The Western Maryland had a vital connection with the Reading at Shippensburg, used for the Alphabet Route and Central States Dispatch freight and for B&O and WM coal shipments to the Northeast. WM often ran through to Rutherford Yard on the southeast side of Harrisburg, so WM could be spotted on this bridge. Immediately upstream is the Cumberland Valley RR bridge and a few piers for Vanderbilt's never completed South Penn.
WM President Hood's actions in the 1880's created this bridge route by extending from Williamsport (the connection there with the C&O Canal proved unfruitful) to Cherry Run on the B&O and from Hagerstown up the Cumberland Valley to a connection with an independent Reading RR (circa 1870 maps show this line as the "proposed Miramir Railroad"). The Pennsylvania RR controlled the parallel Cumberland Valley Railroad. When George Gould was stringing together his transcontinental line, revenue from newly acquired WV Central and Pittsburg coal traffic was to pay some of the bills. PRR controlled B&O at the time (early 1900's). Instead of handing the coal over to the parent WM at Cherry Run, the B&O on PRR orders routed it up the ill-prepared Cumberland Valley RR at Cumbo. This "Great Coal Push" faced legal challenges, but by the time WM got it straightened out, Gould's empire was in receivership. Eventually the Reading line became part of Conrail.
The NS is crossing the Reading Bridge in Spring 2000. The CSXT unit train was on the bridge on a very rainy Sunday in July, 2000. The coal cars were marked PPLX.
Grantham
Here a NS freight is south (west)bound through Grantham, crossing Yellow Breeches Creek. Shellys Magnetic Ore mine was near this location
Williams Grove
Williams Grove is at a junction of the Dillsburg Branch of the CVRR and the Reading. Many conventions were held here in railroad days because of the excellent connections. Some vintage equipment is in the park including this Ma & Pa box.
Creek Road near Brandtsville.
A few miles down the Cumberland Valley, the railroad blends nicely with farms, the Yellow Breeches and South Mountain. This area was actually the starting point for the alternate rail route in the Cumberland valley. The Ahl brothers were successful iron producers from Newville. By 1870, they saw the future was shipping ore to larger mills rather than local production, but ore in place was low value without rail transportation. The CVRR was a monopoly that had a route that connected the valley towns but did not come close to the ore banks. With pluck reminiscent of Henry G. Davis, the Ahl brothers decided to build their own railroad to ship the product to eastern Pennsylvania. Their idea was to build a railroad to Whitehill (Camp Hill) where it would connect with the CVRR for trackage rights across the Susquehanna where it would connect with the Reading. The CVRR, owned by the mighty Pennsylvania RR saw no reason to help a potential competing line and refused to grant a connection early on. Further, to smash the upstart Ahl's Miramir Railroad, the CVRR ran several of their own branch lines to South Mountain to connect with iron producing facilities not owned by the Ahls thereby sapping off valuable sources of revenue from the Ahl line now called the Harrisburg and Potomac RR. The CVRR did allow the Ahl's railroad to connect with their Dillsburg Branch in the Williams Grove area. The Ahl brothers, not ones to give up easily, now sought a charter for a line south through the valley to Smithburg, MD and a connection with the WM, although it is unclear who would buy their ore in that direction. Before much work could be completed, WM had started their own line from Edgemont up the Valley. All of this railroad building caused the Ahl brother to go bankrupt, taking a Newville bank with them. The Reading had bought the iron mines, which still appear on maps as the Reading Banks. Although the open trenches have now forested over, a small clay mine in the area allows one to pick up pieces of the ore that was mined here. The Reading also eventually bought the Harrisburg and Potomac Railroad and built a bridge across the Susquehanna, shown in the photos at the top of the page. And, the Reading connected with the WM at Shippensburg providing a bridge route from the B&O at Cherry Run to the Reading and lines to the Northeast. The Ahl's rail route proved superior to the CVRR, its the one used today.
Double Bridge
The route was eventually double tracked. Here close to Brandtsville, the line still uses a lighter bridge while the heavier one is abandoned.
Mt. Holly Springs
Carlisle Junction-September, 2000. At one time, this location was the junction for the Gettysburg and Hanover RR, which still crosses South Mountain from Gettysburg but looks little used to this location, formerly the Reading-owned G&H continued to Carlisle (this line was originally a branch off the CVRR that went to the iron furnaces at Pine Grove Furnace. Today the area has four tracks with one being a passing siding,another siding goes to the PPG plant close by and the G&H RR connection is still in place. The Reading RR branch to Carlisle was abandoned after the Hurricane Agnes flood washout.
Lurgan?
My goal of visiting Lurgan, one end of the WM, seemed simple enough. Lurgan is marked on highway maps as a village west of Shippensburg. After several attempts on various winding farm roads, I finally arrived in the quaint locale by that name only to discover that a railroad was nowhere to be seen. My guess is that Lurgan on the WM was actually a place name for a spot near Lurgan Avenue on the edge of Shippensburg proper, perhaps close to this mile marker. PS- after seeing several photos of Lurgan in Randy Mower's site, I stopped by again, but still cannot pinpoint the connection.
Rutherford
Steelton
While in the Harrisburg neighborhood, here is the Steelton facility, where a whole lot of rail still comes from in July 2000. Note the EMD switcher, which was moving briskly down the line with loads of rail. The locomotive is a Steelton & Highspire unit.
Map
This map from Zimmerman/Cook shows the strategic alliances (some built, others proposed) of WM and Reading to compete with the all powerful Pennsylvania RR. Although the map doesn't show topography, South Mountain did not seem to present a problem to railroad builders of the 1800's. Reading and the Cumberland Valley RR not only used the Cumberland Valley for a northeast bridge route but also moved a lot of coal and locally mined iron ore in the 1800s. The biggest use for coal early on was to burn limestone for the fabulous farms in the valley.
