Eckhart Railroad
Encyclopedia
The Eckhart Branch Railroad is a historic railroad that operated in Maryland
.
The company was a subsidiary of the Maryland Mining Company
of Eckhart Mines, Maryland
. The railroad operated from 1846 to 1870, when it was absorbed into the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
.
, a length of 9 miles (14.5 km), and later extended the line as the Potomac Wharf Branch
, totalling 14 miles (22.5 km). The railroad was acquired by the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) in 1870.
The Maryland Mining Company Railway from Eckhart Mines to Wills Creek following Braddock Run was completed in 1846. Wills Creek was bridged at the west end of the Cumberland Narrows
with a four arch brick structure that stood until removed for flood control in 1998. The railway included two tunnel
s, the one closest to Cumberland
(lower tunnel) being 506 feet (154.2 m) long, and the upper tunnel being 335 feet (102.1 m) long. The tunnels were separated by 0.6 mile (0.965604 km). The grade (slope) reached 3 percent in places. This branch was also the location of a large horseshoe curve, at Clarysville
, with 180 degrees of a 30 degree curvature. The construction of Interstate 68
from the Vocke Road intersection to the bridges at Clarysville removed most of the evidence of the Eckhart Branch railroad in that area, including the tunnels.
The Potomac Wharf Branch was built between 1846 and 1850, as an extension of the Eckhart Branch into Cumberland. The MMC rail line connected with the Mount Savage Railroad
at the west end of the Narrows. After passing through the Narrows on the north side, it recrossed Wills Creek on a bridge (no longer present) just east of the present U.S. Route 40
bridge. Some of the tracks
were still visible as of 1999 near some billboards, and a gas station. A picture of a classic wreck scene, circa 1860, shows that bridge collapsed into Wills Creek, with the engine C.E. Detmold hanging on. The original Potomac Wharf Branch bridge was a 203 feet (61.9 m) deck plate girder structure, with two support pillar
s in the creek. It was built in 1849, and rebuilt after the Detmold accident. It survived until a flood in 1936, and was not replaced.
The Potomac Wharf Branch was used to carry coal
to flat-bottom
Potomac River
boats, and to canal boats, before a canal wharf facility for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
(C&O Canal) was completed. The flat-bottom boats ferried coal down the Potomac to Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
and Alexandria, Virginia
during the Spring, when the water level was high enough for navigation. After the C&O Canal reached Cumberland, canal boats could enter the Potomac River through the guard locks
. The original Potomac River wharf had been built by John Galloway Lynn of Cumberland, and was known as the Lynn Wharf. It ran along what now is Avirett Avenue. It was deeded to the Maryland Mining Company in 1849.
The Cumberland Coal and Iron Company (CC&I), chartered in 1850, purchased the MMC mines and railroad property, including the village of Eckhart, in April 1852. The rail line was extended to the nearby Hoffman mines in 1859. Cumberland Coal & Iron was in turn acquired by the Consolidation Coal Company in 1870. At that point, the Eckhart Branch became part of the C&P Railroad, also owned by Consolidation Coal. However, for a period of 20 years, from 1850 to 1870, the Eckhart Branch Railroad operated independently of the C&P.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
(B&O) provided early motive power (locomotive
s) and rolling stock
to the Allegany County
coal short line railroads. The B&O supplied at least eight Camel
engines to the MMC, as evidenced in notes by locomotive builder Ross Winans
. These included B&O engines nos. 161, 162, and 163, among others. In addition, Winans, among other builders, sold engines, tenders, and coal hoppers
to the various mining companies. Passenger service was provided on the Eckhart Branch sometime before 1853, and the C&P continued to use a gravity passenger car
on that line. The passenger car was then hauled back up the mountain at the end of a string of empty coal hoppers. Servicing, watering, and coaling facilities were located in Eckhart. The C&P maintained an engine house and servicing facilities here, and the foundations of these were still evident in 1999.
