The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) was an American

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

which operated in Western

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Primarily a

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

hauler, it was owned by the Consolidation Coal Company, and was purchased by the

Western Maryland Railway The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) which operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation. The WM beca ...

(WM) in 1944. The line ran from

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland. It is the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,076. Located on the Potomac River, ...

Piedmont, West Virginia Piedmont is a town in Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. It is part of the Cumberland, MD- WV metropolitan statistical area. The population was 716 at the 2020 census. Piedmont was chartered in 1856 and the town is the subject of ' ...

, at both points interchanging with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The railroad's shops were located at

Mount Savage, Maryland Mount Savage is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 873. A small blue-collar community, Mount Savage lies at the base of Big Sava ...

, also the location of its headquarters. On the way to Piedmont the line passed through (and under)

Frostburg, Maryland Frostburg is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and is at the head of the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located west of Cumberland, the town is one of the first cities ...

, where the C&P station stands today as the western terminus of the

Western Maryland Scenic Railroad The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (WMSR) is a heritage railroad based in Cumberland, Maryland, that operates passenger excursion trains and occasional freight trains using both steam and diesel locomotives over ex-Western Maryland Railway (W ...

History

The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad Company was incorporated on March 4, 1850, with a charter from the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber ...

. The early charter date reflects the prominence of Mt. Savage as an early

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

and manufacturer of

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

in the United States. The first iron rail rolled in the United States was produced at Mt. Savage in 1844. Cumberland MD C&O Canal-coal loading

In 1854 the C&P acquired the Mount Savage Railroad from the Mount Savage Coal and Iron Company.Mount Savage Historical Society
"Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad."
Accessed 2013-07-29. In 1863 the C&P acquired the Georges Creek Railroad from the

Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company The Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company is a defunct coal mining, iron producer and railroad company that operated in Maryland from 1835 to 1863. Iron furnace The company was formed in 1835, and chartered in the state of Maryland on March 29, 183 ...

, and in 1870 it acquired the Eckhart Branch Railroad from the Maryland Mining Company. In 1866

James Millholland James Millholland (1812–1875) was an American railway master mechanic who is particularly well known for his invention of many railway mechanisms. His association with the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company as master machinist spanned f ...

opened the locomotive shops which became the center of the railroad. From 1868 to 1917 the shops produced at least 30 locomotives for the C&P, as well as standard and

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

engines for other lines.Patrick H. Stakem
"The Mount Savage Locomotive Shops"
Accessed 2013-07-29. The C&P also built passenger cars, for its own use and for other railroads. The WM purchased the C&P from Consolidation Coal in 1944. The operations of the two companies were formally merged in 1953. All of the C&P locomotives were replaced with WM engines. In 1954 the WM abandoned redundant C&P track between Mt. Savage Junction and Mt. Savage, and discontinued use of the

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

under Frostburg, due to the tunnel's low clearances. Some

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

s to local mines were also eliminated. Coal traffic south of Frostburg was routed along the WM's Georges Creek Branch to the WM junction at

Westernport, Maryland Westernport, also known as Piedmont is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, along the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,888 at the 2010 census. History ...

(directly across the

North Branch Potomac River The North Branch Potomac River flows from Fairfax Stone in West Virginia to its confluence with the South Branch Potomac River near Green Spring, West Virginia, where it turns into the Potomac River proper. Course From the Fairfax Stone, th ...

from Piedmont).

Extant facilities

The depot at Frostburg was originally designed for the C&P by architect Ephraim Francis Baldwin and built in 1891. It contained an office, waiting rooms, freight and baggage sections. In addition to the station in Frostburg, many of the shop buildings still remain at Mt. Savage. Parts of the route north from Piedmont are still in service as part of

CSXT CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

and the

Georges Creek Railway The Georges Creek Railway is a shortline railroad in Western Maryland that performed contract switching and owns a 14-mile line between Westernport and Carlos. The railroad was headquartered at 119 Pratt Street in Luke in the former Luke Po ...

References

* Mellander, Deane (1981). ''Rails to the Big Vein, the Short Lines of Allegany County, Maryland.'' January 1981. Potomac Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc. * Mellander, Deane (1981). ''Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad.'' Newton, NJ: Carstens Publishers, Inc. .

External links

Photos of Mt. Savage Station, Yard & Locomotives
- Mt. Savage Historical Society
Great Allegheny Passage Trail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumberland Pennsylvania Railroad Defunct Maryland railroads Allegany County, Maryland History of Cumberland, MD-WV MSA Predecessors of the Western Maryland Railway Railway companies established in 1850 Railway companies disestablished in 1953 Defunct West Virginia railroads 1850 establishments in Maryland 1953 disestablishments in Maryland

History

Extant facilities

See also

References

External links