The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is a heritage tourist line operating out of Cumberland, MD, on ex-Western Maryland Railroad and ex-Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad trackage to Frostburg. It began operations in the spring of 1991, using a series of diesel locomotive borrowed from other railroad heritage museums.
#734 joined the WMSR roster in 1991 but it did not start in service until 1993 because it required extensive restoration. Since then, the WMSR has taken ownership of two EMD GP30s (#501 and #502) purchased from Conrail in 1995, and has collected a variety of passenger coaches, cabooses and freight cars.
I joined an excursion in June 2009. The route from Cumberland is challenging, and this is evident in the amount of work #734 has to do climbing nearly thirteen hundred feet in the sixteen miles to Frostburg. The average grade is 1.78% with a maximum of 3% on the old Cumberland and Pennsylvania section. The return trip is, naturally, somewhat easier!
Above, two views of the façade of the old Western Maryland Railroad passenger station in Cumberland. It was opened in 1913 and contained the offices of the railroad's Western Division. It was probably designed by the railroad's own architects.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Major restoration was completed in 1999 and, today, the building is called Canal Place. Operated by the National Park Service, as well as serving as a station for the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, it includes a visitors centre for the C&O Canal National Historic Park at the western end of the C&O canal path.
Rebuilding of the original track and platform arrangement at the station was completed in 1998.
The work included installing the water column at the northern end of the main platform, right, which was acquired from the North Carolina Transportation Museum.
The column is fully operational and regularly waters #734.
In the two views above, #734 steams across the North Branch of the Potomac River from Ridgeley Yard in WV. The rail bridge was built in 1910 when the Western Maryland extended its line to Connesville, PA.
Fifteen acre Ridgeley Yard was formerly used by the Western Maryland as a Car Shop. The West Virginia Central Railroad built the first yards and tracks in Ridgeley in 1887. In 1904, the West Virginia Central became the Western Maryland and, today, the WMSR uses what remains of the yards for locomotive and rolling stock maintenance work.
#734 is one of eight class 18/SC-1 Consolidation type (2-8-0) locomotives built in 1916 by Baldwin for the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad. Originally numbered #18, it was renumbered #34 in 1923.
With an engine weighing 268,000 lbs, #734 is about average weight for the time, but it has a sizeable firebox area (245 sq ft), which includes 29 sq ft of arch tubes.
#734 also has a particularly large boiler and large piston valves (14" diameter), which give it what I would call its characteristically "puggish" look.
The grate is 58.7 sq ft and the boiler originally operated at 185 psi (now 200 psi). The cylinders are 26" x 30" and the drivers 57".
Below is a series of other views of #734 at Cumberland Station while it waits to start on the day's excursion.
Two views from the train as #734 waits to leave Cumberland station.
#734 eases out of the station yard and crosses Baltimore Street.
Approaching Market Street overpass just outside the station yard.
The original Western Maryland Railway was mainly a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger operation. Chartered as the Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick Railroad in 1852, it changed its name to the Western Maryland Rail Road Company in 1853. Construction began on a line from Owings Mill in 1857 to connect with an existing line from there to Baltimore. In 1891, the WM acquired trackage rights on the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad, which included the line into Frostburg.
Passenger service on the WM began in 1859 but, by the 1950s, had declined significantly. It had ceased on the Frostburg section in 1918, and stopped completely on the WM in 1959. The railroad was acquired by the B&O and C&O in 1968, after which much of its trackage was abandoned.
#734 nudges round the Narrows where Wills Creek cuts between the 1,000' Haystack and Wills Mountains. For many years this was a natural access point west to the Ohio Valley. The old B&O (now CSX) line and the National Road (40A) run on the other side of Wills Creek.
Above, the WMSR line crosses the highway and Braddock Run on a 60' high 300' long truss bridge built in 1910.
From Braddock Run, the line continues about two miles further near Wills Creek heading north-east before swinging back through almost 180° into Cash Valley.
The view above is of #734 on the curve turning back to the south-west.
Near this point is a rock cave known as "Bone Cave", which was uncovered when a new cut was being excavated along Andy's Ridge for the railway in 1912. The cave was found to contain fossilised bones of forty-one different species, a number of which were from the Pleistocene Age, including a sabre tooth tiger. Today, little is left of the original contents.
Above, #734 on the straight section of track heading south-west and approaching Helmsetter Curve.
The crossing ahead is Manteo Drive NW.
Above, #734 entering Helmsetter Curve.
It is apparently named after the family that owns the farm inside the curve.
Above, two views of #734 on Helmsetter Curve. At the top, Cash Valley Road crossing.
This is a favourite spot for photographing WMSR trains, with unobstructed views from a nearby cemetery. Much of the land is privately owned but access is sometimes arranged by WMSR for photo-freight runs.
As the track passes across Cash Valley, the locomotive is climbing a 1.78% grade.
A half mile further on, the train approaches Brush Tunnel. This is the only tunnel on the WMSR. It passes through a ridge on the north-eastern side of Piney Mountain at the northern end of the Blue Ridge Mountain Range.
Brush Tunnel opened in 1911. It is 914' long and 26' high from the rail head.
The tunnel was originally built with two tracks but, as one track has been abandoned, this allows the Allegheny Highlands Trail, part of the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, to pass through the tunnel for both hikers and cyclists.
