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NRHS 2018 Convention Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad 8/10/2018

I went to Harrigan's Restaurant to have breakfast and ate it with my friend and fellow NRHS member Joe and went back upstairs to the room, got Robin up and worked on stories. Elizabeth was supposed to come by but never made it as she got stuck in the elevator between floors with nine other people so the Cumberland Fire Department had to rescue them and everyone had to use the stairs to reach the buses this morning. Every trip is an adventure! So once the fire department left the hotel, the buses then arrived and once loaded, we made the short forty-minute bus ride to the Potomac Eagle for the second trip of this convention.

It was a state Public Service Commission study that first suggested that a scenic excursion train would be successful on the South Branch Valley Railroad. From that study members of the Romney Business and Professional Organization began their effort to make the idea a reality. A few years lapsed before the Potomac Eagle became the company in charge of making the dream of a few a source of pleasure for many. And by coincidence that time frame was also when a few American bald eagles decided to make the Trough, a narrow passage the train tracks and the river share, a permanent home. In the fall of 1991, the Eagle Canon Passenger Car Company began operating the Potomac Eagle from a siding named Wappocomo Station just north of Romney.

And that’s before passengers get to the 6-mile Trough, where eagles almost always await train visitors. Sometimes passengers see one eagle, and then other trips provide visitors with the chance to see several. It is not a guarantee to see America's greatest symbol on the Potomac Eagle, but it’s a pretty good bet that passengers will see at least one. It’s almost as if they come out on cue to perform in all their spectacular style.

Most visitors on the Potomac Eagle are unaware of the long but storied past of the South Branch Valley Railroad. The line has been a vital part of the valley from Green Spring to Petersburg for well over 100 years. The South Branch Valley Railroad comprises a 52.4-mile route from Petersburg to Green Spring where it links to the CSXT mainline connecting Cumberland, MD to Martinsburg, WV. The SBVR generally parallels the South Branch of the Potomac River – from which the railroad takes its name. Crossing Hampshire, Hardy and Grant counties, the SBVR serves the towns of Romney, Moorefield and Petersburg. The railroad is headquartered in Moorefield. It is owned and operated by the West Virginia State Rail Authority. State employees perform maintenance and freight operations.

But at least one early effort to build the line was futile. In 1875 a group of residents of Kanawha County, West Virginia formed a company designated the West Virginia Railroad Company. The group obtained authority to cross the state with a railroad which would commence on the Kentucky state boundary line and pass through Cabell, Wayne, Putnam, Kanawha, Braxton, Clay, Webster, Upshur, Randolph, Pendleton, Hardy and Hampshire counties. The line was supposed to extend to a point near the South Branch River near the Maryland state boundary line. The charter, which is on record in the Hardy County Clerk’s Office, discloses that the proposed railroad was to follow in a general course, the South Branch River through Pendleton, Grant, Hardy and Hampshire counties.

While those pioneers had the best of intentions and dreams, the smoke from a locomotive in Hardy County was still not to be seen for many years. In February 1880, a company called the Cumberland, Moorefield and Petersburg Railroad was organized to build a line between Green Spring and Petersburg. Little is known of the company other than they did not get their line built. However, on Sept. 1, 1884, a new company called the South Branch Railroad completed the line from Green Spring to Romney.

It was not until after the turn of the century that a rail line was built south of Romney. In 1909 construction started for a new company known as The Hampshire Southern RR. The company was headed by William B. Cornwell, brother of soon to be Governor John J. Cornwell. In 1910 the first trains providing freight and passenger service between Romney and Moorefield were operated on the new railroad.

This system was sold to the Moorefield and Virginia Railroad Company in 1911 with the purchaser assuming a mortgage existing against the line in the amount of $700,000. William Cornwell and Eugene Ailes, son-in-law of Governor Cornwell, were officers of the grantor company. In November 1913 the Moorefield and Virginia Company transferred the system to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. Passenger service was abandoned on the line sometime around 1928.

In the mid-1970's, the line was abandoned by the B&O. It was taken over by the State of West Virginia on October 11, 1978, as government officials became concerned over the harm that would come to existing industry and the prospects of driving away new business along the line. Track rehabilitation began on the 52-mile stretch, but the famous flood of 1985 knocked out four bridges and left 13 miles of track with heavy damage and 23 miles with moderate damage. It was reported that in some stretches in the Trough that rail and ties hung in mid-air with all traces of road bed gone beneath them.

Freight service operates five days a week, Monday through Friday, with special and unit train operations on weekends as needed. The SBVR’s largest customer is Pilgrim’s Pride in Moorefield. Pilgrim’s feed mill receives corn and other commodities used in the manufacture of its poultry feed. Nearly all of the corn arrives in 65-car unit trains which must be moved to the feed mill, unloaded and returned to CSXT in less than 48 hours. Three customers are located in Petersburg: Adell Polymers ships and receives loads of plastic pellets, Allegheny Wood Products ships finished lumber and Greer Lime ships outbound loads of lime. In 2004, the SBVR handled 4,243 revenue loads.

