Located in an historic southwest neighborhood of Baltimore City, the B&O Railroad Museum is a campus of historic structures, known as the birthplace of the American railroad;  including the first passenger station: Mount Clare Station (circa 1851)  and adjacent rail car shops, and the iconic roundhouse (circa 1884), housing the most significant collection of railroad artifacts and rollingstock, including both locomotives and cars, which began providing passenger service in 1830 via horse-drawn steel-wheeled cars.  The B&O Railroad company formed in 1829 at this site, where the first long distance commercial track was laid; stretching to Ellicott Mills (now Ellicott City) and where the first passenger train and station were put into service in 1830. A National Historic Landmark (since 1961) also affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum collects and preserves artifacts related to the early railroad industry in America. The massive roof system sits atop of a 2-foot-thick, 25-foot-high brick wall and has four distinct parts: lower roof, clerestory, upper roof and lantern. The section felled, was fully half of the lower roof, covering the storage bays for the trains. Most of the collapsed roof fell on 19th century train cars, which are among the most rare of the museum collection.

WEI was working with the museum, on rehabilitation of the exterior of the (rail) car shop; on the same campus as the historic roundhouse,  at the time of the devastating roof collapse.  Thus, WEI conservators and craftsmen provided rough carpentry and structural restoration, following a mammoth snow storm in 2003.  The central support columns of the structure remained standing, while the supporting iron struts and ties of the destroyed roofing sections failed under the snow load. The museum suffered heavy damage not only to the roundhouse itself but also to the historic rail stock collection within the roundhouse.  WEI replaced remaining timbers, 50 feet in length,  which were deemed structurally unstable.  As well, WEI re-installed salvaged select such timbers of the roof framing.  WEI also fabricated, and installed, metal structural brackets; installed exceptionally long tie-rods at the re-installed timber roof framing members; including 43’ long turnbuckles per the structural design and specifications, to contribute to a near-miraculous restoration of a most iconic building of the first section of railroad in the US.