The Thomas Subdivision is a historic rail line in western Maryland and northern West Virginia that was constructed in the late 1870's as part of West Virginia senator Henry Gassaway Davis' plan to build a railroad between Pittsburg, PA, and the Chesapeake and Ohio's mainline in Virginia. Like many railroads planned in the golden era of railroad construction, this line was never totally completed between those points as planned although several portions of it were constructed. The history of today's Thomas subdivision began at Davis' twelve day a year home at Piedmont, WV, when a predecessor railroad, the Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railroad Company, began construction along the North Branch of the Potomac River in 1880 to tap large coal resources near the present day location of Elk Garden, West Virginia. In 1882 the railroads name was changed to the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway illustrating what was planned for the railroads future, although two years the WVC&P reached only as far as Davis, West Virignia. Over the next four years the company was content hauling coal from the Potomac Highlands around Davis and Thomas to its interchange with the B&O Railroad at West Virginia Central Junction in Piedmont. However, attempts by the B&O to "regulate" this traffic resulted in the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg constructing its own line between Piedmont and Cumberland to prevent the B&O from effectively controlling its operations. By 1888 the officials of the railway decided to restart the line's southward expansion by authorizing the construction of a line south from Thomas down the steep Blackwater Canyon to Parsons and then over Cheat Mountain to the small town of Leadville, now called Elkins. Elkins was reached a year later in 1889 which provided the railroad with a greater traffic and revenue base, a fact that would ultimately bring the WVC&P under the control of an organization headed by George Gould in 1902. Gould's dream was to construct a coast to coast transcontinental railroad with the revenue from the WVC&P lands providing the means for such a scheme. Finanical troubles ended this plan four years later, but not before the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway had been absorbed in 1906 by another company under Gould's control, the Western Maryland Railroad. In 1910 following several years of active receivership under the WM RR, the Thomas line came under the control of the refinianced Western Maryland Railway which would bring about the best years of the line's operation over the next six decades. Under the Western Maryland's control, the former WVC&P line was marginally rebuilt and upgraded to a secondary mainline which it maintained well into the early 1970s. The mainly single track subdivision extended a total of 112 miles between the brick stations in Cumberland, Maryland, and Elkins, WV, which was controlled by written trainorders from its various train order offices along the line. In the Steam era the Thomas subdivision was almost exclusively the home of 2-8-0 Consolidations until the arrival of the Western Maryland's first generation locomotives in the early 1950s. Steam power was eventually phased out as the Thomas Subdivision became the home for the WM's F7s, RS3s and lower Geeps units which were well suited for the line due to their higher tractive effort, along with their ability to negotiate the sharp curves found throughout the line and the other subdivisions south of Elkins. This situation remained practically unchanged until the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began to consolidate its management and financial matters with the Western Maryland during the mid 1970's when the Chessie System was in its earliest stages. The consolidation move was a result of the B&O's declining financial position and pending merger with the Chespeake and Ohio, which had been made possible after the B&O had purchasing a large quantity of WM stock earlier in the century. By 1975 much of the Western Maryland's mainline between Connellsville, PA, to Hagerstown, MD, had been abandoned, although the Thomas Subdivision remained untouched until the early months of 1976. Like the WM's mainline between C'vill and Hagerstown, the portion of the Thomas line between Cumberland and 21st Bridge closely paralled a B&O mainline, resulting in the Chessie System shifting the Western Maryland traffic onto the B&O. A new connection was constructed at 21st Bridge between the two lines, although the majority of the WM traffic from Elkins was instead moved off the Thomas line to Keyser at West Virginia Central Junction. The Thomas Subdivision's classification yards around Cumberland soon fell in quick succession - Knobmount was closed on January 5th, 1976 and turned into a storage yard, while the Ridgeley Terminal and yard was closed shortly thereafter. By 1978, the section of the Thomas Subdivision between 21st Bridge and Hampshire, West Virginia, was renamed the Hampshire Subdivision with the new Thomas Subdivision effectively extending south from Hampshire to Elkins. During this same time period the coal traffic the railroad depended on began to falter and by the early 1980s the Chessie System was rumored to be examining the subdivision for abandonment. The axe fell in early 1983 when the decision was made to take the subdivision out of service from a point just north of Elkins to a location near Henry, WV. Coal coming off the Tygart and Belington