Nostalgia & History > Western Maryland's gateway to the world. Big time for small road.

The Western Maryland was known for coal, run through trains, scenery, and Hagerstown,but,  Port Covington, its eastern terminal in Baltimore  was a massive facility with a deep water berth. It featured facilities for handling coal, ore, and grain. Its sheer size let it go toe to toe with Baltimore's other two railroads with port operations, the B&O and PC. B&O had the most widespread operation in the port, but its setup was a mishmash of yards scattered on all sides of the harbor, that necessitated multiple transfer runs around town. Great for the fan, costly for the road. PC was concentrated in the Canton area of the City, and was spared costly transfers for the most part. PC worked Baltimore, but had much better access to its facilities in New York, and Philadelphia. 

WM was able to offer shippers of all three major commodities, direct service to the midwest through its strong connection with N&W, and to a lesser extent, P&LE. One could stand on the Hanover St. Bridge, and take in the whole operation from the west throat of the yard. For good measure, you also had access to the B&O moves going to and from their Locust Point terminal, and the Riverside engine terminal. All in all, you could work the spot for a day, and be content. When Chessie started its full takeover of the WM, the Port Covington operation became redundant, and the property was sold. I still believe one main reason was to make sure N&W never got access to the port of Baltimore, plus B&O was the hometown favorite, and not to be messed with. There is virtually no sign today of what was there. The Baltimore Sun built a large printing plant on site, and the whole area is now being developed as some kind of utopian scheme to improve the city. In reality, it has its own isolation from most parts of the city, and will be a defacto gated community. My opinion only. For today though, I was able to find a few shots of the terminal as we would have liked it to stay. All shots early 70s, and all photos face roughly to the east.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/20 03:27 by Roadjob.

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these two shots give you a view of the coal and ore handling facilities at Port Covington.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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As usual, these are great photos of one of my two favorite railroads in the Baltimore area.  Yes, in my mind it was a darn shame that the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) ever allow the Chessie System to get complete control of the Western Maryland Railway since at that time the Norfolk & Western Railroad was shipping many carloads of freight over the WM to the port of Baltimore and was good competition for both the B&O and the Pennsy.  The ICC eliminated this competition when they allowed Chessie to merge in the WM and then tear that railroad apart.  Yes, the B&O had been purchasing WM stock for many years and they did own over 51% of the WM during that time.  However, the government (ICC) should have realized that with the WM being merged into the Chessie System, customers would have fewer choices to move freight in and out of Baltimore since the Pennsylvania R.R. (Penn Central at that time) really could not compete here in Baltimore since their facility was so much smaller.  And then of course we know that once Chessie gained complete control they just continued to downgrade and destroy the WM, especially to many customers going west into West Virginia where there was no other rail line on which to ship.  This I never could understand.  Thanks for the photos Bill.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Here are 3 photos of Port Covington, from the John D. Floyd collection.
2 photos appear to be the same type of weather that Bill encountered.
1. F-7A #236, which would become the ultimate survivor.  Winter 1970
2. GP-9 looking lonely and cold, Winter 1977
3. Westbound getting ready to leave, Winter 1977

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Many thanks for posting the photos of this area.  I was only there once and I believe it was 1972.  My brother and I took a steam fantrip with the Reading 2102 from Port Covington to Hagerstown and back.  I remember it was in February as there was some light snow coming down in Hagerstown and there was a WM BL2 idling in the yard..  It was a great trip and I believe we covered the main line and also the "Dutch Line" on that trip.  I am sure that others will remember the details better.  I am just so glad that we took that trip.  I love to see Bill's photos as it clearly shows how much has changed in my lifetime and he and I are about the same age.  I was in the class of 1949!!

Ron

Thanks for sharing these photos. Reminds me of Port Richmond on the Reading. Extremely busy place; now nothing but memories.

