Views from the Potomac-spanning US 340 bridge built in 1947 can be spectacular, even when looking down. The Potomac River is off photo right in this downstream view.

US 340 offers two river crossings for automobiles in this vicinity. They connect Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

Here's the upstream view from US 340 during the 1960s.

US 340, coal, and kayakers... Sandy Hook has them all. This is a popular spot for kayakers to enter the Potomac River because it is downstream of dangerous river rocks near Harpers Ferry.

Link: 2010 snow

This equipment box is ready for the next Potomac flood... probably.

Sandy Hook Road and the railroad curve, swing and dance their way to Harpers Ferry.

You don't need to be Superman to see through 925 feet of rock. Instead, just build a tunnel.

Link: 1988

Sandy Hook Road now occupies the former B&O right of way that became available upon opening of the tunnel.

This is the only double-tracked railroad tunnel between Baltimore and Harpers Ferry, but clearances are tight, so as part of the National Gateway project this tunnel was enlarged by carving a notch into it.

Link: 2018 after notching

The Harpers Ferry Tunnel goes incognito. This portal is the oldest between Baltimore and Harpers Ferry, the only one dating to the 19th century, before tunnel naming in brick became the rage. All the other portals are either newer, or were redesigned more recently. This tunnel's opposite portal employed the same nameless design until replaced during a 1931 bellmouthing project.

The tunnel emerges adjacent the canal and Potomac River where empty piers plus two bridges are found.

In 1836, the B&O constructed the now-disused piers on the left parallel to and just downstream of Wager Bridge, an 1824 road bridge that replaced a ferry (yes, Harper's Ferry). The intial design quickly proved too weak for locomotives that were growing heavier, so in 1839 the piers were upgraded to not only carry the railroad but also wagons/passengers, obviating Wager's Bridge that was then removed.

B&O aligned its initial bridge, portions of which were covered, to provide easy connection with the Winchester & Potomac Railroad (W&P) that had arrived in town in 1836. W&P did not wish to share Harpers Ferry, nor did Virginia want to share its agricultural shipments with the port of Baltimore, and thus B&O's overtures of a business relationship were shunned. Consequently, instead of a straight connection from the bridge to W&P's route parallel to the Shenandoah River (seen in the distant left), B&O had to veer its track sharply north (right) to follow the Potomac upstream.

Link: Covered Bridges

Even with sharp curves at both ends, B&O's first bridge here proved indispensible. Both trains and wagons used it despite an awkward grade crossing over water. That importance also made it a key target early in the US Civil War. Indeed, the bridge was rebuilt in such configuration no fewer than 9 times during the 1860s after repeated destruction by Civil War action and floods. The frequency of repair afforded the opportunity to gradually switch from wood to iron. Eventually, all of the segments employed B&O's signature spiderwebby Bollman design seen here.

Links: 1861 ruins, ~1880, 1860s

It took until 1893 for B&O to escape the unhappy railroad / wagon road marriage. That was when B&O bored Harpers Ferry Tunnel through South Mountain and created this double-tracked bridge on a set of new piers, the middle group in the Three Crossings photo above. In this reverse-to-tour-direction view, the Bollman bridge is difficult to see at a lower elevation on the right.

The Bollman bridge was closer and easier to see from the river's south bank. The brick, original west portal of Harpers Farry tunnel is visible at distant right.

Link: source photo

When the tunnel and 1893 bridge opened, B&O halved the Bollman span lengthwise, leaving only the wagon road: note that the closer half of the Bollman's supports has no bridge on it. The road surface was never far above the warer. Automobiles continued to use the half that did remain until a turbulent Potomac destroyed it in 1936.

A portion of W&P's bridge across the Shenandoah River is visible at distant left. Only its piers remain now. The church steeple, however, can be found in the next panel's more modern view.

The tunnel's dual trackage morphs into triple near the tunnel's west bellmouth and, upon reaching daylight, one track curves to the left. In the shadow below, the 10 mph speed sign is also the marker for milepost 0 of CSX's Shenandoah Subdivision. Meanwhile, the Cumberland Subdivision continues on the right.

