Cumberland Valley Railroad Hagerstown-November 2003
North Junction
Past History
The Cumberland Valley Railroad from Chambersburg to Hagerstown Maryland was chartered as the Franklin Railroad way back in 1832. The first survey was by none other than Benjamin H. Latrobe of the B&O. At that time, Hagerstown seemed like a sure bet to be an early major rail hub. It eventually did become and still is a major hub, but no thanks to the B&O. Folks in the lower Cumberland Valley were betting that the B&O would get to Hagerstown way before the fledging Cumberland Valley Railroad ever got to Chambersburg from Harrisburg. In addition to the B&O, the Hagerstown area also offered traffic from the National Road, a dreamed of railroad following the Forbes Road route, the C&O Canal and the Gettysburg Extention of the Pennsylvania State Works. The last named railroad was waylaid by politcal opponents of Thaddeus Stevens and Governor Rittner who had already spent $760,000 on the route. The critics named the route the Tape Worm Railroad and declared it totally impractical-the WM proved them wrong by building on the same plan, a line that still operates today. likewise, a westward southern Pennsylvania route never materialized. But the biggest shock to Hagerstown was the royal shafting at the hands of the B&O. By 1836 the B&O was broke and at a decision point. To get State of Maryland aid, they had already promised the Maryland legislature that they would build through Hagerstown and if they failed to do so, they would pay Hagerstown $1 million. About at the same time, they were trying to get their charter renewed in Virginia who was demanding that the B&O cross the Potomac and stay in Virginia until 5 or 6 miles from Cumberland. Besides the money that the B&O wanted Virginia to ante up, Virginia had a powerful lever in the fact that their state had to be crossed for the B&O to get to the Ohio, regardless of the route chosen. Apparently Virginia could not get up the gumption to build their own railroads. And, finally the C&O Canal was delaying B&O progress by contesting the narrow defile between Point of Rocks and Maryland Heights. The B&O relented and went to Virginia. Even with this decision, a branch line to Hagerstown could have been built, indeed one would speculate that is what Latrobe was surveying for the Franklin RR. The immediate freight revenue probably would have made sense, but the B&O showed an obstinate streak that would be their hallmark until corporate demise and did not provide even the branch line. Hagerstown sued the B&O for the $1 million, the B&O refused to pay and the courts backed the railroad.Anyhow, by now the Cumberland Valley Railroad was built to Chambersburg and the Franklin Railroad proceeded as planned, but now as an extention to Hagerstown to pick up that town's freight and National Pike traffic. The First Chief Engineer was none other than Hother Hage, proponent of southern Pennsylvania east/west railroutes. The first train pulled by one of two brand new locomotives arrived in Hagerstown February 1841. Soon one could leave Hagerstown at 5AM and be in Philadelphia at 6PM-although the number of people who actually wanted to make this trip apparently was not great. Almost from the start the crippled charter was in trouble, resulting in the eventual sale of the two brand new locomotives. The CVRR operated the Franklin for a while, but at this early date they did not have the financial wherewithall to support a money-losing operation for long. Hagerstown, which showed so much promise, was reduced to sporatic service by a rail wagon pulled by horses. This was in the era when a large town without a rail connection was like a city without highways today. Finally the Franklin RR was sold for pennies at a sheriff's sale. It turned out that the CVRR was behind the buyers at bankruptcy and the line was officially annexed by the Cumberland Valley before the Civil War. By 1873 the Western Maryland Railroad had arrived in Hagerstown and from there developed strategic connections to the C&O Canal at Williamsport, the B&O at Cherry Run and a line down the Cumberland Valley to Shippensburg. Adding to Hagerstown's rail hub stature, the Shenandoah Valley Railroad (later N&W) arrived from the South for more strategic connections. And in 1867 the B&O limped into Hagerstown on Latrobe's long-ago surveyed route, apparently after lynching was outlawed. As Matt Adams has stated, Hagerstown was certainly one town where the WM ruled and the B&O was in a distant 4th place. For more discussion about B&O's rail route see Railroutes of the Alleghenies. By the way, the Cumberland Valley RR never did give up on its dream of a westward southern Pennsylvania Route. They protected the Cowen Gap route by buying The Southern Pennsylvania Iron & Railroad Company in 1872 and eventually bought the Vanderbilt's South Pennsylvania RR grade to Mt. Dallas, but never built on either. The dream finally ended when a plan by CVRR's parent, the PRR, to buy the C&O Canal fell through. If this plan had worked, the canal would have been filled in and the CVRR would have built a railroad to Cumberland Maryland and its coal trade. The B&O thwarted this plan by buying the C&O Canal first. The B&O then made sure that the canal continued to operate as a canal. How ironic that B&O kept its old nemesis, the canal, in business through the first quarter of the 20th century. The always financially strapped B&O in desperation sold the entire canal to directly to FDR in the depression, thus creating another dubious first-taking valuable railroutes and turning them in to bike paths.
The Cumberland Valley Railroad was extended to the B&O near Martinsburg, West Virginia for valuable interchange traffic. This connection led to a major Pennsylvania Railroad powerplay against George Gould and his transcontinental railroad plans at the beginning of the 20th century. Gould had bought both the WM and H.G. Davis' West Virginia Central and Pittsburg. WVC&P's coal shipped over the WM from Cherry Run east was to pay some of the massive Gould debt. WM had not yet built their Cumberland Extention, so Gould had to rely on the B&O's route from Cumberland to Cherry Run. Pennsylvania Railroad did not look favorably on Gould's competing trunk line plans and coincidentally controlled the B&O at the time. It an audacious act, the PRR refused to deliver the major coal traffic to the WM at Cherry Run. Instead they sent it on to the Cumberland Valley RR at Martinburg. Cumberland Valley could deliver the coal to Harrisburg for further eastern connections. Of course this PRR action was illegal, but by the time the courts straightened it out, Gould's empire had collapsed. To handle the increased traffic, the railroads built the CUMBO (CUMberland Valley and B&O) yard at the connection, which lasted into the 1980's. Eventually the Cumberland Valley built an extention to Winchester Virginia creating a relatively short 130 mile railroad that spanned four states, which historians say is some sort of record.
The Present
Cumberland Valley Railroad Directory
Harrisburg |
Lemoyne |
Shiremanstown |
Mechanicsburg/Dillsburg |
Carlisle |
South Mountain |
Shippensburg |
Reserved Mont Alto |
| Reserved Chambersburg |
South Penn Branch |
Maugansville |
Reserved Hagerstown |
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