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The Old Main Line Part 4 Hancock to Cumberland MD

"The Old Main Line - Part 4"continues this superb series surveying the oldest railroad in the Western Hemisphere. We begin our journey at Hancock Yard and HO Tower. The Amtrak Capitol Limited leads off the show followed by a giant piece of operating rail maintenance equipment. An auto-rack interrupts the yard work to pass through. We use U.S. Geological Survey Maps to help you understand the route.

In this installment, we show you the magnificent railroad engineering that makes up the "Magnolia Cuttoff." This Cutoff' starts around MP 139, where the tracks cross a great fill made from the spoils of tunneling efforts that failed to pay off at Randolph Tunnel. Tracks run about a mile through Doe Gully before turning and plunging into the tunnel.

The rails West follow a bend in the Potomac River, then at Hansrote they curve into 3,355 foot long Stuart Tunnel. We shot the huge fill and bridge at Magnolia, West Virginia from the top of "Tunnel Hill" as well as from trackside. We show you Graham Tunnel and Kessler Bridge from the hill as well. Add "The Concrete Wall," Carothers Tunnel, followed by most of the signals to Cumberland Terminal; and you get a very complete look at some impressive turn-of-the-century railroad engineering (1913 to 1914). All this mileage gets highlighted by lots of CSX trains along with Amtrak's Capitol Limited!

BLUE RIDGE PRODUCTIONS spent a couple years chasing trains to bring you the very best in Railfan video. We climbed mountains and bridges. We hiked along the tracks with heavy equipment to find better ways to show you the sights and sounds of modern railroading. We've spent hours and hours editing to bring you these images and clean, exciting stereo sounds of modern railroading. In spite of all this talk of modern railroading, we also tried to find and videotape significant artifacts from the old B&O that are used today to make the CSX right of way solid and serviceable. We've talked with CSX employees, retired B&O and CSX employees, historians and railroad historical society members in our attempt to give you insight into how the railroad was built and runs today (no interviews on tape). Come along with us as we ride along The Old Main Line!