Video program on local short-line railroads to be shown Wednesday
Scenes from a video program featuring nearby and local short-line railroads will be shown during the monthly meeting of the Western Maryland Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. This meeting will be he held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 16, in the Cumberland Railroad Museum at 17 Howard Street, among the shops at Canal Place. Parking is available in the lot along Howard Street beneath the Interstate Route 68 Bridge north of the Footer Dye Works building. The meeting is open to the public at no charge.
The video program, titled “Great American Scenic Railroads,” contains footage of diesel-powered trains operating on the Winchester & Western Railroad in Virginia’s fabled Shenandoah Valley. Here early model diesel locomotives are seen working up grade on the wooded hills between coal mines. Later the scene shifts to western Allegany County in Maryland, where early Alco diesel locomotives wearing the legendary “Fireball” livery were operating on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. These classic locomotives are seen pulling vintage passenger cars up the mountain grade before stopping at the restored 1891 station in Frostburg.
The Western Maryland Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered in 1977 to promote the appreciation of rail transportation and its heritage. This chapter is especially focused on the history of railroads and rail transit lines that have existed in Western Maryland and adjacent parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Members usually meet on the third Wednesday of each month, and receive a monthly newsletter containing information about chapter activities, current railroad news, and local railroad history.
Western Maryland Chapter National Railway Historical Society 