Oakland B&O Museum Speaker Series

Speaker Presentation:

The Impossible Challenge: Baltimore Invents the American Railroad

IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE, the invention of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, is a story once told with pride in Maryland classrooms.  A tale of adventure and adversity,  break-throughs and breakdowns, frustrations and unparalleled successes, building the first common carrier railroad  in the USA was an astonishing accomplishment.  And it happened right here in Maryland! Come and hear what it took to build an iron ‘rail road from Baltimore to the Ohio River’ where none had ever been built before. The CHALLENGE, a story of American can-do against IMPOSSIBLE odds.

Event Location:  Oakland B&O Station and Museum, 117 E. Liberty Street, Oakland, MD.  Doors open at 6:30 and speakers begin at 7:00.  All are welcome!

Co-Speakers Bios

Sharon and Herbert Harwood.

- Sharon is a renowned historian and speaker. She is a graduate of Goucher College and is retired from the Montgomery County School System. Her family’s careers cover 120 years in American railroading and provide the foundation of her interest in the industry. Sharon’s father, George M. Beischer, was Chief Mechanical Officer on the old B&O and a role model for her. 

- Sharon is married to Herbert H. Harwood, Jr., a retired CSX official whose grandfather was in charge of the construction of Grand Central Terminal in New York. Herb’s 30 year railroading career began in the finance department of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and continued until his retirement in 1986 as Director of Commercial Administration for the combined C&O-B&O railroads. Both of these railroads are predecessors of the present CSX Transportation. He has authored about 11 books on railroad and trolley history, including several on various aspects of B&O Railroad history. One of his best known books is The Impossible Challenge.