Eastern Railroad Discussion > Foley Scenic Overlook Near Glencoe, PA

It's always good to have a backup plan.  We pulled into Ridgeley, West Virginia, looking for a hot 2-6-6-2.  After all, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad #1309 was the main reason for coming to Cumberland.

Nope.  Down for maintenance.

So, we headed to the former B&O Sand Patch Grade.  We've never been there before, and it is the stuff of legend.  I noticed a location called the Foley Scenic Overlook between Fairhope and Glencoe on Google Earth, so we set out to see what we could catch.

1. Just before 11:30am, an eastbound stack train came riding the dynamics down the mountain.

2. The DPU mid-train.

3. That's Kurt Jensen with his video camera as the end of the stack train passes by below.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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4. Nearly an hour later, a westbound stack train passed below and working up the grade.

5. The lead unit rounds the curve past the milepost 199.5 signal.

6. The DPU working its guts out as the train eases up the grade.

It wasn't steam, but it was fun to follow the path of photographers such as Bill Price.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/22 17:07 by MaryMcPherson.

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Contrary to reports posted elsewhere, then, the Foley Overlook has not totally grown in.... yet.
 

View of the eastbound Capitol Limited in the fall of 1995. The view is cetainly a lot tighter these days.

Jim Kleeman

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toledopatch Wrote:
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> Contrary to reports posted elsewhere, then, the
> Foley Overlook has not totally grown in.... yet.
>  

"Yet" is the operative word.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Looks like you didn't know or didn't find the other perch at Foley, i.e., the angle in J.K's photo, and these 3, taken by me in mid-October, 2016.
It's a narrow trail to the left of where you were at, angles about 100ft. downhill, ends in a jumble of fallen trees. 
If this is allowed to grow back in, then the east slope of Sand Patch will be pretty much restricted to grade crossing access.
 

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Nice series and interesting area. Not seeing the steamer gives you an excuse to return!

More "Photo Bombs" dropped on Mary ....... Sorry Mary.  Your eastbound intermodal was either a late I-016 or an early I-138.  Your westbound intermodal was most likely the I-015

1.  10/12/16
2.  11/10/14
3.  08/16/15

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/22 18:59 by cinder.

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Great set.  I have only been once, driving a parallel road the entire grade. Expected to see a kid sitting in a tree with a banjo along the way.
JB

Y'all need to get a chain saw brigade together. It's not like CSX police chasing divers and swimmers away from the Foley Bridge. Just cut down the jungle. You ain't on the railroad. Just up on the hill.
Go

Gonut1 Wrote:
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> Y'all need to get a chain saw brigade together.
> It's not like CSX police chasing divers and
> swimmers away from the Foley Bridge. Just cut down
> the jungle. You ain't on the railroad. Just up on
> the hill.

I seem to recall some foliage clearing was done several decades ago and the landowner was not happy about it. Whether the same person still owns that land, I don't know.
 

NiagaraMike Wrote:
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> Not seeing the steamer gives you an excuse to return!

Though a lack of reliabilty discourages wasting a week's vacation and 2000 miles of driving.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

You missed the "Geocache" hidden near a trail in the woods.  Picture taken in 2016.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/22 02:51 by cinder.

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Gonut1 Wrote:
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> Y'all need to get a chain saw brigade together.
> It's not like CSX police chasing divers and
> swimmers away from the Foley Bridge. Just cut down
> the jungle. You ain't on the railroad. Just up on
> the hill.
> Go

You ever been there? Know the terrain?
There are vertical slopes here; (aka cliffs) involved, very dangerous even without doing chainsaw juggling, which at age 63 I'm not interested in doing...
The Foley bridge? The CSX cops did manage to make Falls Cut almost inaccessible about 1 mile east, which is where the swimming/diving/partying occurred for decades.
The best way to remedy this would be to cut trees between the creek and the railroad, but all access roads into Foley have been gated for years.

The "old swimmin hole" at Falls Cut Tunnel..

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I actually built a mini deck off to the left at Foley overlook 20 some years ago. Only lasted about a year before the landowner discovered it and destroyed it down the hill.

Posted from Android

Good case, Mary, of making lemonade after being dealt a lemon.  Really nice photo.
Gordon

All this chatter, but nobody has noticed/commented that the last crossover at Foley has been removed.
2016 photo by me

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As I recall the removal of 1309 from service was not last minute, but certainly would qualify as short notice as I think it was announced with only a couple weeks notice. Too late for most to alter previously made travel plans. Certainly disappointing.

We visited July 4th weekend and the thought of substituting a diesel was on my mind as a possibility. Thankfully it didn't happen.

Posted from Android

Yikes - Have tickets for "steam" ride this Friday -- No news on website whether thats' changing... Any current news on 1309?

Bob