Sand Patch Grade is an approximately section of railroad track known for its steep

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also ref ...

s and curves through 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 ...

of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Dropping over in about and with grades as much as 2%, Sand Patch Grade is one of the steepest railroad grades on the East Coast. Sand Patch Grade was originally built by the Pittsburgh & Connelsville Railroad (P&C) to connect Pittsburgh and Connellsville, with an extension authorized to

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 ...

in 1853. The extension required a crossing of the Allegheny Mountains via a 4,777-foot-long (1,456 m) tunnel, which was constructed between 1854 and 1871. At the time, this project was one of the longest tunnels in the United States. It was designed for two tracks but, due to difficult terrain and inconsistent geology, the plan was revised to one track. Work on the tunnel was beset with problems –

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

, contractor

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

, the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, and political battles – so that the tunnel was only worked on for 8 of the 17 years it was technically under construction.Roberts 2005, pp 20-21. Ventilation in the tunnel was a problem; four vertical shafts had been bored during construction, and three were finished to provide air circulation. By 1900, sky-rocketing traffic on the line necessitated a tunnel with higher capacity. A new double-track tunnel on a shallower grade and improved alignment was constructed between 1911 and 1913.Roberts 2005, pp 71-72. It has two concrete-lined vertical ventilation shafts to supply air. The original one-track tunnel was retained for a time after the two-track tunnel was completed, temporarily providing three tracks at that point on the line. The old tunnel was abandoned in 1917 and is now flooded and collapsed in places. In 2001, the 'SA' Tower near the western portal of the tunnel was decommissioned and demolished. The P&C eventually became the Pittsburgh Division of the

Baltimore & 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 ...

(B&O), which became a component 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 ...

in 1972, then was merged into CSX in 1987. The line is now part of 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 ...

, an East-West

main line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

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. ...

. Passengers can ride over Sand Patch Grade on

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 ...

's Chicago-Washington train, the ''Capitol Limited''. Mance, Pennsylvania, along the Sand Patch Grade is a popular spot for

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s and photographers due to the

horseshoe curve A horseshoe curve is a class of climbing curve in a roadbed which reverses turn direction (inflection) twice on either side of a single tight curve that varies through an angle of about 180 degrees or more. Such curves are more commonly found ...

located there, as well as the scenic backdrop provided by the old general store and tree farm. The line is also popular as a place to watch the trains labor up the steep grade.

References

{{Reflist CSX Transportation lines Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania Rail infrastructure in Maryland Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania Baltimore and Ohio Railroad lines

See also

Further reading

References