CSX CEO Angel to co-chair B&O Railroad Museum's anniversary campaign

CSX President and CEO Steve Angel has been named co-chair of the B&O Railroad Museum's $38 million dollar capital campaign to transform its campus in preparation for the 200th Anniversary of American Railroading in 2027.

Angel, who was named CSX's president and CEO in September, joins Benjamin Griswold IV as co-chair of the campaign, B&O Museum officials said in a press release.

The capital campaign will fund the museum campus project, which will start with the restoration of the South Car Works building — the oldest, continuously operating railroad repair facility in the United States. The 33,000-square-foot structure will be restored and become the museum's new front entrance. 

The project also calls for the museum campus flow to be restructured to face southwest Baltimore in an effort to spur community economic development and to create the CSX Bicentennial Garden, a public amphitheater and green space for community use. CSX has made a $5 million contribution toward the creation of the garden.

“CSX, as the proud successor to America’s first commercial railroad, is committed to honoring our heritage while advancing the future of rail,” said Angel. “Co-chairing the B&O Museum’s 200th Anniversary Campus Transformation Campaign is an opportunity to help shape how that story is told – connecting past achievements with the innovation driving our industry forward."

Restoration of the South Car Works building will create space for an "Innovation Hall" to exhibit the present and future of U.S. railroading technology, add state-of-the-art educational space and house the museum's archives. Groundbreaking for the project occurred in May, with an estimated completion date of October 2026.

To date, the museum has raised $28 million dollars of the needed $38 million.

Campaign co-chair Griswold is the great-great-great-great grandson of Alexander Brown, who in 1800 founded Alex Brown & Sons, the first investment bank in the United States. It was also at Alex Brown’s house in 1827 where the Baltimore merchants convened to charter the first American common carrier railroad, the B&O Railroad. Griswold is currently chairman emeritus of W.P. Carey Inc. and trustee emeritus of the Johns Hopkins University.

To learn more about the museum project and plans for the 200th anniversary of U.S. railroading, read this article in RailPrime.