The Cumberland Terminal Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

 in the Cumberland, Maryland

Cumberland, Maryland

Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...

 area. The line centers around the Cumberland rail yard

Rail yard

A rail yard, or railroad yard, is a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic....

 and is a junction with three other subdivisions.

The line was built by the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road (B&O) in the 1850s as part of its original main line, known then as the "West End." To the east it connects with the Cumberland Subdivision

Cumberland Subdivision

The Cumberland Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Maryland and West Virginia. The line runs from Weverton, Maryland west to near Cumberland, Maryland along the old Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road main line...

 leading to Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 and Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

. To the west it joins the Keystone Subdivision

Keystone Subdivision

The Keystone Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Maryland and Pennsylvania. The line runs from Cumberland, Maryland west to McKeesport, Pennsylvania along a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line...

 heading towards Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

. To the southwest it joins the Mountain Subdivision

Mountain Subdivision

The Mountain Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Maryland and West Virginia. The line runs from Cumberland, Maryland west to Grafton, West Virginia along the original Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road main line...

 leading to Grafton, West Virginia

Grafton, West Virginia

Grafton is a city in, and county seat of, Taylor County, West Virginia, USA. The population was 5,489 at the 2000 census. The only two national cemeteries in West Virginia are located in Grafton. Mother's Day was founded in Grafton on May 10, 1908; the city is the home to the International Mother's...

.

The Cumberland rail yard includes a large classification yard

Classification yard

A classification yard or marshalling yard is a railroad yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railroad cars on to one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill...

 and an engine shop.
The B&O built a large passenger station in Cumberland, the Queen City Hotel

Queen City Hotel

The Queen City Hotel was constructed in 1871 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Cumberland, Maryland to serve both as a train station and as a destination. Hosting 174 rooms, it also had such features as formal gardens with a fountain, a ballroom and 400-seat dining room...

, in 1871, shortly after completion of a rail line to Pittsburgh. Passenger traffic on the line declined in the mid-20th century, and the station was demolished in 1972. Today the smaller Amtrak

Amtrak

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

 depot

Cumberland (Amtrak station)

The Cumberland Amtrak station is a train station in Cumberland, Maryland, United States served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. It is also served by Bayrunner Shuttle that starts in Grantsville and ends at BWI Airport...

 is located on the line, in the downtown area west of the yard.

During the 1970s ownership of the subdivision passed from the B&O to the Chessie System

Chessie System

Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway , the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , the Western Maryland Railway , and several smaller carriers. It was incorporated in Virginia on February 26, 1973, and it acquired the C&O on June 15...

. Chessie was merged into CSX in the early 1980s.

External links

• CSX Cumberland Terminal - Facebook page with photos
• CSX Railroad Yard in Cumberland, MD - Photos