During its first ten years, the SBVR spent nearly $5 million on track improvements. In 1994, the railroad completed a $4 million bond-financed upgrade of its line. Since 1998, 25.6 track-miles of heavy, welded rail have been installed and over 46,000 crossties have been replaced. A major bridge program made it possible for the SBVR to raise its weight limit to 286,000 pounds per car. Three locomotives were upgraded with microprocessor controls to increase their tractive effort and save fuel. Three additional locomotives were purchased to help move the heavy unit trains over the steep grades between Green Spring and Romney. Plans are in place to continue with capital improvements for the next several years. The improvements will include additional welded rail, crossties, ballast and roadbed widening. There will be additional work on bridges to maintain their capacity.

By saving the South Branch Valley Railroad from abandonment in 1978 and rebuilding it following the flood of 1985, the State Rail Authority not only protected existing industry – and the estimated 2,600 jobs that relied on railroad service in the region – but also made possible its growth. Without the railroad, it is extremely doubtful that the more than 1,900 new jobs created by the region’s poultry industry during the past several years would have ever occurred.

In late 1989 the Romney Business and Professional Organization began a successful effort to bring a tourist train to the area. Spurred on by a state commissioned report showing the line had great potential, the group worked tirelessly to get the excursion up and running. With Delegate Jerry Mezzatesta spearheading the project in Charleston, the state capital, the spring of 1991 saw the first Potomac Eagle pull out of Romney. For some areas trains are a part of history, never again to be alive with the clanking of the cars rolling along. But for one small valley in West Virginia, the train industry could very well be just in its infancy.

Once we all arrived and the train was opened, the First Class passengers went to the left and coach passengers went to the right. I led the way for the coach passengers and took my seat on the bench in the covered open air observation car. The open gondola car is only opened when the train goes through "The Trough" for great viewing of this unique passage.

Pre-trip views in Romney before we departed on time.

The train left and went by the Romney station sign.

More of the Potomac Eagle fleet of passenger cars.

Crossing the South Branch of the Potomac River.

The big open curve just after the river crossing.

West Virginia farming interests.

Before the US 50 crossing are more of the Potomac Eagle fleet.

The Nathaniel and Isaac Kuykendall House, built in 1797, pre-dating the Civil War, and on the National Register of Historic Places, four miles south of Romney.

Taking a slight curve.

Another abandoned stone house. Smile when you say "Damned Yankees!"

This is known as a "Gap" in geological terms.

A pleasant West Virginia scene.

The train took a slight curve.

The South Branch of the Potomac River.

The train took another slight curve.

The South Branch of the Potomac River.

Another of those pleasant West Virginia scenes. They stopped the train then annouced that the open air gondola car was now open and passengers flocked to this unique car, in which they would have to ride all the way through "The Trough".

A full and happy car of captive "Trough Riders". Now sit back and enjoy the trip through "The Trough".

Any trip on any day through "The Trough" is a great day in your life. We spotted three bald eagles and had the first one take off from a tree on our side of the river so you saw the bird's great wing span as it flew out of that tree. We crossed the Sycamore Bridge then stopped to let the passengers out of the open gondola car then backed across the bridge for the first photo runby of the day.

The planned photo location but the sun had not swung around enough.

The sunny side offered too tight of a view for my liking so I went back to the other side of the bridge and was at the waterline of the South Branch of the Potamac River.

Reverse move one.

NRHS photo runby one.

NRHS photo runby 2. We reboarded and headed south.

Interesting rock strata.

Looking back towards "The Trough". Since I had already covered this track at West Virginia Rails in 2010, I will only be taking a few pictures.

Looking south towards Moorefield.

The rear of the train as we neared the community.

A lone caboose was here.

The rear of the train at Moorefield.

The South Branch of the Potomac River.

Taking a big open curve south of Moorefield.

This grain elevator is the largest shipper on this railroad. I went and got some lunch then had good converstions with several groups of passengers.

West Virginia is certainly a beautiful state.

The train took another curve.

We had reached Petersburg, where I had come to on the Virginia Rails 2010 train, but we kept going.

This track I had ridden behind Flagg Coal 75 at that event.

The train continued south down the track.

We reached the end of track, proving that you never know when you will get new rail mileage on a trip. They switched ends and Elizabeth and I worked on the next story as we travelled north. We worked to Petersburg and north of town we stopped for the next photo runbys of the trip.

The forward move one.

NRHS photo runby three.

Photo runby scene.

NRHS photo runby four. We all reboarded the train and we got back to work.

Later entering "The Trough"

Every trip I am amaze at the beauty of "The Trough".

The rafters out on the South Branch of the Potomac River. We returned to Romney at 4:40 PM and everyone had an opportunity to visit the gift shop before the buses departed at 5:30 PM and returned to the Ramada Inn. I had dinner of Buffalo Wings then worked on stories and Elizabeth took over while I packed my case since we are leaving for home tomorrow night.

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