This route was abandoned some time in the mid 1970s. At the time, the Western Maryland was owned by the Chessie System, and they really only needed to use the old B&O lines (which was double tracked) to serve the region.
Chuck's Ramblings: Farewell to the Connellsville Subdivision (1975) (weinstock.us)
The roadbed was turned over to a trails conservancy, and now forms the Great Allegheny Passage, a hiker-biker trail that connect Cumberland with Pittsburgh. You can easily see parts of the trail when you ride the Capitol Limited.
I took a trip up there last Saturday to take advantage of the early season snowstorm and skit the trail from Frostburg to the Borden Tunnel, a distance of about 2 miles, for a 4-mile out-and-back. I like skiing rail-trails because, with arthritis in my hips, setting up snowplows for the downhill runs is not much fun. Railroad grade, even ones like this that climb to the summit of the Eastern Continental Divide, are usually nice and apparently flat. Not this one.
Look at that roller coaster ride in the second picture. I mean, as a ski slope, it's not much of anything, but I've never seen rail grades like that on anything outside of transit lines, like what the Baltimore Light Rail does between North Avenue and Mount Royal. Is this the original track grade? If so, it must have been a pretty wild ride over Big Savage Mountain, especially the eastbound ride, where the big, heavy coal trail or whatever is going downhill!
Does anybody know anything about what kind of passenger service was run on this route? I did some google searches, and all I could find was that the WM did run Baltimore-Hagerstown and Baltimore-Cumberland trains into the 1950s, but there was no mention of whether they ran any kind of through service to Pittsburgh or beyond using their "Alphabet Route" freight partners. They must have, because I was once in Meyersdale, PA, a bit up the line, and the trail information center is the old passenger station. If they did, I'm sorry I missed out on it, as it's a scenic ride. At least you can still see a lot of it on the (eastbound) Capitol Limited.
By the way, my ski trip ended ignominiously, as my skis slipped out from under me when I was about 2/3s of the way to the tunnel, and I fell flat on my back. (I'm normally not that klutzy, but the track was in terrible condition, and the snow was sticky on my skis.) Fortunately for me, a fellow skier saw me, helped my up and helped me walk back to the car. My back was pretty banged up and sore, but at least I was able to walk. When I got to the car, I drove over to Walgreens to get some ibuprofen (which I will remember to always stock in my first aid kit) , and then I drove 3 hours back to Baltimore. (I seemed to be OK, if sore, and didn't want to spend a night in the ER in Allegheny County, which has the highest Covid rates in the State of Maryland.) I got home early enough to get to an urgent care center, after a not-too-bad wait, they x-rayed me and found no broken bones. They sent me home with some muscle relaxants, and I was more or less flat on my back since then, until this morning. I'm still sore, but I found a back brace that helps, so I'm up and about (but still inside) today. I haven't heard the end of it from my wife, and I agree, it looks like to more solo winter trips for me.
Chuck's Ramblings: Farewell to the Connellsville Subdivision (1975) (weinstock.us)
The roadbed was turned over to a trails conservancy, and now forms the Great Allegheny Passage, a hiker-biker trail that connect Cumberland with Pittsburgh. You can easily see parts of the trail when you ride the Capitol Limited.
I took a trip up there last Saturday to take advantage of the early season snowstorm and skit the trail from Frostburg to the Borden Tunnel, a distance of about 2 miles, for a 4-mile out-and-back. I like skiing rail-trails because, with arthritis in my hips, setting up snowplows for the downhill runs is not much fun. Railroad grade, even ones like this that climb to the summit of the Eastern Continental Divide, are usually nice and apparently flat. Not this one.
Look at that roller coaster ride in the second picture. I mean, as a ski slope, it's not much of anything, but I've never seen rail grades like that on anything outside of transit lines, like what the Baltimore Light Rail does between North Avenue and Mount Royal. Is this the original track grade? If so, it must have been a pretty wild ride over Big Savage Mountain, especially the eastbound ride, where the big, heavy coal trail or whatever is going downhill!
Does anybody know anything about what kind of passenger service was run on this route? I did some google searches, and all I could find was that the WM did run Baltimore-Hagerstown and Baltimore-Cumberland trains into the 1950s, but there was no mention of whether they ran any kind of through service to Pittsburgh or beyond using their "Alphabet Route" freight partners. They must have, because I was once in Meyersdale, PA, a bit up the line, and the trail information center is the old passenger station. If they did, I'm sorry I missed out on it, as it's a scenic ride. At least you can still see a lot of it on the (eastbound) Capitol Limited.
By the way, my ski trip ended ignominiously, as my skis slipped out from under me when I was about 2/3s of the way to the tunnel, and I fell flat on my back. (I'm normally not that klutzy, but the track was in terrible condition, and the snow was sticky on my skis.) Fortunately for me, a fellow skier saw me, helped my up and helped me walk back to the car. My back was pretty banged up and sore, but at least I was able to walk. When I got to the car, I drove over to Walgreens to get some ibuprofen (which I will remember to always stock in my first aid kit) , and then I drove 3 hours back to Baltimore. (I seemed to be OK, if sore, and didn't want to spend a night in the ER in Allegheny County, which has the highest Covid rates in the State of Maryland.) I got home early enough to get to an urgent care center, after a not-too-bad wait, they x-rayed me and found no broken bones. They sent me home with some muscle relaxants, and I was more or less flat on my back since then, until this morning. I'm still sore, but I found a back brace that helps, so I'm up and about (but still inside) today. I haven't heard the end of it from my wife, and I agree, it looks like to more solo winter trips for me.
