Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

[mSummers]

I thought I'd share some photos I've taken on a series of trips up to Cumberland, Maryland to see the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. The WMSR runs along the old Western Maryland Railroad tracks between Cumberland and Frostburg, Maryland. The track in this location averages a 2% grade, causing the engine to work hard and put on a good show. I'll break it up into a couple of posts to keep it from getting too long.

The Western Maryland Station, built in 1913, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973

Since we're here very early, we'll drive over to the WMSR shops in Ridgeley, WV to check out the steam engine going through its preparations for the day's excursion to Frostburg

When the engine is ready, they bring it over the bridge into Cumberland and into the station.

As usual, they've put on a good show of coming over the bridge, smoke billowing from the stack, cylinder cocks open, and the engineer blowing the whistle.

 

[mSummers]

Here's the train sitting in the station while the passengers board. On the busiest days, the train will be up to 14 cars long with 2 diesel helpers.

Occasionally, they'll lubricate the locomotive at the station. Here, the fireman oils part of the crosshead assembly.

After leaving the station, the train heads through the narrows and around Helmstetter's Curve.

 

[mSummers]

After rounding the curve, the train proceeds to Brush Tunnel.

From there, the train heads across a couple of grade crossings, and then she charges up the hill toward the Parkersburg Road overpass

Believe me, they don't call her Mountain Thunder for nothing!

 

[mSummers]

After passing under Parkersburg Road, the train climbs the steepest part of the trip into Frostburg and arrives at the historic Frostburg Depot, built in 1891

After all the passengers are off the train, the engine is turned around on the turntable for the return trip.

After a 1.5hr layover at Frostburg, the train makes the return trip to Cumberland, arriving about 45 minutes later.

Hope you enjoyed the trip

 

[goofmick]

Nice, nothing like an old steam engine.

 

[goofy101]

Great shots

 

[PolynesianMedic]

Great shots! How did you manage to get them? Driving ahead of the train? Nice work, the colors of the leaves are beautiful.

 

[Craig]

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

 

[gary]

nice shots, from one of the best scenic rail rides there is, at least imho, in the east, and you posted helmstetter's curve before i could ask about it, do you have any from inside the curve?

 

[mSummers]

Thanks guys.

Poly, yes, I drove ahead of the train. The problem with the WMSR is that the line doesn't parallel a road, so it's very hard to get more than 2 shots while the train is moving between stations, so it took several trips to get all of those.

Gary, I didn't try any shots from the inside of the curve. The brush is very tall, so I'm not sure you could get a shot right now if you tried.

 

[mSummers]

Here's a few more that I took this month:

Ridgeley Yard

Truss Bridge over Rt 40

Helmstetter's Curve

 

[mSummers]

Signal Bridge at Trimble Road

Frostburg Depot

 

[mSummers]

And last but not least, here's #734 waiting to pull the "Polar Express"

 

[PolynesianMedic]

These new shots are terrific! Nice work and thanks for posting!

 

[HW]

great series but that last one is my fav. reminds me of something from film noir

 

[mSummers]

Thanks guys. The last one is my favorite too. There were 5 photographers shooting the train that night and one of them new the engine crew, so he got them to put on a good show for us.

 

[PolynesianMedic]

That is always helpful!

 

[Roger]

Mike, what lens did you use?

 

[Deniz]

These are really awesome! I like the last one for the artistic quality, but I really like the one before it because it seems like the start (or end) of any great western story.

 

[mSummers]

Thanks Deniz!