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Maryland and Pennsylvania Stations 4/25-26/2023

My wife and I learned of the Cass Scenic Railway's Rail Heritage Weekend to celebrate their 60th Anniversary and signed up for the event. Later, we received Peter Lerro's e-mail newsletter announcing a two-day photography charter on the East Broad Top Railroad occurring just over a week before. We could not pass up this opportunity and soon plans and travel arrangements were made for the intervening days.

Elizabeth and I arose at our apartment and after breakfast, finished packing then were picked up by our friend, Anastatia Filipek, who kindly drove us to John Wayne Airport. We checked our luggage by way of the Sky Cap and were given boarding passes then went through security before reaching our gate in plenty of time.

4/25/2023 We boarded the plane but could not sit together so she sat in a row behind me. I did word search puzzles for most of the flight, which was bumpy as we appraoched Denver. After deplaning, we easily made it to the gate for the second leg of this trip and Elizabeth bought us a couple of chocolate bars as we waited for the incoming plane. This, as well as others, had to be diverted around the bad weather in the Denver area.

On this flight, we were able to sit together and I did more word search puzzles as well as read the new issue of Trains Magazine. We landed at BWI Airport and retrieved our luggage before taking the shuttle to the off-airport rental car facility, where we received a Nissan Altima. I then drove us to the La Quinta Inn for the night.

4/26/2023 After a very good night's sleep, we arose hungry and after our Internet duties, checked out then drove the very short distance to Cracker Barrel for an excellent and much-needed breakfast. I then drove Maryland 295 to Interstate 70 to Frederick, where we took the downtown exit and found the first station of the day

Baltimore and Ohio Frederick station built in 1854 and closed in 1948. We then found the second station.

Hagerstown and Frederick Railway station built in 1919. The Frederick & Middletown Railway was formed by George William Smith and initially called the Frederick & Middletown Railway. Construction began early in 1896 with funding from Middletown businesses and farmers. This construction was almost simultaneous with the development of Braddock Heights Park, the mountaintop resort envisioned by Smith and other company executives that was intended to provide patronage for the line. Service between Frederick and Braddock Heights commenced on August 22, 1896.

Two years later, an extension was built to Myersville by the residents of that community, nominally called the Myersville & Catoctin Railway, but leased to the F&M and operated as an integral part of the F&M. In 1904 the Hagerstown Railway built a connecting link from Boonsboro to Myersville and through service between Frederick and Hagerstown became possible, making the still separate lines an interurban.

The Jefferson branch was added in 1906, running down the east side of Jefferson Boulevard. This extension served the H&F investors, who were largely the same as the Braddock Heights investors, by opening up more mountaintop resort land for development. An extension of this branch planned in 1907 which would have taken the line to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad yard facilities in Brunswick was never completed.

The station board sign.

The plaque on the station.

Across the street is a trolley shelter built in 1900 and believed to be the shelter which once stood on Main Street near Schoolhouse Drive in Middletown. This shelter was auctioned and purchased by a farmer who used it for several years to store straw. Donald Easterday of Myersville purchased the shelter and moved it onto his Trolley Festival grounds in the 1990's. Shelters in this style are also known to have existed at Montevue north of Frederick and Clifton between Braddock Heights and Frederick.

We had parked outside City Hall and Elizabeth went in in search of a municipal lapel pin but instead, received a coin with a relief of the library on one side, and Hagerstown and Frederick Railway Trolley 150 on the obverse.

So I drove us to the library for one of the very few surviving Hagerstown and Frederick trolleys.

Hagerstown and Frederick interurban car 150 built by Southern Car Company in 1918 for the Columbia Street Railway to serve Camp Jackson, South Carolina during World War I. Car 150, along with three identical cars, were purchased by the H&F as surplus in 1923. From that year until 1938 the four cars were primarily seen travelling between Hagerstown, Funkstown and Boonsboro. When those services ended, the cars were sold to be used as restaurants. 150 eventually became part of a cabin on Catoctin Mountain before being purchased by Donald Easterday and moved to Myersville. Mr. Easterday restored the car and hosted a trolley-themed fall festival on his property from 1993 to 2011.

In 2017 the Town of Myersville purchased the car from the Easterday family and renovated it to be on public display inside the town library which opened in 2019.

Rail and spike display in the car.

History board of one of the bells.

The whistle of this streetcar. From here I drove us to Hagerstown.

The Hagerstown Western Maryland station built in 1913 and currently serves as the city's police station.

Western Maryland Railway Honor Roll World War 1917 to 1918 plaque.

A Balloon to Travel, showing a steam engine and the current station on each side.

Informational board about this station. We proceeded to Greencastle, Pennsylvania.

Cumberland Valley Railroad station, built in 1908, known as the Greencastle "High Line" station. The Cumberland Valley was a predecessor of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Railway Express baggage cart.

The sign above the baggage cart.

Seeing Double display board.

A track display.

The High Line Train Station history board. This and some of the other displays and information boards here were an Eagle Scout project by a local Boy Scout. Our next stop was Fort Loudon.

Fort Loudon Cumberland Valley Railroad station built circa 1831. We made our way to Robertsdale.

East Broad Top Robertsdale station built in 1917.

Unknown hopper car.

East Broad Top hopper car 1033 built by the railroad in 1913.

East Broad Top hopper car 911 built by the railroad in 1916. These car were moved from Rockhill Firnance in October 2020 and marked the first time since 1956 that East Board Top rolling stock returned to the site of its headquarters during its days as a coal carrier.

A view looking south down the East Broad Top tracks. Next I drove us to Dudley to another railroad surprise.

Huntington and Broad Top Mountain Railroad 0-4-0 39, ex. Huntington & Broad Top Railroad Historical Society at Blairsville 1976, exx. Slone Cornell at Blairsville, exxx. Duquesne Slag Products Company 65, nee Hammermill Paper Company built by Alco-Cooke in 1923.

Huntington and Broad Top square water tower from Dudley.

Names of memories of people on this plaque.

Huntington and Broad Top Mountain Railroad Broad Top City station.

Huntington and Broad Top Mountain Railroad station and water tower.

An East Broad Top railroad crossing sign.

Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad building from Cove.

A railroad building from Saxton. The Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad was chartered on May 6, 1852 for the purpose of developing and transporting semi-bituminous coal from the Broad Top Mountain and Coal Field situated in the corners of Huntingdon, Bedford and Fulton Counties of south-central Pennsylvania. By the end of 1855, 24 miles of the H&BT main line had been opened with trains in service from Huntingdon to Saxton, where the Shoup's Run branch line was extended to Dudley. Today the small community station is maintained by a small group of volunteers that are responsible for the repairs and upgrades of the station.

I then drove us to Orbisonia.

East Broad Top Orbisonia station built in 1906.

East Broad Top 2-8-2 12 "Millie" built by Baldwin in 1911.

East Broad Top 2-8-2 18 built by Baldwin in 1920.

East Broad Top Railroad has been named a National Historic Landmark. Elizabeth and I drove north to Huntingdon to Donna's Family Restaurant where I enjoyed a New York Steak and Elizabeth had the roast turkey, which were both excellent. We then checked into the Huntingdon Motor Inn for the night.

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