Scenic railroad allows passengers to relive some history

By Peter H. Milliken

Pulled by a 1916-vintage steam engine, the train ascends 1,300 feet.

CUMBERLAND, Md. — A scenic excursion aboard a train with antique cars pulled by a steam locomotive is an ideal way to enjoy a summer day or view fall foliage while reliving history.

The unforgettable excursion is a 32-mile round trip from Cumberland to Frostburg, Md., on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.

The train departs from the 1913-vintage Western Maryland Railway Station, 13 Canal St., in downtown Cumberland.

That station houses the National Park Service’s C O Canal Towpath Visitors’ Center, featuring information on the historic 185-mile-long Cumberland-to-Washington, D.C., towpath, which is now a recreational trail. The building also houses a local tourism office, cafe and gift shop.

The train, which leaves at 11:30 a.m., features coach cars on every run with a first-class section available on weekends. First-class passengers enjoy lunch in the dining car. Reservations must be made five days in advance for first class.

On most trips, the train is pulled by a 1916-vintage Baldwin steam locomotive known as “Mountain Thunder” — the largest operating steam engine in North America. Passengers may view and photograph the scenery from enclosed cars or from an open-air observation car. However, those who opt for the open-air car must tolerate being pelted with soot when the steam engine is in use.

A guide narrates the excursion over the train’s public address system.

Passengers experience darkness as the train passes through a 914-foot-long mountain tunnel, known as Brush Tunnel.

The train also travels over four bridges and six grade crossings as it climbs 1,300 feet to Frostburg with grades up to 2.8 percent.

Along the way, it passes through The Narrows — a mile-long, 1,000-foot-deep gorge — and then through a half-mile horseshoe curve and past a horse farm.

Also along the route is the entrance to Bone Cave, which was discovered in 1912 and yielded fossils of 41 types of mammals, many of them extinct.

These include cave bear and saber-toothed cat skeletons on display at the Smithsonian Institutions’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

In Frostburg, the train arrives at the 1891-vintage Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad Station.

Shortly after arriving there, passengers can watch the locomotive being turned around on a turntable just beyond the station.

The train remains in Frostburg long enough for passengers to enjoy lunch there if they wish and to tour the Thrasher Carriage Museum, which features horse-drawn carriages used by U.S. presidents, before returning to Cumberland.

Passengers have the option of taking their bicycles aboard the train from Cumberland to Frostburg and cycling downhill for the return trip on the Great Allegheny Passage bicycle trail, which parallels the track.

XMore information on the scenic railroad may be obtained at www.wmsr.com.