Bill - Another great post.  Your shots give evidence of how big an operation Port Covington was.  In addition to the coal, ore and grain business, WM handled general merchandise traffic through a pier and warehouse at the north end of the complex.  WM also turned a portion of the yard between the grain elevator and the coal pier into a TOFC facility (although it did not handle containers to my knowledge, only trailers).  Many fans overlooked Port Covington, I'm glad you took the time to visit, and share the results here.    

There was no doubt as to who put the grain in those Elevators. There is a Howard Fogg print showing of a pair of WM FAs working at the Port with the "Western Maryland Railway" Grain Elevators prominently in the background. Quite a facility. Great Post !

BRR! That last photo almost makes me shiver.
Bob

steamfan759 Wrote:
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> Many thanks for posting the photos of this area. 
> I was only there once and I believe it was 1972. 
> My brother and I took a steam fantrip with the
> Reading 2102 from Port Covington to Hagerstown and
> back.  I remember it was in February as there was
> some light snow coming down in Hagerstown and
> there was a WM BL2 idling in the yard..  It was a
> great trip and I believe we covered the main line
> and also the "Dutch Line" on that trip.  I am
> sure that others will remember the details
> better.  I am just so glad that we took that
> trip.  I love to see Bill's photos as it clearly
> shows how much has changed in my lifetime and he
> and I are about the same age.  I was in the class
> of 1949!!
>
> Ron

Ron, I might have been on that trip. I remember riding behind 2102. We boarded the train adjacent to the Locke Insulator company.

BaltoJoey

BaltoJoey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> steamfan759 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Many thanks for posting the photos of this
> area. 
> > I was only there once and I believe it was
> 1972. 
> > My brother and I took a steam fantrip with the
> > Reading 2102 from Port Covington to Hagerstown
> and
> > back.  I remember it was in February as there
> was
> > some light snow coming down in Hagerstown and
> > there was a WM BL2 idling in the yard..  It was
> a
> > great trip and I believe we covered the main
> line
> > and also the "Dutch Line" on that trip.  I am
> > sure that others will remember the details
> > better.  I am just so glad that we took that
> > trip.  I love to see Bill's photos as it
> clearly
> > shows how much has changed in my lifetime and
> he
> > and I are about the same age.  I was in the
> class
> > of 1949!!
> >
> > Ron
>
> Ron, I might have been on that trip. I remember
> riding behind 2102. We boarded the train adjacent
> to the Locke Insulator company.
>
> BaltoJoey

J.D. Floyd photo of excursion loading at Port Covington,1972.

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bigsavage Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BaltoJoey Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > steamfan759 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Many thanks for posting the photos of this
> > area. 
> > > I was only there once and I believe it was
> > 1972. 
> > > My brother and I took a steam fantrip with
> the
> > > Reading 2102 from Port Covington to
> Hagerstown
> > and
> > > back.  I remember it was in February as
> there
> > was
> > > some light snow coming down in Hagerstown and
> > > there was a WM BL2 idling in the yard..  It
> was
> > a
> > > great trip and I believe we covered the main
> > line
> > > and also the "Dutch Line" on that trip.  I
> am
> > > sure that others will remember the details
> > > better.  I am just so glad that we took that
> > > trip.  I love to see Bill's photos as it
> > clearly
> > > shows how much has changed in my lifetime and
> > he
> > > and I are about the same age.  I was in the
> > class
> > > of 1949!!
> > >
> > > Ron
> >
> > Ron, I might have been on that trip. I remember
> > riding behind 2102. We boarded the train
> adjacent
> > to the Locke Insulator company.
> >
> > BaltoJoey
>
> J.D. Floyd photo of excursion loading at Port
> Covington,1972.
J.D. Floyd's photo of the 301 ALCO diesel was taken on the Saturday Trip and the attached photo taken by an unknown photographer on the Sunday Trip  shows the 302 leading the train getting ready to go up Jack's Mountain on the WM as helpers were always needed to climb this line.  Someone sent me this photo years ago and later on I saw this same photo made into a post card.  This is NOT from the post card, I just don't know who took this photo.  I rode the Sunday trip and I can tell you that on both days it was bitter cold.  Those were fun days riding on the Western Maryland.
John in White Marsh

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