, the rail line was most probably used to transport supplies and patients to the Military Hospital facility at Clarysville. (ref. 100).
, scow, and passenger cars in 1853.
No pictures of any of these engines are known to exist. The Transfer records mention “2 engines of 23 ton's weight, 1 second-class coal/wood burner of 15 tons, 1 English make, American built of 15 tons, and 1 second class engine of 12 tons." The use of the "Enoch Pratt
" label is questionable, although it may be the "American built of 15 tons" mentioned. A 2-2-2 wheel arrangement is unusual. The Robert Stephenson
Patentee locomotive
of 1834 was of this pattern. American manufacturers known to have copied Stephenson's work from Britain
include Baldwin Locomotive Works
, Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works
, the Locks & Canal Company of Lowell, Ma., and the West Point Foundry
. No extant records support the sales of an engine from any of these companies to Eckhart. The West Point Foundry had supplied the machinery to the Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company
or the blast furnace
at Lonaconing
.
The Eckhart was a "second class" engine, with 17 inches (431.8 mm) cylinders. The Braddock was a first class engine, with 19 inches (482.6 mm) cylinders. Winans customarily gave a thirty-day trial period to the purchasers. The engine Mountaineer was delivered on December 1, 1849, and accepted on Jan. 8, 1850. The engine Cumberland cost $11,000. and was delivered May 28, 1853. The engine Fire King, delivered 6/30/1851, came with a 4-wheel tender, holding 1½ tons of coal, and 900 gallons of water. The engine Frostburg went into service on Nov. 20, 1852.
in 1856. On June 16, 1856, CC&I ordered a replacement right-hand crosshead for the Braddock. The Braddock had gone into service on July 1, 1854. On September 24, they needed the same part for the Eckhart. The Eckhart had been placed into service on August 1, 1849. A frantic telegram on December 9, 1856, emphasizes the need for urgency for shipment of the replacement left-hand crosshead for the Eckhart. The engines Black Monster and Cumberland were at work at that time. The parts were delivered to the B&O Railroad at Cumberland. It is not known whether the repair work was done at Cumberland, or at Eckhart. The engine Eckhart was later rebuilt at the C&P shops in Mount Savage
in 1868.
At the opening ceremony of the railroad on Wednesday, May 13, 1846, a special train took the board of directors and guests from Cumberland to Eckhart, and returned. About two weeks later, an accident occurred on the line near the junction with the Mount Savage Rail Road, at the west end of the Narrows. A dozen passengers were injured when the brakes burned out on the train, and it overturned due to excessive speed. It was noted in a contemporary newspaper account that these were the same brakes commonly used on the B&O line, but they were not adequate for the grades of the Eckhart Branch. Flooding in July 1846 also caused extensive damage to the line's lower end.
From 1846 to 1870, the Winans Camel engines of the Eckhart Railroad eased the heavy coal loads down the mountain, around the horseshoe curve, and through the tunnels to Cumberland. These were the days of manual car brakes, and link-and-pin couplers. Brakemen
ran across the tops of cars, in all sorts of weather, to manually set and release the handbrakes. Later, the Camels would haul the empty coal hoppers and the lone passenger car back up the mountain in preparation for another day's work. The legacy of the Eckhart Branch railroad continued with the C&P, and with Western Maryland Railway
equipment into the 1950s.
Before World War I
, locomotive manufacturer Baldwin and the C&P management discussed the building of a small articulated engine
to work the Eckhart Branch. The catalog Baldwin 2-4-4-2 was rated at 44,200 pounds of tractive effort, and grossed 188,000 pounds. It was rated for 475 trailing tons on a 3 percent grade. It used 51 inches (1,295.4 mm) wheels, and 200 psi boiler pressure. It was a Mallet
design, with the high pressure rear cylinders rigidly attached to the frame, and the front low pressure cylinders pivoted, in the manner of a pilot. The high pressure cylinders were 19” x 26”; the low pressure ones were 29” x 26”. Baldwin built at least two engines to this design for the Little River Railroad
in Tennessee
. The first was rejected, and eventually went into logging
service on the West Coast
.
