Dear Friends of the B&O Railroad Museum:

The Roundhouse construction team has completed the installation of ten of the 22 new trusses. These ten trusses span the portion of the roof that collapsed. The original trusses were made of wrought iron rolled at the B&O Railroad's shops in Cumberland, Maryland. They consisted of three sections riveted together. The new trusses meet International Building Code requirements, are steel, and continuously welded throughout. In an effort to make the reconstructed Roundhouse appear as similar to the original, façade rivet plates have been affixed to the new trusses.

In addition, during the last two weeks, the construction team has begun construction of new king and queen posts, wooden rafters, and decking. The building is made up of multiple components that are interrelated to work as one unit. Therefore, the trusses support the king and queen posts, and the king and queen posts support the rafters and wood/slate decking, as well as keep the trusses aligned. The temporary steel bracing beams (seen in Restoration Report July 4, 2003 images) between the trusses are removed once the vertical rafters are in place.