The church steeple in the distance gives notice that we'll soon be leaving Maryland to visit the scenic town of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers join forces.

The curves of even the 1893 alignment proved too limiting, and in what would be one of B&O's last major track realignment projects, it spanned the Potomac River yet again in 1931. Eastbound B&O 3839 cruises over that bridge.

Even after building a third-alignment bridge in 1931, B&O kept the 1893 crossing as a connection to the Shenandoah Valley Branch it had leased and eventually purchased from W&P. That line continues in use today as CSX's Shenandoah Subdivision, seen here as the tracks curving off the right edge of the photo. Prior to the 1931 bridge, the now-disused tracks on the left provided the connection northwest to Cumberland, MD.

More recently, a crossing for pedestrians was added to the bridge, even though strictly prohibited by this vintage B&O sign. It seems unlikely any B&O RR police will be around to enforce the rule.

Links: ~1900?, 1984

As this plaque explains, the 1893 bridge was erected by the Pencoyd Bridge and Construction Company. These spans are the oldest steel bridges still in railroad use in the Baltmore-Washington-Harpers Ferry triangle.

When the 1936 flood destroyed the Bollman road bridge over the century-old alignment, this bridge was pressed into shared service as a temporary, single-lane automobile bridge. World War II delayed construction of a dedicated automobile replacement until in 1947 US 340 spanned the Potomac over Sandy Hook, as seen earlier.

Link: 1997

As part of the 1931 bridge project, B&O widened Harpers Ferry Tunnel's west portal into this one made of concrete.

A serpent's tongue of trackage emanates from the bellmouth west portal of the Harpers Ferry Tunnel; CSX 461 is about to feed the hungry maw. The photographer's vantage point is surprisingly easy to reach: it's the C&O Canal towpath.

Links: 1997

The C&O Canal towpath is now a popular hiking and biking route. B&O would escape the canal by here spanning both it and the Potomac River.

The distant unused stone bridge support is a relic of B&O's first attempt to solve the Potomac River crossing. The century-long saga includes three different sets of piers and no fewer than 10 bridges of various styles and designs.

This is one of the few known photos of the bridge in its covered form. This and the next panel's photo were taken from the Bolivar Heights part of town.

Link: photo source

The weaving, zig-zag course of B&O's early alignment is most evident is this 1865 view from a hill in Harpers Ferry.

Links: source photo, LoC pic page

As the first of six westbound locomotives, B&O 6955 shows off its sunburst herald, a short-lived paint scheme of the early 1960s.

B&O applied a similar blue sunburst on its TOFCEE Service trailers such as BOZ 400047 at right. TOFCEE stands for Trailers on Flatcars, something now more generally called intermodal.

Link: 1979

As seen from the West Virginia side, CSX 8066 confirms the bridge from that 1931 project still works.

Links: 1982, 1983

Renovations in 2005 to the Harpers Ferry Station restored the interlocking tower at its east end. The station dates to 1889, built as part of the 1893 bridge project, and was moved slightly west to better accommodate the 1931 bridge. It soldiers on as a MARC passenger station.

Link: 2004

The station's interior has been attractively restored to include an original-period-style passenger waiting room.

This passenger shack sits in disrepair across from the station, atop a passenger tunnel that extends under the tracks. Almost as if to hide from the relationship, Amtrak is letting its 1970s-era sign fade into oblivion.

Link: 1997

Before Amtrak, people relied on B&O for passenger service.

This marks the western limit of these B&O RR Photo Tours. It took me over 10 years to collect and comment on the Maryland routes the B&O constructed in about half that time, largely by hand in the 1830s. I remain indebted to the father-son Hiteshew team who supplied hundreds of photos, including most of those seen here west of Frederick Junction. I would not have been able to complete this project without their gracious contributions. Thanks also to all who sent comments and corrections to keep me on track. I hope you enjoyed these tours.

Get out there so the Train of Life can come around the bend to take you on more fun and interesting journeys.

Links: 1964, 1969