Western Maryland, Big Savage Tunnel
Map
Big Savage Mountain is 2,750 feet where WM Connellsville Sub tunnelled through the ridge at less than 2,400 foot elevation.
Satellite Photo
Was there a wye at Colmar so the steam helpers did not have to back down? Looks like one at the bottom of this photo. Also note the lighter area on the pole line above the tunnel, this is the boulder field in the photo below.
East Portal of Big Savage Tunnel
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Looking From the Top of Big Savage East
The former WM CTC line over Big Savage Tunnel is used for a small electric right of way. The distant ridge that ends abruptly (crossed in the photo by an electric line) is Haystack Mountain at the Narrows in Cumberland. The next high ridge is Piney Mountain. Note the clearing appearing over top of the barn in the upper center. This is Lap/Sunnyside area on the WMSRR portion of the Western Maryland. The large sandstone boulders in the foreground are the resistent Pottsville formation, this formation is the reason the Alleghenies tower over other Appalachian ridges. Running a pole line through this terrain was no small job. My father worked for Western Maryland at the time. He recalls that Mr. Rank and his horse were contracted from Frostburg to pull cable up the mountain.
Looking up from Lap
This is looking up from Lap to the spot where the previous photo was taken.
Looking west from the top of Big Savage, Laurel Run watershed of Wills Creek is in the immediate valley below. The white buildings are the twin churches at the intersection of Route 160 and the road to Deal. Route 160 runs along the Eastern Continental Divide from these churches to Sandpatch. The ridge in the background is Meadow Mountain. The abandoned pole in the foreground in the CTC line above the tunnel.
The light again appears at the end of the tunnel, a result of clearing out the fallen-in ceiling on west end. The tunnel floor is covered with water and the ceiling looks suspect. Its hard to believe I rode a bike through here in the dark only several years ago (one way, I pushed the bike over the top and through the boulders coming back).
The number on this overpass bridge between Big Savage Tunnel and Deal gives one pause. At first glance, one would think this bridge was constructed in 1883, but that was almost thirty years before the Connellsville sub was built. WM numbered their bridges by miles from Baltimore, I quess the fourth digit is the tenth of mile. What is still a mystery however is what this bridge was overpassing. There is not a stream present and if this is a man-made cut, that would seem overkill for a country road. Could this be the grade for the Cook lumber logging railroad from Glencoe?
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad
Cass Scenic Railroad, home of Western Maryland Shay No.6
More railroad photos
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