subdivisions, which would normally be routed up the Blackwater Canyon to Cumberland, would instead be routed north to Grafton over the B&O from Tygart Jct and then over the West End to Cumberland. The last train over this section departed Elkins on September 29th, 1983, just five years short of the Hundreth anniversary of the completion of the Blackwater Canyon grade. With the closing of this line, the yard in Elkins was downgraded and the Western Maryland employees were scattered across the Chessie system as crew jobs were abolished. The track through Montrose, Parson and Thomas was left intact however, leaving speculation that the state or a private company would buy this track from Chessie in order to open a tourist railroad through the Blackwater Canyon. A rainy few weeks in late November of 1985 ended this idea when the Cheat and Blackwater Rivers acheived new flood stages and washed away much of the track and rightway between Hendricks and Parsons, including several towns in the Cheat and Dry Fork Valleys. The damage was deemed too cost prohibitive and salvagers gradually began to tear the track up along the right of way between Elkins and Henry, with the last section being pulled up north of Elkins in 1989. The Thomas Subdivision to the north of Henry continued to thrive due to several large coal loaders which provided many carloads for Chessie, in addition to the Mt. Storm plant receiving additional loads of coal, mainly from the mines on the Thomas line. However, good times were a thing of the past and over the next several years the coal loaders began to close up one by one. On the old Western Maryland Thomas SD east of West Virginia Central Junction, the Hampshire Subdivision continued to be the link between the coal mines located on the Georges Creek subdivision and the B&O's Mountain Subdivision, along with serving the Westvaco paper mill at Luke, MD. In 1987, the Chessie System befell a similar fate like the Western Maryland and was merged into CSX Corporation, the final conglomerate of the once abundant and powerful railroads in the Eastern United States. Photo by Chris Strogen. Two SD70MACs from a Henry Turn are laying over at Bayard in the winter of 1998 after placing a train of hoppers at Mettiki Mine. Compare the photo below of WM F7s at the same location, how things change and how some things stay the same. Under CSXT, the Thomas Subdivision name still lingers on, although the flag of CSXTransportation now flies and new motive power has taken the duty where the WM's dedicated F-7s and RS-3s once roamed. Advances in locomotive technology has led to the newest of CSXT's fleet of "Fourth" Generation unit's being assigned to the Thomas Subdivision. EMD SD70MACs and late production GE ACW44s have drawn the duty to haul West Virginia and Maryland coal out of the Potomac Highlands due to advances in radial trucks, allowing them to negotiate the sharp curves which negagted the line to old 4 axle power. The future of the Thomas line is unclear - as of the summer of 1999, the only source of traffic on the subdivision is the Mettiki Mine located on a spur just north of Henry in Maryland. Mettiki is usually worked by a turn out of Keyser every 5-10 days, but this varies with the demand for coal. Even the power plant at Mt. Storm has stopped receiving coal via rail, instead it's now shipped over winding roads by truck due to a fumble on the part of CSX marketing. With the loss of this contract, the Stoney River subdivision is now dorminant but due to the VEPCO owning the track itself, it's highly unlikely the rail will be pulled up. Reportedly the State of WV has began talks with CSX to buy the line from Luke to Thomas, along with the Stoney River sub and other branches. A new high tech power plant is opening on the Stoney River line, although the owners are not shipping with CSX. The one remaining section of the old WM Thomas SD with a bright future is the Hampshire Subdivision east of WVa Central Jct, which was recently renamed part of the CSX Thomas Subdivision. Several turns out of Keyser serve the massive Westvaco Paper Mill and also occasionally brings loads of coal down the ancient C&Pa Railroad's right of way on the Georges Creek line. These traffic sources resulted in over 4000 carloads moving over the line in 1998, most of them billed to Westvaco. With the passing years, the company flags and power have changed, but a portion of the Western Maryland Railway still survives in the hills of West Virginia and western Maryland. [ Western Maryland Railway Thomas Line Timetable 1978 ] [ CSX Thomas Subdivision Timetable 2001 ] A section devoted to the old yard and engine terminal at Elkins, West Virginia [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. Eastbound light engines of a Bayard Turn approaching the siding at Montrose, WV where they will pick up their coal train. October 12, 1975. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. Eastbound WM East Local crossing US219 after picking up loads from the Montrose, WV siding. The train is starting to climb up the short, but tough Haddix Hill on January 26, 1975. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. An eastbound Western Maryland Bayard Turn at the summit of Haddix Hill on October 12, 1975. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. The same eastbound Bayard Turn Switcher at Porterwood, WV, on October 12, 1975. [Click to enlarge] Photo from the collection of John Plishka. A westbound passenger excursion led by three freshly painted GP units is passing through downtown Parsons on its way to Elkins on a bright summer day. The bridge the train is crossing over still stands, although the track has long since been removed. