Corporate Ownership and Construction History
The Maryland Mining Company (MMC) was incorporated in Maryland on March 12, 1829. The company built the railroad from Eckhart to Wills Creek, a length of 9 miles (14 km), and later extended the line as the Potomac Wharf Branch, totalling 14 miles (23 km). The railroad was acquired by the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) in 1870.
The Maryland Mining Company Railway from Eckhart Mines to Wills Creek following Braddock Run was completed in 1846. Wills Creek was bridged at the west end of the Cumberland Narrows with a four arch brick structure that stood until removed for flood control in 1998. The railway included two tunnels, the one closest to Cumberland (lower tunnel) being 506 feet (154 m) long, and the upper tunnel being 335 feet (102 m) long. The tunnels were separated by 0.6-mile (0.97 km). The grade (slope) reached 3 percent in places. This branch was also the location of a large horseshoe curve, at Clarysville, with 180 degrees of a 30 degree curvature. The construction of Interstate 68 from the Vocke Road intersection to the bridges at Clarysville removed most of the evidence of the Eckhart Branch railroad in that area, including the tunnels.
The Potomac Wharf Branch was built between 1846 and 1850, as an extension of the Eckhart Branch into Cumberland. The MMC rail line connected with the Mount Savage Railroad at the west end of the Narrows. After passing through the Narrows on the north side, it recrossed Wills Creek on a bridge (no longer present) just east of the present U.S. Route 40 bridge. Some of the tracks were still visible as of 1999 near some billboards, and a gas station. A picture of a classic wreck scene, circa 1860, shows that bridge collapsed into Wills Creek, with the engine C.E. Detmold hanging on. The original Potomac Wharf Branch bridge was a 203-foot (62 m) deck plate girder structure, with two support pillars in the creek. It was built in 1849, and rebuilt after the Detmold accident. It survived until a flood in 1936, and was not replaced.
The Potomac Wharf Branch was used to carry coal to flat-bottom Potomac River boats, and to canal boats, before a canal wharf facility for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O Canal) was completed. The flat-bottom boats ferried coal down the Potomac to Georgetown, Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, Virginia during the Spring, when the water level was high enough for navigation. After the C&O Canal reached Cumberland, canal boats could enter the Potomac River through the guard locks. The original Potomac River wharf had been built by John Galloway Lynn of Cumberland, and was known as the Lynn Wharf. It ran along what now is Avirett Avenue. It was deeded to the Maryland Mining Company in 1849.
The Cumberland Coal and Iron Company (CC&I), chartered in 1850, purchased the MMC mines and railroad property, including the village of Eckhart, in April 1852. The rail line was extended to the nearby Hoffman mines in 1859. Cumberland Coal & Iron was in turn acquired by the Consolidation Coal Company in 1870. At that point, the Eckhart Branch became part of the C&P Railroad, also owned by Consolidation Coal. However, for a period of 20 years, from 1850 to 1870, the Eckhart Branch Railroad operated independently of the C&P.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) provided early motive power (locomotives) and rolling stock to the Allegany County coal short line railroads. The B&O supplied at least eight Camel engines to the MMC, as evidenced in notes by locomotive builder Ross Winans. These included B&O engines nos. 161, 162, and 163, among others. In addition, Winans, among other builders, sold engines, tenders, and coal hoppers to the various mining companies. Passenger service was provided on the Eckhart Branch sometime before 1853, and the C&P continued to use a gravity passenger car on that line. The passenger car was then hauled back up the mountain at the end of a string of empty coal hoppers. Servicing, watering, and coaling facilities were located in Eckhart. The C&P maintained an engine house and servicing facilities here, and the foundations of these were still evident in 1999.
Read more about this topic: Eckhart Branch Railroad
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