C&P’s Master Mechanic Sarby calculated he could get the same tractive effort by boring out the cylinders out on a C&P Class L 2-8-0. Engine number 23 was selected. Number 23 was a Mount Savage-built engine that entered service in October 1904. For some reason, Sarby was fired a short time later. The engine remained in service until scrapping in July 1944.
There are no details on the conversion, but if we assume that the cylinders were bored an additional 1”, the tractive effort would have increased by about 10 percent. This is following Baldwin’s published formula for tractive effort (ref. 78). Boring out the cylinders would have required new pistons, of course. The weight of the unit would not have changed significantly. The steam capacity of the boiler would have been sufficient for the low speed operations of the Eckhart Branch. One of the limitations of the Eckhart Branch, besides the tunnel clearances, curves, and grade was the load capacity of the Wills Creek Bridge, at the West End of the Narrows.
After the acquisition of the C&P by the Western Maryland Railway
, the Eckhart Branch was worked by WM number 1102, a Baldwin Decapod (wheel arrangement 2-10-0). This class of engine was noted for its light axle loading, and had no flanges on the main drivers, for negotiating sharp curves.
The figure of merit on the Eckhart Branch was the number of empty hoppers that could be pulled uphill. This figure depends on the rolling resistance of the car, the grade resistance, and the curve resistance. The Winans engine could handle 40 hoppers, based on a tare weight of 3 tons for the Winans-designed 6-wheel hoppers in use in 1854. The later engines would haul 55-ton capacity hoppers, of tare weight 20 tons. The capacity of a standard C&P class L engine would have been 21 cars. The articulated engine could have handled 24. The later Decapods pulled 28 cars.
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
.
The company was a subsidiary of the Maryland Mining Company
Maryland Mining Company
The Maryland Mining Company is a historic coal mining, iron producer and railroad company that operated in Allegany County, Maryland.The company was based in Eckhart Mines, Maryland; the location in Braddock Run was among the first bituminous coal mines developed in the Georges Creek...
of Eckhart Mines, Maryland
Eckhart Mines, Maryland
Eckhart Mines is an unincorporated town in Allegany County, Maryland, USA. Eckhart Mines lies at the southwestern base of Federal Hill, 2.9 km east of Frostburg and 1.3 km northwest of Clarysville. The town was originally founded as a company town for the nearby Eckhart Mines. The...
. The railroad operated from 1846 to 1870, when it was absorbed into the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad was an American railroad which operated in Western Maryland. Primarily a coal hauler, it was owned by the Consolidation Coal Company, and was absorbed into the Western Maryland Railway in 1944....
.
Corporate ownership and construction history
The Maryland Mining Company (MMC) was incorporated in Maryland on March 12, 1829. The company built the railroad from Eckhart to Wills CreekWills Creek (North Branch Potomac River)
Wills Creek is a tributary of the North Branch Potomac River in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the United States.Wills Creek drops off the Allegheny Mountains of southeastern Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and enters the North Branch Potomac River at Cumberland, Maryland.-History:thumb|220px|Fort...
, a length of 9 miles (14.5 km), and later extended the line as the Potomac Wharf Branch
Potomac Wharf Branch
The Potomac Wharf Branch was a historic railroad located in Maryland. It was built by the Maryland Mining Company between 1846 and 1850, as an extension to the Eckhart Branch Railroad. The Potomac Wharf Branch crossed Wills Creek on a bridge just east of the present Route 40 road bridge near...
, totalling 14 miles (22.5 km). The railroad was acquired by the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) in 1870.
