The ''Blue Ridge'' was a daily

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

passenger train that operated between Washington, D.C. and

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland. It is the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,076. Located on the Potomac River, ...

(

Martinsburg, West Virginia Martinsburg is a city in and the seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, in the tip of the state's Eastern Panhandle region in the lower Shenandoah Valley. Its population was 18,835 in the 2021 census estimate, making it the largest city in the E ...

after 1976). Service began in 1973; it was merged into the

MARC Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...

Brunswick Line The Brunswick Line is a MARC commuter rail line between Washington, D.C., and Martinsburg, West Virginia, with a branch to Frederick, Maryland. It primarily serves the northern and western suburbs of Washington. The line, MARC's second longest ...

commuter rail service in 1986.

History

The ''Blue Ridge'' was introduced on May 7, 1973, as a replacement for the ''

Potomac Special Potomac () may refer to: Places in the United States Washington, D.C. area: *The Potomac River, which flows through West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. **The Potomac Highlands, a region of the Potomac River's watershed in West ...

''. It was curtailed from the ''Potomac Special'' terminus of

Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna metrop ...

to Cumberland, and retimed to better serve commuters. In December 1975, the ''Blue Ridge'' became the first train outside the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, ...

to receive new

Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Metroliner electric multiple unit. An in ...

coaches. The ''Blue Ridge'' was truncated to Martinsburg on October 31, 1976 upon the introduction of the Washington–

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

'' Shenandoah''. Weekend service was dropped on October 1, 1981 amid cuts to Amtrak services. In 1986, Amtrak transferred the ''Blue Ridge'' to the Maryland Mass Transit Administration (now the Maryland Transit Administration), who incorporated it into the

. As part of the transfer, Amtrak agreed to subsidize the train for five years. MARC continued to use the name during the late 1980s.

Notes

References

* *

External links

1973 timetable1976 timetable1986 timetable
{{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes Passenger rail transportation in Maryland Passenger rail transportation in Washington, D.C. Passenger rail transportation in West Virginia Railway services introduced in 1973 Railway services discontinued in 1986 Martinsburg, West Virginia