Nostalgia & History > One final salute to the workhorse of the Wild Mary

Finishing up on the Western Maryland theme of yesterday, it would be neglectful of me not to acknowledge the backbone of the Western Maryland fleet...its Funits. While the road had an eclectic mix of EMD and Alco power in its time, no unit pulled more duties than its F unit fleet. The 40 plus A and B units were synonomous with WM, and could be seen on helper duty, dragging high tonnage coal trains out of West Virginia, or, on the point of an N&W run through on the Alphabet Route. Credit must be given to the suberb mechanics at Hagerstown who kept these beasts lean and mean. In the end, they just became victims of age and technology and all were off of Chessie's roster by 1980. Lets just give them a pictorial shout out!

top...Shoving westbound AJ-1 up the grade a couple of miles east of Frostburg Md. 1974

middle...Westbound at North Branch Md. 1973

bottom...View of an F3 from an F7. Maryland Jct. 1972
 

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Scenes from around Ridgely WVa. just across the river from Cumberland

top. Putting a new caboose on an eastbound coal train 1972

middle...westbound ore train on left will get the helpers to the right on its rear for the shove west to Deal.1973

bottom...Impressive sanding tower at Maryland Jct. 1973



 

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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top...eastbound extra coming out of Knobmont yard, passing Maryland Jct. 1974

middle...westbound leaving Conrail/Reading Rutherford Yard 1978

bottom...Fan trip out of Penn Station in Baltimore...lost date on this one

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 08:36 by Roadjob.

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Top...Eastbound approaching Baltimore on old B&O main at Halethorpe 1976

bottom... This is a sad end to the thread, Cumberland 1979

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 04:42 by Roadjob.

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Here's a Williamport helper bonus attachment to yesterdays thread

top....Continuing the Funit theme...Sometimes WM slummed it and used the B&O Fs on the helper...1974

bottom... Starting to sink on the helpers in 1976...AJ-2 gets this old workhorse and a circus wagon for its push into Hagerstown.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 12:31 by Roadjob.

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Superb tribute to the WM F's. Thanks for assembling these and sharing them, Bill.
-Ted

Thank you so much for sharing all your great WM and B&O photos, they are all great.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Bill, We were together the day you shot the 8th image in your post here. I have an exact same shot that you have plus this one. Here is a color shot of WM 7154 with 5 others at Rutherford Pa. I have the date as June 11 1978 tho.  Great series. Ben



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 08:33 by ns2557.

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Correction noted. I remember the Conrail units now that I see your shot. That one is long gone in my world. Now I know why I never printed the one shown here.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

Excellent series. My favorite is number six with the sanding tower.
Bob

Great series, thanks!

The Mechanical Dept. at Hagerstown surely deserves the credit for keeping those wagons rolling into the late 70s. Lots of pride in their units. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the WM ever lost an F-unit to a wreck. It finally came down to a lack of maintenance in the Chessie years that led to their demise. I believe they ended up as trade-in fodder for some GP40-2s. Fantastic series Bill ! Thank You !

The signal bridge in the first photo survives on the the Western MD. Scenic, as does another just west of the Parkersburg Rd. bridge.
WW Jenkins photos

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perklocal Wrote:
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> The Mechanical Dept. at Hagerstown surely deserves
> the credit for keeping those wagons rolling into
> the late 70s. Lots of pride in their units.
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the WM
> ever lost an F-unit to a wreck. It finally came
> down to a lack of maintenance in the Chessie years
> that led to their demise. I believe they ended up
> as trade-in fodder for some GP40-2s. Fantastic
> series Bill ! Thank You !

One of the closer calls for an F-7 on the WM was this incident in 1968-69 just west of Frostburg,MD. on the Connellsville Sub.
The offending location, known as Federal Hill Cut, was strip-mined out of existence on the east side of the RR not long after, making a large flat field.
Photos and article from Cumberland Times-news

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A most interesting post.  Bill, you keep coming up with great shots of the Western Maryland, hoping you have more.  Thanks for sharing these.  I have fond memories of the Western Maryland F units.  I believe that almost all of their F units were still active as late as 1975, the last year of the "real" WM.  The Mechanical forces at Hagerstown, Ridgeley and Elkins kept them in great shape right up to the end of WM independence.  Most were renumbered with four digit Chessie numbers, and I think some of them remained in service into 1979.  One assignment that almost always got F units was the Gray Train out of Ridgeley WV, that went to the mine at Gray Junction PA, using trackage rights over the B&O between Rockwood and Somerset PA.  I recall seeing that job on four occasions and each time it had solid sets of F units.  I've heard that a Geep or RS3 would occasionaly sneak into that assignment, but I never saw that.  One of my best WM memories is of seven F units (four up front, three ahead of the caboose) on a loaded Gray Train out of Gray Junction, on the B&O Boswell Subdivision, climbing a 1.0% grade on the way to Somerset.  The sound of those 567B's reverberating through the valley is not easily forgotten.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 17:47 by cr7998.

Another outstanding series (both today and yesterday).
I got to see what was left of the WM F units only once at the end of their service.
On an excursion during the 1979 Wash DC NRHS Convention.
They were retired (and are probably the ones you show stored at Cumberland) soon after.
Thanks again.
​Gary