Modeling the New Line...

 Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2016, Center for Railroad Photography and Art.

Why model the New Line, or as it was officially known, the Connellsville Subdivision of the Western Maryland Railway?

For me, there are many reasons, some sentimental and some are more practical from a modeling sense. However, I think the former outweighs the latter. Let me explain.

I grew up in the heart of Western Maryland Railway territory in Eckhart Mines, Md. The last coal pulled out of the mines was carried by WM power after the WM acquired the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad in the mid 1940's from Consolidated Coal Corp. However, it would be a much later use of the WM and C&Pa that would cement my interest in the WM and railroading in general.

I was too young to know it then, but when I was born, a fledgling operation known as the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad was just getting its footing, after the previous excursion operator (Allegany Central) stopped operating on the line between Cumberland, Md and Frostburg, Md. This may sound hokey now, but I highly doubt I would have developed the interest in railroading that I have, had there not been the sounds of a 2-8-0 climbing the mountain behind my house every weekend. Coming home from church on Sunday, we would often here the sound of "Mountain Thunder" blowing it's whistle as exited the turntable in Frostburg. Most kids my age did not grow up with weekly steam nearby, so I count that as a privilege that has highly influenced my life. Steam engines are certainly not the most cost effective or effective way to move freight and passengers, but they are definitely fascinating beasts.

Fast forward to the early-2000's. My father is working both in and around the former WM Station in Cumberland as part of it's second renovation and transformation into the centerpiece of Canal Place. Again, spending summers exploring the ROW around Cumberland helped to further cement my interest in the WM. Around that time the WMSR faced another impending shutdown in favor of a bike trail that would connect Pittsburgh and the C&O Canal towpath between Washington D.C. and Cumberland. It seems silly now given how well the trail and scenic railroad have worked together, but there were real talks of shutting down the railroad in favor of turning the right of way into a trail.

 Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2016, Center for Railroad Photography and Art.

The trail was actually already a reality up in Pennsylvania for long stretches, starting first around Ohiopyle State Park and extending to include the WM's longest bridge near Meyersdale, the Salisbury Viaduct. Biking these streches of the former WM made my love for the WM grow all the more.

It is this part of the history of the subdivision that I find most ironic. In May of 1975, a ceremonial "last train" was run along the Connellsville Sub. The trip included the WM business coach 1700, but was led by a B&O GP9 for it's steam generating capability and included one other B&O coach. Part of the reason for this run was to showcase to local dignitaries how scenic the line was and how it might work well as a recreational asset. However, the Pennsylvania DOT had already removed a low clearance span in Ohiopyle, so the train ended up having to detour over the B&O for a section of the ride. Today you can ride from Pittsburgh to Cumberland via the P&LE/WM right of way and still travel along live rails between Frostburg and Cumberland.

Here is where we get into the practical modeling reasons (operations and scenery) that attract me model the New Line.

Up until early May of 1975, the WM and its former Alphabet Route partner Norfolk & Western were using the subdivision heavily to move Alpha Jets, grain extras, ore extras, and coal. If the railroad politics of the day were not known to the casual observer, the heavy mix of N&W power and cabooses on the WM might have lead one to believe the two were headed for a merger of their own.

The subdivision was largely single tracked, with long passing sidings for train meets spaced out along the line. When Gorge Gould began pushing the WM west from Williamsport in the late 20th century, he had grand plans and designed each bridge to be double tracked and many of the tunnels as well. Despite his control of the WM having lapsed by the time the "New Line" commenced construction in 1907, the railway still built every bridge and all but Big Savage tunnel with the capacity to be double tracked. However, only the heaviest grade between Cumberland and Colmar (the railroad designation for Big Savage Tunnel's interlocking) on the east end of the subdivision would ever see double track. With the advent of CTC, controlled out of the Cumberland station, that section double track would be reduced to 3 mile long passing siding between Mount Savage and Frostburg.

Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2016, Center for Railroad Photography and Art.

