Railfanning from Green Spring to Cumberland

The next sizable town is Green Spring, about 2-4 miles west of Okonoko. Green Spring is the site of a large tie producing plant that used to supply ties for the entire B&O. It is also the site where the South Branch Valley Railroad to Romney and Petersburg joins the main line in a wye on the south side of the very sizable yard. To get to Green Spring from Paw Paw, take Rt. 51 west from Paw Paw to Oldtown, MD. Once in Oldtown, find a road that heads south accross the river. Once you cross the river, you will immediately cross over the yard and the wye. From Green Spring to Patterson Creek, there is a double-track mainline and a third running track for a weigh-in-motion scale, whereby coal and other mineral trains slowed to five miles per hour to get weighed. This three track main is largely inaccessible.

Finally, we come to Patterson Creek, which is 3-5 miles west of Green Spring. Patterson Creek is the site of FN Tower. It controlled the mainline interlockings there and at Green Spring and the Patterson Creek Cutoff, which extended to McEnzie, MD, and allowed trains to bypass Cumberland. The tower was closed in the late 1960’s, and now AD, NO, and FN, are controlled from the CSX Dufford Transportation Center in Jacksonville, FL. To get to Patterson Creek from Green Spring, take 51 west out of Oldtown all the way to Virginia Avenue in Cumberland. Turn left on Virginia Avenue and go about 3-5 miles to a church and XXX Road. Turn left on XXX Road and go 3-5 miles to the small town of Patterson Creek.

The last photo location before we get to Cumberland is Mexico, at the south end of the expanded Cumberland Yard. Mexico, or M, tower was built in the 1960’s, to replace GE tower at Evitts Creek, when the B&O chose to expand the facilities in Cumberland. Mexico controlled three nearby interlockings and the south end of the yard, until it was closed in mid-1996. It is now controlled by dispatchers in Jacksonville, FL.

Finally, we come to the Queen City: Cumberland, Maryland!!! Cumberland was once the site of B&O’s glamorous Queen City Station. The present Amtrak station is a fairly good spot to photograph trains. Cumberland is also the home base for the new SD70MAC's, so there will be a lot of them around. Across the Potomac River from the Amtrak station is the ex-WM station which is now the headquarters of the Western Maryland Senic Railroad. The WMSR offers senic train rides on the old WM mainline up to Frostburg, MD, through what is known as "the Narrows." At Viaduct Junction, the Cumberland Division Mountain Sub, Cumberland Sub, and the Keystone Sub, all meet at a tower, ND. ND was closed and torn down in early 1997. Actually at this point, the Cumberland Sub ends and the Keystone Sub begins, and the Mountain Sub heads off towards Grafton, WV. This important junction is also controlled from Florida.

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