The Mount Savage Railroad was a railroad operated by the Maryland and New York Coal and Iron Company of

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 ...

between 1845 and 1854. The 14.9 miles (24 km) rail line ran from

Frostburg 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 ...

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 ...

History

The railroad was opened for use on Monday, September 24, 1845. The railroad was the first in America to use iron rail that was produced within the country, having to rely on British rail beforehand. Map scan082

Linking Mount Savage to the regional infrastructure

Before the railroad linked Mount Savage to Cumberland, Mount Savage had no way of transporting manufactured goods to the rest of the region. When the railroad reached Cumberland, Mount Savage now had a link to the

National Road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the Federal Government of the United States, federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Pot ...

, the

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Potomac Canal, wh ...

, and the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

. The interchange in the

Cumberland Narrows The Cumberland Narrows (or simply The Narrows) is a water gap in western Maryland in the United States, just west of Cumberland. Wills Creek cuts through the central ridge of the Wills Mountain Anticline at a low elevation here between Wills Mou ...

area also linked Mount Savage to the Potomac Wharf Branch.

The Potomac Wharf Branch

The Potomac Wharf Branch was built by the

Maryland Mining Company The Maryland Mining Company is a historic coal mining, iron producer and railroad company that operated in Allegany County, Maryland, Allegany County, Maryland, United States. The company was based in Eckhart Mines, Maryland; the location in Brad ...

around 1850 and is an extension to the

Eckhart Branch Railroad The Eckhart Branch Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Cumberland, Maryland area in the 19th century. The company was a subsidiary of the Maryland Mining Company of Eckhart Mines, Maryland. The railroad operated from 1846 to 1870, when ...

. The Potomac Wharf Branch was located in Maryland and used to cross Wills Creek. The branch is no longer present.

National Road

The Mount Savage Railroad linked Mount Savage to the National Road, where they met in Cumberland. The National Road was one of the first improved highways in the country. Construction on the road began in 1811, crossing over the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

and southwest

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The road was finished in 1824 and connected many turnpikes to

Baltimore, Maryland 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 ...

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

The Maryland and New York Coal and Iron Company built its rail line in order to connect with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The railroads provided heavy industrial manufacturing as well as a transportation resource for raw materials and finished goods. The Cumberland Wharf also offered a connection to the C&O Canal, which offered shipping 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, ...

Layout of the railroad yard

The Mount Savage

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 ...

had at its center a twelve stall roundhouse, which also served as a

passenger depot A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a Rail transport, railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passenger train, passengers, freight rail transport, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one r ...

. Close by was the fire clay brick

refractory In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...

, and the Ramsey Glazed Brick Works. Several connecting switchtracks connected the different factories and furnaces to the Cumberland-bound mainline. Eventually the yard also connected to the

Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) was an American railroad which operated in Western Maryland. Primarily a coal hauler, it was owned by the Consolidation Coal Company, and was purchased by the Western Maryland Railway (WM) in 1944. ...

, which connected Mount Savage to Frostburg when the rail line was completed in the 1850s.

Current railroad activity

Mountain Thunder on The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

The ''Mountain Thunder'' (Locomotive No. 734) is a restored 1916 Baldwin Steam Locomotive. The train runs on 32 miles of track connecting Cumberland and Frostburg. The journey is about 3 hours long starting at the Cumberland Station. It winds through Cumberland, The Narrows, Helmstetter Curve, the Brush Tunnel, Woodcock Hollow, and finally ending in Frostburg. Passengers get to experience the

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

at the historic Frostburg Depot before heading back to Cumberland. There are three kinds of trips on the train. You can ride first class (which includes a meal) or couch on an "Excursion Train" which is a day trip. There is a "Murder Mystery Train" which is a night trip designed for a fun night out for an adult audience, and dinner is provided. There are sixteen different stories that are performed between May and December. There are also trips on the "Santa Express". In December on designated excursion trips Santa walks through the cabins handing out candy canes and talking to the riders. These trips between May and December allow people of all ages experience and enjoy the scenic routes used for many years.

The Allegheny Highlands Trail

The

Great Allegheny Passage The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) is a rail trail between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cumberland, Maryland. Together with the C&O Canal towpath, the GAP is part of a route between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., that is popular with through ...

(GAP) is 135 mile biking and hiking trail that connects

Duquesne, Pennsylvania Duquesne ( ) is a city along the Monongahela River in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 5,254 at the 2020 census. History The city of Duquesne was settled in 1789 and incor ...

(near

Pittsburgh 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 Cumberland, MD. The Allegheny Highlands Trail is the section of the trail that runs between Cumberland and the Mason-Dixon line (Smith, 2006). The path is covered in crushed limestone and the majority of the trail runs right next to the Mount Savage railroad. Hikers and bikers can experience a trip along the railroad while still enjoying the scenic wilderness of the area. The trail stretches 20.47 miles (33 km) (Smith, 2006). There are three sections of the trail. The section between the Mason-Dixon line and Frostburg was opened in September 2004 (Smith, 2006). The trail between Frostburg and Woodmount Hollow opened in August 2005 (Smith, 2006). And the final section between Woodmount Hollow and Cumberland was opened on December 14, 2006 (Smith, 2006). Bikers, hikers, and pets are all welcome on the trail.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Savage Railroad Defunct Maryland railroads Allegany County, Maryland History of Cumberland, MD-WV MSA Predecessors of the Western Maryland Railway Railway companies established in 1838 Railway companies disestablished in 1854 1838 establishments in Maryland American companies established in 1838 1854 disestablishments in Maryland