The Georges Creek Railroad was 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 ...

operated by 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 ...

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 ...

. The railroad operated from 1853 to 1863, when it was acquired by 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. ...

(C&P).

History

Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company (GCC&I) had constructed and was operating a blast furnace in

Lonaconing, Maryland Lonaconing is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, located along the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD- WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,214 at the 2010 census. History The first non- ...

. With production going well, iron piled up. Delivery was a problem. After experimenting with a horse-powered tram road, the company realized that a rail line, built down the

Georges Creek Valley Georges Creek Valley is located in Allegany County, Maryland along the Georges Creek. The valley is rich in wide veins of coal, known historically as " The Big Vein." Coal was once extracted by deep mines but is only mined today through surf ...

toward the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

at Westernport, would be the answer to the transportation issue. The company began to concentrate on a railroad to meet with 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, ...

and the railroad at Westernport. By 1850, surveys were complete. 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 ...

(B&O) reached

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 ' ...

, across the river from Westernport, in July 1851. In September of that year, the GCC&I railroad construction began up the Georges Creek. The 9.2 miles (14.8 km) rail line was opened on May 9, 1853, and ran from Lonaconing to Piedmont, where it connected with the B&O line. In June 1853, a total of 1,061 tons of coal were shipped. In all of 1855, 225,000 tons of coal were shipped, sometimes in 102-car trains. Iron, ore or cast, did not figure into the shipments. In 1856, the rail line was extended from Lonaconing northward to connect with the

(C&P) from

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 ...

. It was, unfortunately, too late to provide the needed market access for the Lonaconing Iron Furnace. The furnace in Lonaconing was abandoned in 1855. Coal, not iron, became the most important commodity shipped out of the region on the railroad. The Georges Creek Railroad was acquired by the C&P on October 23, 1863. The shops and engine house at Lonaconing were used until 1867. These were located just north of where the road to Dan's Mountain State Park merges with

Maryland Route 36 Maryland Route 36 (also known as MD 36 or Route 36) is a state highway located in Allegany County, Maryland, Allegany County, Maryland, United States. MD 36's southern terminus is at the West Virginia Route 46 (WV 46) bridge in We ...

, at Water Station Road, north of Lonaconing. This section of line still saw use in 1998 for on-demand coal service. In 1991, the Georges Creek subdivision of

CSX 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. ...

hauled 195,197 tons of coal over this line, as compared with the 225,000 tons by the Georges Creek Rail Road in 1855. Baldwin Locomotive Works and Smith & Perkins sold engines and

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can ...

to the Georges Creek Company.

Ross Winans Ross Winans (1796–1877) was an American inventor, mechanic, and builder of locomotives and railroad machinery. He is also noted for design of pioneering cigar-hulled ships. Winans, one of the United States' first multi-millionaires, was invol ...

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 ...

sold wheels and axles to the GCC&I for

mine car In US railroad terminology, a gondola is an open-topped rail vehicle used for transporting loose bulk materials. Because of their low side walls, gondolas are also suitable for the carriage of such high-density cargos as steel plates or coils, ...

s. Passenger service was provided on the Georges Creek Railroad with their 2-6-0 engine. A list of motive power for the Georges Creek Rail Road has been compiled, but it is not known if this is a complete list. All of the listed engines were transferred to Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad ownership, as part of the buyout. No pictures of the 2-6-0 or 0-6-0 engines are known to exist. Locomotives were generally named after geographical references, or persons of significance. The significance of Mr. A. H. Stump has not yet been determined. cumberland coal trade

References

* Papenfuse ''et al.'', ''Maryland: A New Guide to the Old Line State'', Johns Hopkins University 1999, * Patrick H. Stakem, "The Georges Creek Railroad 1853-1863," Nov. 1995, The Automatic Block, Vol 17, No. 11. The Automatic Block is the newsletter of the Western Maryland Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in Cumberland, Maryland. * Mellander, Deane. Rails to the Big Vein, the Short Lines of Allegany County, Maryland, January, 1981, Potomac Chapter, NRHS, Inc. * Stakem, Patrick H. "Lonaconing Residency: Iron Technology and the Railroads, PRB Publishing, 2011, . * Mellander, Deane. Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad, 1981, Newton, NJ: Carstens Publishers, Inc., . {{DEFAULTSORT:Georges Creek Railroad Defunct Maryland railroads History of Cumberland, MD-WV MSA Transportation in Allegany County, Maryland Predecessors of the Western Maryland Railway Railway companies established in 1836 Railway companies disestablished in 1863 American companies established in 1836 1836 establishments in Maryland American companies disestablished in 1863

History

See also

References