Baltimore Society of Model Engineers

Baltimore Society of Model Engineers BSME, a model railroad club, integrating STE(A)M in planning and building model railroads in HO, O scale 2-rail, and O-gauge 3-rail. Memberships open

Preserving model and railroad history. Providing educational clinics, demonstrating railroad operations. Our mission is to further to hobby of model railroading, promote rail safety, and provide historical reference materials to the members and general public. We also display and interpret historical railroad artifacts. The society operates both HO & O Scale layouts. The O scale layout is modular

and displayed multiples times throughout the year at the Great Scale Model Train Show held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. The layout is set in early 1950s, the late steam and early diesel transition era. This means the majority of the trains will be steam and first generation diesel trains, but you will see an occasional modern passenger or freight. O scale is not the same a Lionel or O gauge, the most notable difference is no center (third) rail. If you compare O scale and O gauge car next to each other you will see more detail and more accurate dimensions of the scale cars. The HO scale layout operates modern SD-90 diesels next to a ten wheeler (4-6-0) steam train with 40 foot boxcars. This is primarily to give the visitor a look at how trains have changed through the years. The HO Layout models the fictitious railroad the Chesapeake and Western. We had to move from our long standing home on Saratoga street and are in the process of building a HO layout, in our new temporary home.

ScaleTrains is here come on down to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, Inc. For the presentation starting at 7:00
01/30/2026

ScaleTrains is here come on down to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, Inc. For the presentation starting at 7:00

Be sure to visit weekends through December. You can ride a streetcar with Santa. And special guest The Grinch Saturdays ...
12/05/2025

Be sure to visit weekends through December. You can ride a streetcar with Santa. And special guest The Grinch Saturdays from 2-4 pm.

Progress photos of our train garden created for the Rawlings Conservatory & Botanical Gardens holiday poinsettia show an...
12/04/2025

Progress photos of our train garden created for the Rawlings Conservatory & Botanical Gardens holiday poinsettia show and sale. This years show theme is Candy Garden. I'll pin the post from Rawlings to the top so you may have scroll to see these pictures.

I was going to post some more progress photos and still may, but this post by Rawlings Conservatory & Botanical Gardens ...
12/04/2025

I was going to post some more progress photos and still may, but this post by Rawlings Conservatory & Botanical Gardens gives you a peek at what the finished product has to offer.

Once again we are proud to partner with Rawlings Conservatory & Botanical Gardens to provide the train display for their...
12/01/2025

Once again we are proud to partner with Rawlings Conservatory & Botanical Gardens to provide the train display for their annual Holiday Poinsettia show and sale. We have been so busy with the install that I have been remiss in posting progress photos. Hopefully the next couple of days I'll get more posted. The theme this year is Candy Store in future photos you'll see some of how we tie into that theme, come by on December 6th to see it all when the show opens. After Saturday the show runs daily Wednesday through Sundays 10 am to 4 pm.

Train garden at the Rawlings Conservatory A Tropical Holiday poinsettia show and sale. Wed-Sun 10am-4pm through January ...
12/09/2024

Train garden at the Rawlings Conservatory A Tropical Holiday poinsettia show and sale. Wed-Sun 10am-4pm through January 5th.

Address

3500 Parkdale Avenue
Baltimore, MD
21211

Opening Hours

1pm - 5pm

Telephone

+14103759162

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Baltimore Society of Model Engineers posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Baltimore Society of Model Engineers:

Shortcuts

Share

Our Story

Our mission is to further to hobby of model railroading.

The society will be building two new layouts in our interim space as we look for a permanent place to house our collections and demonstrate rail transportation systems.

The following is for historical records and is what we had at our previous location on Saratoga St.

The society operates both HO & O Scale layouts. The O scale layout is set in early 1950s, the late steam and early diesel era. This means the majority of the trains will be Steam and first generation Diesel Trains, but you will see an occasional modern passenger or freight. O scale is not the same a Lionel or O gauge, the most notable difference is no center (third) rail. If you compare O scale and O gauge car next to each other you will see more detail and more accurate dimensions of the scale cars. The O scale layout also has a trolley system running the 65' length of the layout running off the overhead wire! You might see city trolley models of Baltimore Streetcars as well as interurban cars running on the line. The HO scale layout operates modern SD-90 diesels next to a ten wheeler (4-6-0) steam train with 40 foot boxcars. This is primarily to give the visitor a look at how trains have changed through the years. The HO Layout models the fictitious railroad the Chesapeake and Western, which operates a double track mainline from Baltimore, MD to Wheeling, WV, so the scenery reflects that. The City trolleys are undergoing restoration and expansion as the citizens look for green transportation alternatives.