Beyond Brush Tunnel, the track rounds the north face of Piney Mountain and continues high above Jennings Run for about two miles. The train then enters Woodcock Hollow, where it traverses another horseshoe curve. The four views above show #734 approaching and then rounding the curve at Woodcock Hollow.
There are places on this curve where both sides of the track can be seen at the same time. When long freight trains ran through here, engine crews could look directly across the valley at the train's caboose. From here, trains head north up the opposite side of the valley along the east side of Federal Hill.
Above, the summer sunlight slants through trackside trees and is reflected back by the boiler, cab and tender of #734 a few miles from Frostburg.
Two miles before reaching Frostburg, the WMSR line leaves what used to be the Western Maryland main line. From here, the Western Maryland main line once continued west towards Connellsville, PA, but it is now abandoned.
At this point, known as "Number Nine" junction or "Number Nine Switch", #734 crosses onto the old Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. The grade reaches 3% on this last stretch of the haul up to Frostburg. It is the steepest part of the line, and #734 is working hard!
Above, after the long climb, #734 pulls into Frostburg.
The train lays over here for about an hour so that passengers can stretch their legs and get lunch. When I travelled, there were also Park Rangers on the train who provided information on the railroad and entertained child passengers.
Above, some views of #734 standing at Frostburg. The station is nestled at the head of Georges Creek Valley.
The Cumberland and Pennsylvania was chartered in 1850. Its main line used to run thirty-two miles from Cumberland to Piedmont, passing through a tunnel under the town of Frostburg. It interchanged with the B&O at Cumberland and Piedmont, with the Western Maryland at Westernport and with the Pennsylvania Railroad at State Line, just north of Ellerslie, MD.
With twelve stations along the route, the C&P served Frostburg and mining communities in the Georges Creek area until 1944, when it was purchased by the Western Maryland. The two operations were formally merged in 1953
The Western Maryland owned fourteen hundred miles of track at its most extensive, serving Maryland, parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia and competing with the B&O over the Alleghenies.
After being bought by the B&O and C&O in 1968, WM ceased operating as a separate entity when it became part of the Chessie System in 1973. In 1987, its operations were folded into CSX Transportation.
Many of the railroad's original lines have been abandoned or converted into rail trails. However, in addition to CSX, portions of what remains are now operated by the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad, the Maryland Midland Railway, York Railway and Baltimore Metro, as well as WMSR.
From left to right above, turning #734 is probably one of the most photographed parts of every run. The 100' turntable was moved to Frostburg from another ex-Western Maryland railway yard in Elkins, WV.
After the turn, #734 runs past the cars on a siding, passes through a set of points and reverses to rejoin the train ready to haul it back to Cumberland.
As #34, the locomotive had a long career with the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad, working out of Marquette, MI. It was retired in 1951 and stayed on the company's dead line at Marquette until the railroad sold three 18/SC-1s to the Marquette & Huron Mountain tourist railroad (#32, #34 and #35). In November 1967, #34 was sold to the Illinois Railway Museum.
Then, in 1991, it was bought by the WMSR and underwent a restoration and rebuild, including increasing boiler pressure to 200 psi, replacing the tender with New York Central Mohawk #2662's, as well as a number of other cosmetic changes to make it more resemble a WM H-7 class 2-8-0.
Above, a panorama (note the Western Maryland "fireball" on the tender) and, below, a series of photographs of #734 standing at Frostburg prior to departing on the return trip.
The locomotive was not originally fitted with an automatic stoker, nor was this done during the 1992/3 WMSR restoration. The current stoker was finally installed by WMSR in 1998.
Other changes to ex-LSI #34 to make it look more like WM H-7 #734 included relocating the cross-compound air pump from the side of the pilot to the running board on the left side and removing the feedwater pump.
The bell is from WM H-9 class #816, also a 2-8-0.
Frostburg depot was built for the Cumberland and Pennsylvania in 1891. The building now has a seating area where passengers can eat lunch.
The Thrasher Carriage Museum is opposite the depot on Depot Street.
The museum has a large collection of old horse-drawn vehicles, including sleighs, funeral wagons, freight carts and pleasure vehicles on display.
It is open to the public noon to 2.00pm, Thursday to Sunday, from May to October, and Saturday and Sunday from November to mid-December.
The Trail Inn is also located opposite the Frostburg depot. It offers bed and breakfast accommodation, a camp ground and bike rental.
The Trail Inn has a cafe at which you can buy light snacks while the train rests at the depot. However, when I have visited, the queues have been long and the service somewhat desultory. You might be better off taking a hike a few hundred yards up Depot Road to downtown Frostburg.
The township is on the east side of Big Savage Mountain, about 2,000 feet above sea level. It has its beginnings in 1811, when work started on the National Pike, a road built to transport crops and raw materials over the Alleghenies to East Coast markets. It was called Mount Pleasant until 1820, when the postal service arrived and it was renamed Frostburg. It now has a population of about 8,000 and is home to the Frostburg State University.
Related Links:
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad Locations
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad Website
Western Maryland Railway Historical Society
Thrasher Carriage Museum, Frostburg, MD
Trail Inn, Frostburg, MD
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Thomas K. Kraemer produced an illustrated guide, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, published by RR Trax Studios in 2003 (click on the cover to search for this book on Bookfinder.com).
