weaverton
Cumbo, West
Virginia... Sometimes also called West Cumbo, this area of
the line has decreased in importance as time has moved on.
Today, West Cumbo is not a tower or even a yard. In the
Chessie Era, it was still a staffed interlocking tower and a
fairly busy yard complex consisting of four yards. It also
was a link to Conrail Railroad.
Crews used to be called to work at Cumbo, but no longer are.
Neither the tower or the yards is still there.
Operationally, Cumbo was the eastern end of the No. 4 Main Low
Grade line. This line allowed heavy trains to bypass the
steeper grades over North Mountain on No. 1 and No. 2
Mains. I have no idea what happened to No. 3 Main.
Also, nearby was the Pearson Yard that served a large GM Plan,
which generated traffic locally. Both the No. 4 Low Grade
and the Pearson Yard are still in service.
Below is the Cumbo Map.
Below is the Cumbo Graph Paper Plan. Note it is bare bones
for what is operationally needed. It is simply the
connection of the No. 4 Main to the No. 1 Main, a Conrail
Interchange Track and W tower.
Below is the Cumbo area starting to take shape. First, I
installed the backdrop board. It is coved in the corner,
to avoid the hard corner edge. It is made of 3/16
hardboard from Home Depot, painted on all sides with light blue
house paint. I should have done this first for every
section, but didn't in Martinsburg. This is much easier
way to build. I then installed a backdrop from
railroadbackdrops.com. I actually purchased them through
their store on eBay, but they sell direct on their site
too. This is one of their cheap paper backdrops, so we'll
see how it holds up. I adhered it to the wall with 3M "90"
spray adhesive. Also, the first section of Cumbo benchwork
is up in the second photo, painted all grey. It is a
reused section from the old layout. It used to be the
Mexico area of Cumberland.
