentary takes a look at the history of streetcars in Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, DC, and the con...