The Cumberland Terminal Subdivision is a

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 ...

line owned and operated by

CSX Transportation 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. ...

in the

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, 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 s ...

area. The line centers on the Cumberland

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or u ...

and is a junction with three other subdivisions. The line was built by the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road (B&O) in the 1850s as part of its original main line, known then as the "West End." To the east it connects with the Cumberland Subdivision leading to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. To the west it joins the

Keystone Subdivision The Keystone Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Maryland and Pennsylvania. The line runs from Cumberland, Maryland, west to McKeesport, Pennsylvania, (near Pittsburgh) along a former Baltimo ...

heading towards

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. To the southwest it joins the Mountain Subdivision leading to

Grafton, West Virginia Grafton is a city in and the county seat of Taylor County, West Virginia, Taylor County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 4,729 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It originally developed as a junction point for the Bal ...

.CSX Transportation, Baltimore, MD
"Cumberland Terminal Subdivision."
''Northern Region, Baltimore Division, Timetable No. 4.'' Effective 2005-01-01.

Yard and shop facilities

The Cumberland rail yard complex originally included a large

classification yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English ( Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English ( Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ...

and an engine shop. The B&O opened its Westward Transportation Yard in Cumberland in 1960. The yard is long and occupies . It includes an 8-track receiving yard, a 33-track hump classification yard with automatic retarders and switching, car inspection and repair facilities, and other support buildings. CSX converted the yard to remote operation in 2004, and classified 1,000 to 1,400 cars per day in 2010. In 2017 CSX converted the yard to flat switching and closed the hump operations.

Passenger stations

The B&O built a large

passenger station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

in Cumberland, the

Queen City Hotel The Queen City Hotel was constructed in 1871 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in Cumberland, Maryland to serve both as a train station and as a destination. Hosting 174 rooms, it also had such features as formal gardens with a fountain, a ...

, in 1871, shortly after completion of a rail line to Pittsburgh. Passenger traffic on the line declined in the mid-20th century, and the station was demolished in 1972. Today the smaller

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

depot Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...

is located on the line, in the downtown area west of the yard.

CSX acquisition

During the 1970s the B&O was controlled by the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

, and the two companies (along with 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 ...

) operated under the single corporate identify of the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated und ...

. The Western Maryland Railway once had two extensive yards in the Cumberland area but these were phased out in favor of the ex B&O Cumberland Terminal. The Chessie companies were merged into CSX in 1987.CSX Transportation
"Our Evolution and History."
Interactive timeline. Accessed 2012-12-02.

References

External links

{{commonscat
CSX Cumberland Terminal
- Facebook page with photos

- Photos Baltimore and Ohio Railroad lines CSX Transportation lines Rail infrastructure in Maryland Transportation in Cumberland, MD-WV-PA 1850s establishments in Maryland

Yard and shop facilities

Passenger stations

CSX acquisition

See also

References

External links