Eastern Railroad Discussion > WM Lives...sort of.

 By the time I was old enough to become aware of existence, the WM was a fond memory for most railfans that lived on in little bits and pieces of the railroad that remained after the Chessie merger and in the WM diesel fleet which roamed the Chessie System during the late 70's, 80's and even the early CSX "color riot" era. Finding a WM unit mixed in a consist on Sand Patch was always a treat for sure. Of course, the remains of WM Connellsville Extension paralleled the former B&O all the way from Sand Patch to Connellsville, and our visits often included a nod to some of WM's massive bridges along the way which eventually become part of the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail. So back in October, I was delighted to be able to catch the CSX Western Maryland Heritage unit leading I-136 through some classic "WM adjacent" locations on Sand Patch:
1. I-136 rolls up to Garrett, PA along the Casselman River where they would pause until a track gang working east of here could get in the clear in the pocket at Sand Patch. The pillars in the river at lower left were once part of the B&O's Quemahoning Branch, which crossed the river and share WM's right of way down to Rockwood, where they crossed the river on a deck girder bridge over the B&O S&C sub wye there. This allowed trains coming off the S&C to "fly over" the mainline and run east and tie into the mainline at Garrett to keep the railroad fluid. After the B&O abandoned this route, the WM still used it at Rockwood for their "Gray Trains" to access mines they served on isolated trackage near Somerset.
2. The pesky MOW gang now in the clear, 136 roars east under the massive former WM Salisbury Viaduct, now part of the GAAP Trail.
3. With a heavy train and only 2 units, it was easy to beat them through Meyersdale and up to the Keystone Viaduct. This portion of the WM main line actually served well into the early CSX era as it served an on line mine at Blue Lick that was tied into the B&O main at Sand Patch after the WM down through Deal was ripped up.

I know the way CSX  chose to do these units isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it was still a nice treat to catch the WM unit in these spots as it brought back some cool memories of catching WM power on the "old" 136 Philly Trailer Jet back in the early CSX era. Thanks for looking!

 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/24 02:48 by DJ-12.

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Even though the CSX heritage units were not done like NS Heritage units I still appreciate the fact they went and did them. I was advised that CSX did the locomotives this way as they wanted to display that the fallen flags "faded" into the CSX corporation. I really appreciate your efforts into getting the Western Maryland around what was Western Maryland territory. I love history especially the railroad history. I have been to the Salisbury Viaduct and it is quite impressive. I want to come and see the Keystone Viaduct before I have my third spinal fusion surgery late January 2025. Again fantastic photos as the effort shows...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/24 15:58 by Forever-Railfan-45.

Great composition on all three!

All the photos are nice but the old Western Maryland Bridges do not look as nice as they did when the WM did the maintenance on them, a real shame seeing all that rust on them now.  At least I was lucky and got to ride across them on the WM in those good-ole-days.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Superior shots!
Bob

That's a marvelous trio of images you posted!

Drone photography has opened an entire new world of views.

Dave

RSD5 Wrote:
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> Drone photography has opened an entire new world
> of views.
>
> Dave

Indeed it has. It's particulalry helpful in the east where tree and vegetation growth has simply overwhelmed a lot of previously available angles. I'm going around to places I've been shooting for 40 years and discovering new perspectives and opportunities.

It's not the be all end all. You can't fly in inclement weather or on really windy days. The technology has more (and more consequential) potential failure points than a DSLR (and obviously operator error can be catastrophic, lol). It also requires more meticulous planning and advance set up time to get the bird in the air....but the opportunities it opens up are almost limitless.

Thanks all.

ClubCar Wrote:
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> All the photos are nice but the old Western
> Maryland Bridges do not look as nice as they did
> when the WM did the maintenance on them, a real
> shame seeing all that rust on them now.  At least
> I was lucky and got to ride across them on the WM
> in those good-ole-days.
> John in White Marsh, Maryland

Given that its been going on 50 years since the Salisbury Viaduct has seen a train the rust isn't a surpise. Maybe take solace in the fact the bridges are still there and in active use today in some form or fashion.

I LOVE the Salisbury pics! 

I tried to shoot that with a WM train back in the mid 70s but traffic had become sparse by that time. I've also ridden a bike over the bridge a couple times since then. The overhead shot would be great with a bike on the bridge. 

Very nice..!!

Extremely well done DJ-12..

Outstanding trio!

For those who prefer "CP McDonalds", there is a new McD's in Meyersdale.
Located at the south end of town beside the Food Lion on Business RT219, its convenient to the Shaw loadout, and the US219 bypass.
It may be more convenient to do a rest stop here than the often congested Sheetz in the middle of Meyersdale.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/24 14:07 by bigsavage.

Thanks for sharing the aerial views. I agree with your statement about the growth. It sure has become an issue. I have not been a fan that long, I believe I started around 2009 or 2010. And the growth at some of the spots I have been to has become an issue.
John