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Minutes from closed meeting say Frostburg route must close


By Sam Shawver, Times-News Staff Writer
Saturday, March 5, 2005 9:17 AM EST



CUMBERLAND - State transportation officials apparently left a Feb. 17 meeting in Allegany County believing they had been assured that the final Western Maryland Scenic Railroad excursion from Cumberland to Frostburg would run on Dec. 15, leaving the abandoned rails to be developed by the Allegheny Highlands Trail Alliance.

"When we left the meeting, my understanding was that those were steps to be taken, not recommendations," said Barbara Buehl, executive director of the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce.

Buehl was among 14 members of a committee made up of state and local representatives who met in Cumberland last month to discuss issues facing the railroad and development of the highlands trail project.

Minutes from the closed meeting, obtained from the Maryland Department of Transportation on Friday, contain eight "next steps" that county and scenic railroad officals were to take to ensure the Frostburg run would stop by the end of 2005, making room for the trail.

Among those next steps were:
"1) The train will run one more season from Cumberland to Frostburg which will end on December 15, 2005. Tracks and ballast will be replaced by contractor for (a 3.7-mile section between Zihlman and Woodcock Hollow), and trail and train will coexist in 2005. Trail will stop before (the Brush Tunnel) for 2005.

"2) Vance Ishler (county administrator) will prepare a letter to (state transportation) secretary (Robert) Flanagan stating the train will not run from Cumberland to Frostburg after 2005.

"3) Jim Stafford (president of the scenic railroad board) will write a letter to the county releasing the property to the trail."

Other steps included trail construction along the current rail alignment to begin after the 2005 train season; acquisition of a trail hiker/biker access right-of-way from CSX Transportation; asking CSX for possible train access to the Grafton rail branch to the county fairgrounds; and consideration of smaller scenic railroad train runs to replace the Frostburg route.

The final step was to "liquidate if all above options fail. Then a permanent home must be found for the train. Some liquidation of cars should occur in any case to cut back on inventory of vehicles, allowing exodus from Ridgeley (train yard that belongs to CSX).

Asked if he, too, understood that the state expected the eight steps to be followed, Stafford said Flanagan's representative at the meeting, Sylvia Ramsey, wanted him to agree to the plan.

"They asked me to make a commitment, but I told them I was only one vote, and I had to take this information back to the railroad board," said Stafford.

"But then public sentiment came out strong in support of keeping the trail and the railroad," he said. "If the public opinion had not been so strong, the board would probably have taken the steps written by the state.

"It's a tough decision, but the public sees a need for both the trail and train to be there," said Stafford.

A crowd of citizens showed up at Thursday's work session between the county commissioners and scenic railroad board, expressing support for continuing the Cumberland to Frostburg runs after 2005. A committee is being formed to consider the issue and come up with a five-year plan for operating the railroad.

Sam Shawver can be reached at sshawver@times-news.com

Someone call the West Virginia Central and get the entire WMSR shipped down there.... West Virginia realizes how in mportant it's rails are!

indyspy Wrote:
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> Someone call the West Virginia Central and get the
> entire WMSR shipped down there.... West Virginia
> realizes how in mportant it's rails are!


Yes, but when driving "down there", watch those small town speed traps!!! Bob