From my time at the CB&W Model Railroad Club in Grafton, VA, I found that I really enjoyed mainline operations. The CB&W has over 16 scale mile run length with a mix of single and double track. For open houses and operating sessions, we would have a dispatcher control our movements through the single track sections. From my experience there, I saw how the WM's mix of single track with passing sidings could be duplicated in a similar fashion

The CB&W mainline also passed over itself at times. To some, this might be a non-starter for prototypical-ness, but the WM crossed the B&O four times and was crossed by it once on it's way to Connellsville. It also crossed the C&Pa twice and was crossed by that road twice. There was also a crossing of the PRR at Bowest (Connelsville). In my opinion, this gives me plenty of excuses to run my WM over itself if the need arises during the design.

Personally, running a long train over a long route is the most enjoyable part of the hobby at the moment. Having to space out my run and check switches along the way provides enough operational challenge as well as the general challenge of working up a grade. However, I did not want to be without some switching opportunities, should I need to scratch that itch, or if I have a visitor for whom switching is their favorite part of operations.

Western Maryland in the Diesel Era states that the Connelsville Subdivision was largely devoid of online industries. This is true if one were to take industrial switching as a percentage of the entire length of the line. However, there were at least six significant "branches" of the sub. The State Line branch connecting with the PRR, the Eckhart branch (which still ran as far as LaVale, Md), the former C&Pa stubs to Mt. Savage and Frostburg, the branch over the B&O to Gray, Pa, and the extension over the B&O down to Chiefton, Wv.

As for direct online industries, there were many that lasted into the latter days of the the subdivision, and even kept portions of it open for a time after through trains stopped. There were many customer accounts in the immediate area around Cumberland, served directly or indirectly via the WM's Freight House. There were numerous coal load-outs along the line, particularly the load out for the Blue Lick mine near Meyersdale, Pa. There were also team tracks at each station location along the line, and a WM owned trailer ramp located in the P&LE's West Connellsville Yard. These industries, along with two connections to the PRR/PC and many with the B&O allow for online interchange of traffic in addition to the through traffic handed off at Connelsville to the P&WV/N&W and P&LE.

In the end, the shifting landscape of railroading of the 1960-1980's left the WM's once profitable business model and connections in tatters. To read more on this, I would highly suggest reading the interviews with the President and Vice President of Operations of the WM in Working for the Western Maryland Volume 1. The B&O found a way to keep control of the WM despite the ICC's desire to keep the competitors apart in the 1920's. When the end came, the ICC was letting many competitors combine, so the absorption of the WM by the B&O was all but inevitable. While I can see a version of history where the Connellsville Sub and West Subdivisions could have lived on for a time to serve the N&W and act as competition to the B&O, the N&W's spin off of the former P&WV trackage into the new Wheeling and Lake Erie leaves the long term viability of that idea in question.

For myself, I want to return to the days when engines dressed in red, white, gold and black (but mostly black) pulled Alpha Jets and extras east and west over Big Savage Mountain, with some hamburger/meatball logos thrown in for good measure. I hope you will be willing to join me on this modeling adventure as I attempt to capture the busy last days (or years) of the Western Maryland Railway's New Line.

Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2016, Center for Railroad Photography and Art.

2017 Raifanning Recap Part II

I am not sure why it has taken so many months to get to putting together part two of my 2017 railfanning. To be fair, work kept me very busy during the first few months of the year, and in the past few months my wife and I have been on the hunt for a house. (The market is very poor for first-time home buyers like us given the low supply and high demand in the rust belt this year.) I've decided that before I venture into WV again next week on vacation, that I should post the remainder of 2017 before my memory of the journey blurs with this year.

First off, I did find a few engines tied down at the end of the Hampton Branch off Armistead Ave. in Hampton, VA. CSX often leaves engines here after delivering stone to a local aggregates facility rather than running light back to the yard in Newport News. This is also the location where the Circus Train would unload the elephant's, but their last stop here was in 2016 before the train made it's last journey home.

As as been hinted previously, I go into the heart of WV as often as I can. The country is beautiful, peaceful, and rich with history. My extended family rents a home near Davis in Canaan Valley every summer for a month, and we often made a weekend trip down to visit them when I was young given the close proximity to my home. We don't live as close anymore, and instead we are making it a longer trip this time. I'm sure I will find a few things to post from that upcoming adventure.

