CSX's Hinrichs to lead B&O Museum capital campaign

CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs will chair the B&O Railroad Museum's $30 million capital campaign to transform the museum’s campus in preparation for the 200^th anniversary of American railroading in 2027, CSX announced yesterday.

The museum is in Baltimore on the original grounds of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the first commercially chartered railroad in the country in 1827.

The 40-acre museum campus contains the first mile of commercial track ever laid in the country, as well as eight historic buildings. The museum plans to restore the South Car Works building, which is the oldest, continuously operating railroad repair facility in the United States. The 33,000-square-foot building will become the museum's new entrance. The campus flow will be reimagined to spark community economic development in southwest Baltimore.

To kick off the capital campaign, CSX has donated $5 million to build a CSX Bicentennial Garden, an amphitheater and multi-use space that can host community gatherings.

When completed, the revamped museum campus will become a "one-of-a-kind learning experience for generations to come," said Hinrichs in a press release.

"CSX is the proud successor to America’s first commercial railroad — the Baltimore & Ohio. As proud as we are of our heritage, we are equally excited about the future. Both the future of our modern transportation company, and the future of the dynamic and visionary B&O Railroad Museum," Hinrichs said.