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in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia

East of Miller (Cherry Run, WV)

Shortly after the formation of CSX, consists of matched Chessie System power were still possible to lens. In 1989, two renumbered GP40-2's, C&O 6167 and WM 6268 lead two originally numbered GP40-2's on an eastbound manifest at Brunswick, MD. Photo by Kevin Burkholder

Before the days of MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuters), the Maryland Department of Transportation operated passenger service between Brunswick, MD and Washington, D.C. In 1989, MDOT F9PH 7182 idles at the passenger platform in Brunswick, MD. Photo by Kevin Burkholder

In 1988, CSX freights began seeing intermingled consists of predecessor units. On a warm June day, the equivalent of today's Q-217 sits idle west of Brunswick, MD with former B&O SD40-2 8257, former SCL SD40-2 8007, and another former B&O SD40-2. Photo by Kevin Burkholder

B&O GP40-2 4223 and GP40 3762 team up to move empty hoppers north from Newport News to Richmond, VA. This train is seen near Williamsburg, VA in 1985. Photo by Kevin Burkholder

Known as the "Baby Boats", Seaboard Coast Line and Maine Central were the only interested roads in the lighter version of the U23B. U18B 1935 basks in bright Maryland sunshine outside the once bustling Brunswick shops. At the time of this photo in 1989, Brunswick shop forces were still busy prepping units for daily service. Photo by Kevin Burkholder

For those that never witnessed a pair of Chessie GP40-2's on the Brunswick turntable, this shot's for you! In 1989, B&O 4303 and C&O 4286 were nose to nose as they prepared to "take a spin". Not apparent in the photo, but definitely apparent while there, were numerous other GP's being worked on inside the roundhouse. Photo by Kevin Burkholder

Cumberland Subdivision / Magnolia Cutoff

Peter McGilligan and I made a pilgrimage to the Cumberland area in the Fall of 1991, and again in the Fall of 1995. I hope you enjoy some of my photographs from the former trip! Eastbound R344-24 passes under the highway overpass at Hancock, West Virginia. It is about to pass still-active HO Tower. Many of the towers on the Magnolia Cutoff and on Sand Patch have been retired, so get your pictures while you can!

A local train tied up at Hancock, WV.

Although originally assigned as helpers on the Mountain Subdivision, CSXT's new SD70MAC's are finding their way around the system. Witness loaded coal train T104-02 passing Hancock Tower at 12:23 on April 5, 1998, behind CSXT GP40-2 6247 and SD70MAC's 704 and 718. T104 is bound for a power plant in Florida. Once Conrail's 15 SD70MAC's (4130-4144) are assimilated into CSX's roster, it will be more common to find the Big Mac's throughout the system. Photo by Melanie L. Good

Cumberland, MD

Now a rare sight, a Chessie System SD35 awaits its next assignment at CSXT's Cumberland (MD) engine terminal. Since this picture was taken in 1991, CSX has repainted most of their power - and retired the SD35's.

Another Cumberland area attraction is the tourist railroad running on the ex-WM main from Cumberland to Frostburg, MD. In 1991, the operation was called the Western Maryland Scenic Railway, featuring WM-painted equipment such as this ex-VIA FPA4 painted as WM 305.

Keystone Subdivision / Sand Patch Grade

Telegraph pole insulators on a frosty fall morning... taken from the WM overpass at Rockwood, PA.

On a beautiful October morning, a CSXT work crew heads out onto the main at Garrett, Pennsylvania on the ex-Baltimore and Ohio Sand Patch grade. Although M of W crews are generally a bad sign, we had a productive day on Sand Patch this day.

A little later, we caught eastbound R356-24 passing under a street overpass at Garrett. Colorful consists like this are hard to find on CSX now; most power has been repainted into the CSX "Bright Future" livery.

At the summit of the Alleghenies, R397-25 heads west past SA Tower at Sand Patch, PA. This train was powered by a pair of now-common GE C40-8W's on October 25, 1991.

Taken from the Western Maryland's Salisbury Viaduct, R396-24 heads eastbound with its auto parts train towards the summit at Sand Patch. Most of the once-parallel WM main was abandoned once Chessie merged with the WM in the mid-1970's.

Hyndman Tower was slated to be closed in the early part of 1997, but was saved (temporarily) by the impending CSX/NS & CR massacre. An eastbound autorack R376-25 passes by Q Tower on October 25, 1991.

A bonus find on the morning of October 26, 1991: One half of CSX's business train fleet behind westbound R377-26 at Hyndman. We chased this train from Magnolia Bridge through Cumberland to Hyndman... CSX 116 (F7A) and CSX 119 (FP7B) are ex-Clinchfield units, serving on Clinchfield, Seaboard System, and CSXT business trains.

This is the best way to view the Sand Patch grade - from the cab of Sand Patch helpers! We pushed R135 up the hill from Hyndman to Sand Patch, with three SD60's as pushers. We ran down the hill light back to Hyndman, passing many trains and sights on the way. This was by far the best day I have ever had railfanning!

The last day of our trip in the fall of 1991 wasn't the best: Train R356-26 derailed at Falls Cut Tunnel in the morning of October 27, 1991. The train is shown at Fairhope, stopped and awaiting the wreck train. Falls Cut Tunnel is about 30-50 cars behind the power. Several TTX flatcars jacknifed, blocking both tracks for most of the day; prompting us to go home.

Mountain Subdivision

In October, 1997; Peter McGilligan and I took another pilgrimage to B&O country. This time, we visited CSXT's Mountain Subdivision (from Cumberland, MD to Grafton, WV) for four days. These three photos from that trip are not representative of the excellent photos we got that trip; since I took mostly slides but don't have a slide scanner. So, these three are scans of the only three prints I took. Oh well. This is the West Virginia Northern passenger excursion train at Tunnelton, WV on October 16, 1997. WVN was reactivated in the early 1990's for this purpose. It had previously closed due to a lack of freight (coal) traffic. WVN 52 is an SW1200, one of the three original WVN units.

Here is a pair of SD70MAC's awaiting helper duty at Hardman, WV. Hardman (formerly Q) Tower is visible in the background, and is generally where helpers are added to eastbound trains. Helper set B242-17 consisted of SD70MAC's 719 and 706, and is seen here on October 17, 1997 at noon. These units later pushed S316-15 eastward to Cumberland. Also note that CSXT designates SD70MAC's as SD70AC.

A better view of these fine units.

This page was created and maintained by J. Alex Lang, © 1998.
Last updated June 11, 1998