2017's regular trip into "Almost Heaven" included my first trip to Douglas Falls. I'm not sure this is it's official name, but it is what I have always heard the falls called in the WM community given the ROW followed this branch of the Blackwater River down the canyon. It is also situated just past the old mining community of Douglas. I assume this is the same drop off as the more well known Backwater Falls on the other side of the mountain. My wife and I drove south through Thomas to Douglas before turning off onto the old ROW and across the former railroad's bridge over Long Run  to a parking area just short of the falls. Four wheel drive with high clearances is advised for this drive due to many pot holes in the road. That said, the drive is definitely worth it. You can also stop and play in the little falls/rapids up stream of the larger falls. As you can, see a few poles along the ROW still stand above the bank of the river.

 For some reason, I failed to get any shots of the actual right of way. The bank is very unique, as railroad rails, ties and other contraptions still do their best to keep the path from falling down into the river. This is also the start of the private portion of the Blackwater Valley. As is common, Chessie turned the ROW over to the neighboring landowners, and so the private owner got the valley side of the ROW, while the Forrest Service received the upper side. The Forest Service has used this as unique ownership situation to keep the private owner from using the ROW to log the valley, but they have not been able to come to terms over acquiring the property to become part of the national forest. The trail is currently being maintained by volunteers with Friends of Blackwater, but the NFS still has it signed as seen below to fend off any liability on their part.

Venturing west on the old WM, we also drove over to Parsons, but not without stopping at Olson Fire Tower. If you are okay with heights, this is defiantly worth the short drive from Thomas or Parsons. It is up a short road from US 219. The view also covers the Blackwater Canyon valley to the east, and Parsons to the south. Below is my best shot looking East over the Blackwater Valley (and what feels like the rest of West Virginia).

The depot at Parson's looks a bit rough and the ROW behind it is not included in the Allegheny Highlands Trail. The interior of the depot was empty when I visited. On site, there is also what looks to be some sort of restored outbuilding of WM origins. If you are looking for a kit of this station, get in contact with Jim over at Medford Trains as he has done two versions of this unique station as a craftsman kit, along with numerous other WM prototype buildings.

This was the last I rail related exploring I did on this trip, but as fall came and my wedding neared, my fiancée ended up getting a job in Ohio. We met in PA to do some wedding preparation, and load up her stuff in a u-Haul. Her job paid for her to have movers unload in Ohio, so as she and her family headed west that Sunday morning, I headed east so I could be back at work the next morning. Well, sort of east.

My normal route back to Virginia took me via Cumberland, Paw-Paw, and Winchester. However, fall had not yet come to western PA or SE Virginia. Since my fiancée had left so early, I felt that I had more time on my hands for a more circuitous route to catch the fall colors. 

I headed south through Garrett County, MD to Oakland and caught a westbound empty hopper train by the depot (unfortunately, I was in the depot at the time it passed). The depot has two pieces of rolling stock on display acquired from the B&O museum as well as a restored CPL.

I then headed down into WV to Thomas in search of a 2 Truck Heisler and 0-4-0 I had heard was stored in town. I had seen the 0-4-0 stored in town previously, after it was moved from a location along WV Rt. 32. The 0-4-0 once served one of the mines along the WM's Francis Branch near Davis. When I last saw that engine a few years back it was sitting outside a small brick warehouse that seemed to be being used by a refuse company to store/repair dumpsters. Sadly, I was not able to get good photos of the Heisler through the windows of the building, as it was covered in a plastic sheeting. The 0-4-0 was nowhere to be seen, but could have been in another part of the building. I did not want to go very far onto the property given it was private. For what it is worth here are my pictures. Hopefully this unit will some day see the light of day again.

For better picutres, please see this website (ignore the location information, as it is definately located in Thomas and not Davis): http://www.steamlocomotive.com

I did take in the fall colors next, but they are not particularly railroad related. Here is a sample from Blackwater Falls State Park, Canaan Valley, and Senica Rocks.

One last look over WV before descending down into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

With a wedding and move over the next month, there was not much time for railfanning. However, on my wife and my honeymoon, we did use the NYC subway a lot and I managed to capture a MOW train as we were heading to our hotel one night. The pictures are not the greatest, but I thought it was unique enough for inclusion. Also, the mosaic tiling in the NYC subway is a work of art in itself. If you are ever in the Big Apple, I would suggest leaving time in your trip to enjoy the moment art and craftsmanship in the Subway. It also has one of the oldest working signaling systems in the country, which should also pique any rail-fans interest. Also, Grand Central is still grand, despite the cloudy day of our visit to this old terminal. Unfortunately, you cannot go down to track level without a ticket. 

