Maryland

Take a nonstop journey through 131 years of the Western Maryland Railway's history in this photographic tale.

The Western Maryland Railway was never a large Class 1 rail carrier, but during its 131 colorful years of existence, it provided extremely fast, efficient, and reliable freight; coal-hauling; and passenger service in the states it served. This book contains images from the history of this remarkable railroad and also provides the reader the opportunity to see how the legacy of the Western Maryland Railway is being maintained and remembered even today at some of its well-known train stations, such as in Cumberland and Union Bridge, Maryland, now home to the Western Maryland Railway Historical Society (WMRHS). The Western Maryland is now gone, but through the wonderful images captured and preserved by the WMRHS and private archival photograph collections, the dream of the railway will live on.

Incorporated in 1827, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was one of America's first railroads, and Maryland was its heart and soul.

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's (B&O) creation was a tangible symbol of the Industrial Revolution, representing commerce and progress to towns along its route. Its headquarters and operations, centered in Baltimore, provided years of economic growth for the port city. This book contains images of well-known stations in Maryland, including Ellicott City Station, Gaithersburg Station, Camden Station, and the Mount Clare Shops--a self-contained industrial city, now home to the B&O Railroad Museum. Some stations still exist and are home to small museums or restaurants; others no longer stand, but images of them will remind even the casual historian of a time when railroads were a part of everyday life in America.

Take a step back in time and revisit the sites, stations, and trains of the B&Othat were once part of everyday life in Maryland and remember the glory of a bygone era.

Located at the confluence of Will's Creek and the Potomac River, Cumberland, Maryland, is known as the Queen City of the Alleghenies. Because of the unique geography of the mountain passes, Cumberland became a transportation nexus between the Eastern Seaboard and the inland bounty of the United States. The National Road, a federal project initiated by Pres. Thomas Jefferson, passes through Cumberland, as does the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and Canal. Rail lines and roads stretch out west, south, and north to industrial, agricultural, and natural resource areas. Regional short-line railroads served to move coal to the loading docks of the canal in Cumberland. Today the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad features steam-power excursions from the old Western Maryland Station next to the canal basin, while 6,000-horsepower diesels haul heavy freight through the CSX Yards in South Cumberland.

Hagerstown, Maryland's history is inextricably linked to the railroad. Hagerstown's nickname of the "Hub City" comes from the wheel-spoke effect that the many rail lines in and out of the city created. The first train cars from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad reached the limits of Washington County on December 3, 1834, where the line crossed into Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. The railroad was instrumental in transporting both goods and passengers and helped spell the demise of the C & O Canal. Through the years, the railroads continued to ply the tracks through the county providing work for many, and transportation of freight and passenger service from Baltimore in the east to the great expanse of the country to the west. Today, passenger service no longer runs through Hagerstown, but freight service continues and trains are far from forgotten.

In the late 1860s, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) pushed its first tracks westward from Virginia's Tidewater region across the mountains into what was then the new state of West Virginia. Ultimately its tracks stretched across a half-dozen states and even into Canada. Appalachian coal was the C&O's primary cargo, but its fast freights carried shipments of all kinds, and its crack passenger trains were marvels of their day. In 1963, the C&O merged with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the first of what would become a wave of railroad mergers. Today the old C&O is part of giant CSX Transportation. Images of Rail: The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway gathers 200 photographs that chronicle the C&O story. Here is a fond look back at its mammoth steam locomotives and the diesels that replaced them, its bustling passenger stations, and much more, including the legendary John Henry, who beat that steam drill, and Chessie, the sleeping kitten that was the C&O's much-loved trademark.