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. An eastbound Bayard Turn out of Elkins is passing over the Black Fork of the Cheat River at Parsons, WV. This bridge was heavily damaged by a major flood almost a decade later, effectively ending all hopes for a re-establishment of rail service to the region. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. Four WM F-Units are leading an East Local along the Black Fork of the Cheat at Hambleton, WV on January 26, 1975. The photographer and friend were nearly trapped in Elkins later that evening after a heavy winter snowstorm descended on the region. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. The Bayard Turn at Hambleton, WV on October 12, 1975. This eastbound coal train out of Elkins is approaching the beginning of the Blackwater Grade at Hendricks, before turning up the Blackwater River Canyon. Nine units were on the train, four on the front and five mid-train. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. WM East Local is passing the town of Thomas, WV and the dammed North Fork of the Blackwater River on January 26, 1975. Mid-train helpers would often be cut out here if the lead units had enough power to reach the final summit at Fairfax, WV. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Rich Borkowski Jr. A collection of "second generation" CSX four axle locomotives is laying over at Bayard during a spring before the radial trucked AC locomotives arrived. Everything from slug sets to straight GP40s could be found lugging hoppers around the sharp curves common to the Thomas Subdivision prior to the late 90s. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. Western Maryland power is laying over in Bayard, WV yard during a heavy snowstorm on January 27th, 1975. The short silver poles standing next to the power held microphones that allowed the roundhouse foreman in Elkins to remotely listen to the engines and make sure they were still running on frigid winter nights. Power was kept at Bayard to work the Mt. Storm branch and the surronding coal mines. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Rich Borkowski Jr. An empty B875 Henry Turn is heading west for Mettiki past the yard office at Bayard. The office was later closed on June 4, 2001, with its windows and doors eventually boarded up. Reportedly this action was taken so that the building can be condemned and CSX will no longer have to pay property taxes on the structure. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Jerry Doyle. A westbound train has stopped at the old yard office in Bayard for a crew change in the summer of 1988. During this era, the yard office was regularly used by Mt. Storm Turn crews and also Bayard Switcher crews, before the VEPCO haul contract was lost in the 1990s. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Jerry Doyle. In the opposite direction of the above photo, a Henry Turn is heading east as the four axles units pass through the eastern end of the yard. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. Four Western Maryland F-Units drag a coal train up the Stoney River Secondary at North Branch, WV, on May 18, 1975. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. The Bayard Switcher is at the Summit of the Stoney River Branch on May 18th, 1975. Four Western Maryland F-Units are on the front of loaded coal hoppers headed for the Mt. Storm Power Plant. The Mt. Storm branch was constructed at the expense of the power company and is currently, as of May of 2001, not seeing any rail traffic. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Linda Strogen. The Virginia Electric Power Co's Mount Storm power plant in April of 1984. During the time when this photo was taken, the plant was receiving regular carloads of coal from Chessie. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Chris Strogen. The Luke Switcher is passing through Beryl, MD, bound for Blaine, MD, on December 29th, 1998. This section of the old WM Thomas line between Hampshire, WV, and 21st Bridge became the Hampshire Subdivision in the Chessie Era, but was later returned to the Thomas Sub in 1999. Beryl is the site of the large Westvaco woodyard which is worked regulary by CSX. [Click to enlarge] Photo by Rich Borkowski Jr. On a cold winter day in 2000, the helper units on a Georges Creek Turn are being pulled east through Westernport, Maryland, before reversing directions to pull west up the Georges Creek Subdivision. This portion of the Thomas Sub east of Luke is rarely used, except for the occasional train to a mine along Georges Creek. The switch for the GC is located at about the tenth car from the locomotives. [Click to enlarge] A Western Maryland RS-3 and GP-9 have the "Digger" rolling towards Cumberland at Gerstell, WV. The Digger was a daily local (ex-Sunday) between Cumberland and Luke and served as an extenstion of the symbol freight service on the Thomas Subdivision. Matt Reese Collection [Click to enlarge] Photo by Kevin Scanlon. This is the seldom seen Western Maryland Knobmount Yard hump on April 13, 1986. Although CSX used it primarily for car storage, the WM classified trains here and actually used the rider hump into the 1970's. Also in the yard and surviving relatively intact into the CSX era was a rare Western Maryland icing platform. 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