My favorite railroad is, and always will be, the Western Maryland Railway.  Unfortunately, I didn’t really get into railroad photography until after the Chessie System had taken over the WM and started absorbing it.  Fortunately, it took a number of years for the image of the old Western Maryland to disappear, so I was able to get quite a few photographs of “WM” trains through the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.  Here are some of my favorites.

     The Western Maryland “Dutch” line ran from Emory Grove, MD, to Highfield, PA, by way of Hanover, and Gettysburg, PA, with the York Secondary branching off at Porters Sideling.  After Tropical Storm Agnes washed out significant portions of the original mainline in 1972, all traffic was sent via this route.  Shortly after the mainline was reopened in 1975, Hurricane Eloise washed it out again and the the Dutch line became the mainline.  Living in Hanover made it easy for me to record on film the trains that remained after the Chessie System merger took most of the through traffic and moved it to the former B&O lines.

     Because the Western Maryland took very good care of their locomotives, when Chessie took over they roamed all over the system.  Here are few pictures from non-WM locations.

     Several organizations, including the Western Maryland Railway Historical Society and MARC, have sponsored special trips on former Western Maryland lines.  Here are a few.