The Western Maryland Railway, The Fast Freight Line

While the Western Maryland Railway, affectionately known as the Wild Mary was never a large carrier (only roughly a 700-mile system) although for those who followed it, it was a legendary line. The railroad was built over rough terrain and thus used numerous tunnels and bridges to achieve a manageable grade. While difficult to operate from a railroad perspective, the WM allowed for some of the most fantastic photography one could ever hope or wish for with everything from big 4-8-4s bursting from Knobley Tunnel and crossing the Potomac River to brawny 4-6-6-4s lugging freight through legendary Helmstetter’s Curve. To put it bluntly, what a fantastic scenic railroad the entire WM main line (especially through Maryland and West Virginia) would have made if it were all still intact today. It would easily rival anything offered today from other famous tourist lines like the Strasburg Railroad or the Durango & Silverton.

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.

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 while its grades were comparable to the B&O's the WM's main line was single-tracked while the B&O's was double-tracked.

The Western Maryland did its best to remain competitive with nearby competitors, particularly the B&O but it simply did not serve any large markets outside of Baltimore and Cumberland and held main lines that were choked with high maintenance costs (due to the many tunnels and bridges).

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).

Under this new setup the Western Maryland Railway continued to operate mostly independent from its parents (of which the B&O had full control of the line) until the 1972 creation of the new holding company for all three, the Chessie System, when the WM mostly disappeared (from an operating and visual standpoint) as a division of the B&O (although Chessie units continued to be sub-lettered as WM). The most significant and lasting changes for the WM began in the mid-1980s when Chessie merged with the Seaboard Coast Line and the Family Lines (to form the shortlived-1982 creation of Seaboard System) to form CSX Corporation.

The railroad division of this company was CSX Transportation, which slowly began to merge the carriers. In 1987 the Western Maryland was the first Chessie road to disappear, followed soon after by the B&O and then C&O (the final railroad merged into CSX).

Today only small sections of the WM are still active, with the best known of these operated by the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad and West Virginia Central. Under the WMSR a short segment of the WM main line around Cumberland (still using the original WM Cumberland Station) remains active, which includes famous Helmstetter’s Curve. The railroad has gained much fame for its use of #734, a 2-8-0 steam locomotive, especially traveling through Helmstetter’s! In recent years a newer tourist/freight line, the West Virginia Central, owned by the State of West Virginia and operated by the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley has gained much attention. The WVC operates over 100 miles of ex-B&O and WM (the former Elkins Division) trackage and just recently restored the bridge to the former Elkins Yard in Elkins, WV where the railroad will not only serve passengers at the restored WM station but also use the building as its central headquarters.

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For an all-time diesel locomotive roster of the Western Maryland Railway please click here. Also, for an excellent listing of EMD-built diesel locomotives, including those owned by the WM please click here. Lastly, please click here to locate preserved WM diesel locomotives.

The American Locomotive Company

The Baldwin Locomotive Works

Electro-Motive Division

General Electric

For a more complete roster of Western Maryland Railway steam locomotives please click here. Also, for information regarding surviving WM steam locomotives please click here.

(A deep thanks to the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University for allowing Ron Nixon's historic collection of the Western Maryland steam locomotives to be featured here. Please note that the photos featured on this page feature their corresponding image number so that you may quickly and easily find more information about it from their website. To view Ron Nixon's entire collection please click here.)

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