The West Virginia Central, Mountain Railroading in the Mountain State

The West Virginia Central, aside from the venerable Cass Scenic Railroad with its lovable Shays, is West Virginia’s best-known little railroad. Although state-owned and run in conjunction with excursion trains like the New Tygart Flyer, the WVC is also very much a short line operation serving a number of industries around Elkins and Dailey, West Virginia. The WVC’s lines date back to mostly that of the Western Maryland and its operations in and around Elkins (the railroad’s southwestern hub).

The WVC itself came to life in 1998 when the State of West Virginia won a long legal battle with CSX to keep the rails in place between Tygart Junction and Bergoo, West Virginia (some 140+ miles of railroad) with a right to purchase them, which it quickly did. After finding an operator in the way of John and Kathy Smith, owners of the nearby little Durbin & Greenbrier Valley and a real knack for running a railroad, the West Virginia Central has really taken off over the past ten years.

The railroad’s latest milestone includes moving its headquarters to the former WM two-story brick station in Elkins, once home to the “Wild Mary’s" large freight yard which served as both its western terminus as well as staging operations for the numerous coal branches that once fanned out around the Elkins area. In the early 1990s CSX, with the loss of coal mines and traffic in the region moved to close the yard, ripping up the tracks and removing the bridge that was used to access the yard.

The loss of the yard left an empty scar on the downtown area of Elkins and the removal of the bridge all but ended any chance of rail service returning to the area. With the WVC taking over rail operations in and around Elkins this was soon to change. In the early 2000s both the West Virginia Central and City of Elkins began looking for ways to reuse the old rail yard. While it was impossible to reuse the entire yard for rail purposes (it just was not needed) both came up with a dual-use plan involving both rail and retail and the plan thus far has worked very well. After funding was secured to rebuild the bridge a dedication ceremony was held in the late spring of 2006 acknowledging the accomplishment of returning rails to the yard (currently there are two staging tracks serving the station). What’s more the West Virginia Railroad Museum also plans to rebuild the former WM roundhouse to showcase its ever-growing collection of WV-related rail equipment, on the exact same spot of the original!

To give a brief overview on the Western Maryland Railway, the railroad has its beginnings dating back to 1852 when the Baltimore, Carroll & Frederick Railroad was chartered to connect Baltimore with points west in Maryland, such as Hagerstown and Cumberland (the latter of which would later become the WM’s headquarters). After completing its original main line to Hagerstown in 1872 the railroad later changed its name to the Western Maryland Railway, a name it would hold until its absorption into CSX in 1987.

Essentially the Western Maryland had two main lines splitting from its Baltimore-Cumberland main (known as the East and West Subdivisons), the Connellsville Subdivision and Thomas Subdivision. The Connellsville Sub connected Cumberland, Maryland with Connellsville, Pennsylvania and it would become the WM’s main source of bridge-through merchandise and general freight traffic going east and west. The line originally began construction in 1906 and was completed to Connellsville six years later in 1912.

The Thomas Subdivision, which connected Cumberland with Elkins, West Virginia located in roughly the east-central area of the state was predominantly used to access the lucrative bituminous coal in the region. The WM was able to gain access to this traffic when the original builder of the line, the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway, was sold to the Western Maryland in 1905.

While the WM had a myriad of other feeder and branch lines all across its system the Thomas Sub, Connellsville Sub, East Sub, and West Sub essentially made up the railroad and were its primary lines in which it moved traffic. While the railroad ran into money problems on a number of different occasions throughout its history its primary problem was that it virtually paralleled the Baltimore & Ohio everywhere it went and unfortunately in almost every case the B&O had the faster, easier (gradient-wise) routes.

The WM as a truly independent carrier ended in 1964 when the Chesapeake & Ohio and B&O (both of which were affiliated with the 1962 takeover of the B&O by the C&O) jointly applied with the ICC to acquire the Western Maryland, which was granted (the B&O had held a controlling interest in the WM for years).

To the delight of railfans the WVC operates some of the most unique diesel equipment you can find anywhere, including a rare BL2, of original WM heritage. What’s more, the West Virginia Central currently has its entire roster painted in WM’s original “speed lettering” livery. All in all, the future certainly looks bright for this little shortline in West Virginia!

For more reading on shortlines like the WVC consider the book American Shortline Railway Guide from author Ed Lewis. The book has gone through several updated editions to keep up with the ever-changing world of the shortline industry. Today, the publication highlights almost 600 shortlines across the country with general background information about each. If you have any interest in shortlines you will very likely enjoy this book.