The Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad (reporting mark PESX) is a

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

based in Romney,

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. The railroad operates excursion trains over a former

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 ...

line that runs between Green Spring and Petersburg. The

West Virginia State Rail Authority The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) is the state agency responsible for transportation in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The Department of Transportation serves an umbrella organization for four subsidiary agencies which ar ...

(SRA) owns the line and freight service is provided by the

South Branch Valley Railroad The South Branch Valley Railroad is a railroad in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The branch line, which parallels the South Branch Potomac River, runs north from Petersburg, West Virginia, Petersburg to Green Spring, West Virginia, Gre ...

. The Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad's excursion trains run from Romney to Moorefield with occasional longer trips to Petersburg. All excursions use diesel locomotives. A highlight of the trip is passage along the

South Branch Potomac River The South Branch Potomac River has its River source, headwaters in northwestern Highland County, Virginia, near Hightown, Virginia, Hightown along the eastern edge of the Allegheny Front. After a river distance of ,U.S. Geological Survey. Nationa ...

through "

The Trough The Trough is a 6-mile long wooded gorge carved by the South Branch Potomac River (SBPR) and situated in the Allegheny Mountains of Hampshire and Hardy Counties, West Virginia, US. The area was the site of a 1756 skirmish of the French and In ...

", an area noted for

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

sightings.

History

The Potomac Eagle Scenic runs on the track of the

, which was established by the state of

in 1978 to operate a line abandoned by the B&O. Freight service on this line operates on weekdays and occasionally on weekends, so the line is free for excursions on most weekends. In 1989 efforts began to attract an excursion operator, and service began in 1991.

Equipment

Current Engines

The Potomac Eagle Scenic operates a mixture of cars behind four early model diesels: * F7A #722 (ex- Bessemer and Lake Erie), recently repainted into a B&O livery similar to 6604. * FP9A #1755 (ex-

Algoma Central The Algoma Central Corporation is the result of a reorganization of the Algoma Central Railway in 1990. The company claims assets in excess of $400 million and revenue of $280 million. Corporate headquarters is located in St. Catharines, Ontario ...

). * GP9 #6604* (ex- B&O), one of the distinctive "torpedo boat" units built for passenger service and restored to its original livery * GP9 #6240* (ex C&O) in

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated u ...

livery * GP9/GP9U #8250 (ex

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

) * owned by South Branch Valley Railroad

Former Engines

* F3A/F3AU #8016/#116 (ex

Clinchfield Railroad The Clinchfield Railroad was an operating and holding company for the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway . The line ran from the coalfields of Virginia and Elkhorn City, Kentucky, to the textile mills of South Carolina. The 35-mile segmen ...

), ex-CSX #116, sold to the C&O Historical Society and restored as Chesapeake and Ohio #8016 in the C&O passenger paint scheme; is now restored to its original identity, Clinchfield #800. * FPA4 #6793 (ex

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

), was painted in Potomac Eagle Livery, sold to the Grand Canyon Railway where it was painted into the Grand Canyon passenger Livery and still works today. * FP7A #118 (ex Clinchfield), ex-CSX #118, sold in the early 2000s to the

Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad The Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad is a heritage and freight railroad in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. It operates the West Virginia State Rail Authority-owned Durbin Railroad and West Virginia Central Railroad , as well as ...

, renumbered to 67 and painted in a

Western Maryland upright=1.2, An enlargeable map of Maryland's 23 counties and one independent city Western Maryland, also known as the Maryland panhandle or Mountain Maryland, is the portion of the U.S. state of Maryland that typically consists of Washing ...

Scheme. *

References

External links