 

And over in NJ.... A view of the old CNJ Terminal from the top of One World Trade Center.

Well, that concludes my journey in 2017 of getting engaged, moving, getting married and (from a model railroading perspective) starting over at new club. Below is a picture of our first visit to the CV&WS at the Olmstead Falls, OH Depot during their Christmas Open House. If you happen to be in the Cleveland area on a weekend in December, I would highly suggest stopping by.

 

 Now onto 2018! Oh wait, we are already half way through....

Getting Started... again.

It has been just over three months since I packed up my bags in Virginia and moved to Ohio where my then Fiancee was waiting for me to start our new life together. The prior weekend, I had run my last train at the Chesapeake Bay & Western Model Railroad Club (pictured above), of which I was proud to have been a member during my time in Hampton Roads. That night, I began to pack away my hopper fleet, the last of my models to box up. A week after my move, my new wife an I were off to NYC for a honeymoon. Needless to say, modeling and trains were far from my mind (minus the NYC subway system, but I digress).

When we returned to Ohio, the Christmas season was coming, and with it, many local open houses. Knowing my love for trains, my wife asked if I would be interested in an open house at local train club housed in an old depot. I said yes, though honestly, I did not expect much. I have been to many museums and restored depots where the model railroad is mostly an afterthought to entertain the kids too young to fully appreciate the history surrounding them. But the Cuyahoga Valley & West Shore Model Railroad Club was something very different. I've read many accounts of modelers who sheepishly claim to have stuffed a 10 ton model railroad into a 5 ton room, but the CV&WS has done so in 5 ton restored NYC Depot. To be fair, the east waiting room of the depot houses an O scale layout that is conservatively built for the room in which it sits, as is a small N scale layout house in the half of the main waiting room.

The freight room and other half of the main waiting room however have a about as much HO scale layout as could be squeezed in them. To complete a full circuit of the double-decked layout actually entails you traversing up and down the same helix. To maintain the historical depots original shape, a pair of duck-under and narrow aisles make the layout feel quite tight. However, there are numerous towns and industries, and options for switching and operating abound. However, most of them are butted up right next to each other, with few scenic-ed areas for extended runs. Surprisingly, I met someone at the club with whom I shared a mutual friend back in Virginia. I decided to come back to there first business meeting the following Thursday and signed up to be a member.

Fate or something intervened the following weekend as I attended my first operating session at the club. A good time was had by all, and I did more switching than I had done during most of my time at the CB&W, although the reasons for that could be the subject of another blog. That night however, I suffered two seizures, my first since graduating college over three years prior. It would seem that I had missed my medication that day. For those not familiar with seizures, especially those that start when you are an adult, you are basically put on medication and told not to drive until you are seizure free for a period of time (per the local state law).

Since then I have made it out to the CV&WS for only one run session. It was good to add some Western Maryland layout, and I received several comments that they did not have often have WM representation around the club. February came and with it their bi-monthly business meeting and my "second reading" where prospective members are offered the opportunity to become full members (if they show up). I was hesitant about joining given my travel limitations, but Ron, with whom I had had made a connection via our mutual friend convinced me to stay.

I am hoping this will be a good outlet for my hobby interests, and allow my models to see some daylight now and again. Hopefully I can weather some before they get boxed back up. So far, just my Intermountain F7B #408 has gotten that treatment recently, but I also have a few buildings on the "workbench".

For those who know me, and especially those who don't, this may be a strange way to start off a blog. However, I do not think that you can separate your personal life from your hobbies. With that in mind, I may delve into the personal issues keeping me from the hobby or pushing my love forward. Hobbies are personal things/releases for us as humans, and I believe we need to maintain that idea as we build our "basement empires".

I hope to use this blog to record my progress with several ongoing projects related to the WM's New Line, including a module of Rockwood (station). I feel like I know a lot about this hobby, but there is always a lot more to learn and be inspired by. I have had several Facebook groups, private layout websites, and blogs inspire me on my journey to this point. Hopefully, if you are reading this sometime in the future, you have been drawn in by the various posts I have written about my progress. Just remember to pass on that inspiration to others, just as I hope to do here...