Railfanning from Martinsburg to Cherry Run
To get to Martinsburg from Kearneysville, take Route 9 all the way to Queen Street. Take Queen Street to Martin Street. Turn right on Martin Street and go down the hill. The station and tower will soon appear in front of you. Martinsburg, the author’s hometown, is a very good place to railfan. Martinsburg is the origination and destination point for 5 MARC trains. NA tower is just a cabin-type structure that controls two interlockings, the one at Hobbs and the one in Martinsburg, by the means of 12 electrically-operated switches. NA tower is slated to be closed in May 2001. If you are lucky, a train may use the Frog Hollow Branch to serve a limestone company on the south side of the city, as trains on this branch are infrequent. To railfan on the branch, go back out Queen Street the way you came in. The branch will appear just as you pass the high school.

The next location is at the Dry Run road crossing. To get there from the high school, go back through town on Queen Street, go under the bridge, and turn left at the second stoplight. The first track that you will cross is the W&W. The CSX is a short distance beyond this crossing. The Winchester & Western Railroad crosses the CSX on an overhead bridge here, and has an interchange at Dry Run.

Another good spot is West Cumbo, in nearby Hedgesville. To get here from Dry Run, go back out to the light at Queen Street. Turn left, and take Queen Street/Route 9 to CR 1/6. Turn right on 1/6 and once you cross the tracks, you should see the tower on your left. W tower controls the junction of the mainline over North Mountain, and the "low-grade" line the follows the Potomac River to Cherry Run. W has Armstrong levers. W tower is slated to be closed in the middle of November. The "low-grade" was B&O’s original mainline through this area and it is used mainly for loaded coal trains to avoid the steep grade up the mountain. There were also yards and an interchange between the Cumerland Valley Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad here, hence the name Cumbo. There is also an active yard here for the GM plant and Quad Graphics plant, called Pearson Yard.

The next stop on our tour is R (Miller) tower in Cherry Run. To get here from Cumbo, go back out 1/6 to 9, turn right, and go a short distance to CR 4. Turn right. You will pass under the mainline bridge. Continue on 4 to Route 901. Turn left. You will cross back over the mainline and you should immediately turn right on CR 3/2. 3/2 roughly follows the mainline all the way to Cherry Run. Take 3/2 for about 5 miles and turn right on CR 9/5 (Cherry Run Road). You will soon see the two mainline tracks, the "low-grade," and, if the trees are not out, the bridge that carries the Lurgan Sub over the Potomac River, on your right. Continue on Cherry Run Road for a short distance into the small town of Cherry Run. Cherry Run is a small town of about 50 (more or less). R tower here controls a mainline interlocking, and the junctions of the "low-grade" line and the Lurgan Subdivision from Hagerstown, Maryland, with the mainlines. R tower is slated to be closed in early September. The area is also expected to get a new interlocking, which will further diminish the need for the tower. To get to the tower, take a road across the tracks, and the head west down the dirt road along the tracks for about ¼ of a mile. The operator that is on duty at this tower from 3-11pm is a very friendly man named Allen Brougham. Allen lives in Baltimore and produces a newsletter that contains info on towers and other railroad news, called The Bull Sheet. If you play your cards right, you might be able to get a tour of the tower.

Go to the Home page.
Go to the previous page.
Go to the next page.