The Mount Savage Railroad was a railroad operated by the Maryland and New York Coal and Iron Company of

Mount Savage, Maryland Mount Savage is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 873. A small blue-collar community, Mount Savage lies at the base of Big Sa ...

between 1845 and 1854. The 14.9 miles (24 km) rail line ran from

Frostburg Frostburg is a city in Allegany County, Maryland. It is located at the head of the Georges Creek Valley, west of Cumberland. The town is one of the first cities on the "National Road", US 40, and the western terminus of the Western Maryland ...

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,075. Located on the Potomac River, Cumberland is a regional business and comm ...

History

The railroad was opened for use on Monday, September 24, 1845. The railroad was the first in America to use iron rail that was produced within the country, having to rely on British rail beforehand. Map scan082

Linking Mount Savage to the regional infrastructure

Before the railroad linked Mount Savage to Cumberland, Mount Savage had no way of transporting manufactured goods to the rest of the region. When the railroad reached Cumberland, Mount Savage now had a link to the

National Road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

, 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 Patowmack Canal ...

, and the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

. The interchange in the

Cumberland Narrows The Cumberland Narrows (or simply The Narrows) is a water gap in western Maryland in the United States, just west of Cumberland. Wills Creek cuts through the central ridge of the Wills Mountain Anticline at a low elevation here between Will ...

area also linked Mount Savage to the Potomac Wharf Branch.

The Potomac Wharf Branch

The Potomac Wharf Branch was built by the Maryland Mining Company around 1850 and is an extension to the

Eckhart Branch Railroad The Eckhart Branch Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Cumberland, Maryland area in the 19th century. The company was a subsidiary of the Maryland Mining Company of Eckhart Mines, Maryland. The railroad operated from 1846 to 1870, whe ...

. The Potomac Wharf Branch was located in Maryland and used to cross Wills Creek. The branch is no longer present.

National Road

The Mount Savage Railroad linked Mount Savage to the National Road, where they met in Cumberland. The National Road was one of the first improved highways in the country. Construction on the road began in 1811, crossing over the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...

and southwest

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. The road was finished in 1824 and connected many turnpikes to

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

The Maryland and New York Coal and Iron Company built its rail line in order to connect with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The railroads provided heavy industrial manufacturing as well as a transportation resource for raw materials and finished goods. The Cumberland Wharf also offered a connection to the C&O Canal, which offered shipping to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Layout of the railroad yard

The Mount Savage

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...

had at its center a twelve stall roundhouse, which also served as a

passenger depot A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a Rail transport, railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passenger train, passengers, freight rail transport, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one railwa ...

. Close by was the fire clay brick

refractory In materials science, a refractory (or refractory material) is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat or chemical attack and that retains its strength and rigidity at high temperatures. They are inorganic, non-metallic compound ...

, and the Ramsey Glazed Brick Works. Several connecting switchtracks connected the different factories and furnaces to the Cumberland-bound mainline. Eventually the yard also connected to 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. T ...

, which connected Mount Savage to Frostburg when the rail line was completed in the 1850s.

Current railroad activity

Mountain Thunder on The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

The ''Mountain Thunder'' (Locomotive No. 734) is a restored 1916 Baldwin Steam Locomotive. The train runs on 32 miles of track connecting Cumberland and Frostburg. The journey is about 3 hours long starting at the Cumberland Station. It winds through Cumberland, The Narrows, Helmstetter Curve, the

Brush Tunnel The Brush Tunnel is a railroad tunnel located about west of Corriganville, Maryland. It was built in 1911 by the Western Maryland Railway, and is currently used by the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, a tourist railroad running between Fro ...

, Woodcock Hollow, and finally ending in Frostburg. Passengers get to experience the

turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...

at the historic Frostburg Depot before heading back to Cumberland. There are three kinds of trips on the train. You can ride first class (which includes a meal) or couch on an "Excursion Train" which is a day trip. There is a "Murder Mystery Train" which is a night trip designed for a fun night out for an adult audience, and dinner is provided. There are sixteen different stories that are performed between May and December. There are also trips on the "Santa Express". In December on designated excursion trips Santa walks through the cabins handing out candy canes and talking to the riders. These trips between May and December allow people of all ages experience and enjoy the scenic routes used for many years.

The Allegheny Highlands Trail

The

Great Allegheny Passage The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) is a rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the t ...

(GAP) is 135 mile biking and hiking trail that connects

Duquesne, Pennsylvania Duquesne ( ) is a city along the Monongahela River in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 5,254 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History The city of Duquesne wa ...

(near

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

) to Cumberland, MD. The Allegheny Highlands Trail is the section of the trail that runs between Cumberland and the Mason-Dixon line (Smith, 2006). The path is covered in crushed limestone and the majority of the trail runs right next to the Mount Savage railroad. Hikers and bikers can experience a trip along the railroad while still enjoying the scenic wilderness of the area. The trail stretches 20.47 miles (33 km) (Smith, 2006). There are three sections of the trail. The section between the Mason-Dixon line and Frostburg was opened in September 2004 (Smith, 2006). The trail between Frostburg and Woodmount Hollow opened in August 2005 (Smith, 2006). And the final section between Woodmount Hollow and Cumberland was opened on December 14, 2006 (Smith, 2006). Bikers, hikers, and pets are all welcome on the trail.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Savage Railroad Defunct Maryland railroads Allegany County, Maryland History of Cumberland, MD-WV MSA Predecessors of the Western Maryland Railway Railway companies established in 1838 Railway companies disestablished in 1854 1838 establishments in Maryland American companies established in 1838 1854 disestablishments in Maryland