A bit of East Coast railroad history that was reborn last year in Baltimore has gone largely unnoticed, but it merits attention of the railroad community. On Sunday night, thanks to my good friend and historian John P. Hankey, I spent the night in downtown Baltimore at the Hotel Monaco. If that doesn’t sound railroad-like, it isn’t, but the 13-story building at the intersection of South Charles and East Baltimore streets cannot escape its past as the former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad headquarters. Built in 1906, the hotel retains many features of the old office building, Hakeem Bilal, the bartender (intoxicologist in the modern vernacular, Hakeem told me; who knew?) who served me a tasty burger and a frosty beer at the B&O Brasserie restaurant on the first floor. You’ll find them in the marble staircase, the mail chutes, and the fact that the guest rooms retain the same dimensions and ceiling heights as in olden days (my room, 710, had a spacious sitting room, a bathroom with two-person whirlpool and a walk in shower, and then the bedroom — bigger than most of the apartments in my younger days). The elevators, which John reminded me always had operators until CSX sold the building in the 1980s, lack a 13th floor button, owing to the superstition of a past B&O president. If you’re driving down Charles Street, you can’t miss the building: in the window of the restaurant is the B&O logo. Stop in, say hello to Hakeem, and spend a night in a place of reverence for those of us who love railroad history. Great railroad leaders like Daniel Willard and Jervis Langdon walked these halls. Now you can, but your decision doesn’t affect the course of railroading; just your appreciation of it.
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