October 17 2008--Western Maryland Railroad Steam Engine Ride Cumberland, Md.

The town of Cumberland in western Maryland has both rail and water systems. Cumberland was the western terminus of the C &O Canal--which began in Washington DC. The C&O Canal was supposed to continue to the Ohio River, but the railroad arrived and overtook the canal business, stopping its growth. This steam engine train ran further west to Frostburg, Md., where the engine uncoupled and was turned around on a turntable, just long enough to rotate the train and point it back to Cumberland. Videos of the steam engine on the turntable are at the end of the blog. My mom and two sisters and I started from Springfield on a bus, travelled to Cumberland, toured the town, rode the train to Frostburg, had lunch in the train station, and returned to tour more of Cumberland before returning to Springfield.

Mule drawn barge used on the canalCumberland Train Station Old Factory in Town Steam Engine arriving at Train Station TTTravellers boarding the train

Departing the Train Station

Making progress up the Helmstettler Curve View from postal car

Engineer showing all steam and whistles

Locomotive on the turntable

Turntable in progress, counter-clockwise

Upcoming Octoberfest Event--sounds good to me