The Maryland Mining Company Railway from Eckhart Mines to Wills Creek following Braddock Run was completed in 1846. Wills Creek was bridged at the west end of the Cumberland Narrows
Cumberland Narrows
The Cumberland Narrows is a water gap in western Maryland in the United States, just west of Cumberland, Maryland. Wills Creek cuts through the central ridge of the Wills Mountain Anticline at a low elevation here between Wills Mountain to the north and Haystack Mountain to the south...
with a four arch brick structure that stood until removed for flood control in 1998. The railway included two tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
s, the one closest to Cumberland
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...
(lower tunnel) being 506 feet (154.2 m) long, and the upper tunnel being 335 feet (102.1 m) long. The tunnels were separated by 0.6 mile (0.965604 km). The grade (slope) reached 3 percent in places. This branch was also the location of a large horseshoe curve, at Clarysville
Clarysville, Maryland
Clarysville is an unincorporated town in Allegany County, Maryland, USA. It is located along U.S. Route 40 Alternate, at its intersection with Maryland Route 55. Clarysville was known around the region for the Clarysville Inn, a historic building which stood in Clarysville from 1807 until it burned...
, with 180 degrees of a 30 degree curvature. The construction of Interstate 68
Interstate 68
Interstate 68 is a Interstate highway in the U.S. states of West Virginia and Maryland, connecting in Morgantown to in Hancock. is also Corridor E of the Appalachian Development Highway System. From 1965 until the freeway's construction was completed in 1991, it was designated as...
from the Vocke Road intersection to the bridges at Clarysville removed most of the evidence of the Eckhart Branch railroad in that area, including the tunnels.
The Potomac Wharf Branch was built between 1846 and 1850, as an extension of the Eckhart Branch into Cumberland. The MMC rail line connected with the Mount Savage Railroad
Mount Savage Railroad
The Mount Savage Railroad was a railroad operated by the Mount Savage Coal and Iron Company of Mount Savage, Maryland between 1845 and 1854. The 14.9 miles rail line ran from Frostburg to Cumberland, Maryland.-History:...
at the west end of the Narrows. After passing through the Narrows on the north side, it recrossed Wills Creek on a bridge (no longer present) just east of the present U.S. Route 40
U.S. Route 40
U.S. Route 40 is an east–west United States highway. As with most routes whose numbers end in a zero, U.S. 40 once traversed the entire United States. It is one of the original 1920s U.S. Highways, and its first termini were San Francisco, California, and Atlantic City, New Jersey...
bridge. Some of the tracks
Rail tracks
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...
were still visible as of 1999 near some billboards, and a gas station. A picture of a classic wreck scene, circa 1860, shows that bridge collapsed into Wills Creek, with the engine C.E. Detmold hanging on. The original Potomac Wharf Branch bridge was a 203 feet (61.9 m) deck plate girder structure, with two support pillar
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s in the creek. It was built in 1849, and rebuilt after the Detmold accident. It survived until a flood in 1936, and was not replaced.
The Potomac Wharf Branch was used to carry coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
to flat-bottom
Flatboat
Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with (mostlyNOTE: "(parenthesized)" wordings in the quote below are notes added to...
Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
boats, and to canal boats, before a canal wharf facility for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal, and occasionally referred to as the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 parallel to the Potomac River in Maryland from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, D.C. The total length of the canal is about . The elevation change of...
(C&O Canal) was completed. The flat-bottom boats ferried coal down the Potomac to Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
and Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
during the Spring, when the water level was high enough for navigation. After the C&O Canal reached Cumberland, canal boats could enter the Potomac River through the guard locks
Lock (water transport)
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...
. The original Potomac River wharf had been built by John Galloway Lynn of Cumberland, and was known as the Lynn Wharf. It ran along what now is Avirett Avenue. It was deeded to the Maryland Mining Company in 1849.
The Cumberland Coal and Iron Company (CC&I), chartered in 1850, purchased the MMC mines and railroad property, including the village of Eckhart, in April 1852. The rail line was extended to the nearby Hoffman mines in 1859. Cumberland Coal & Iron was in turn acquired by the Consolidation Coal Company in 1870. At that point, the Eckhart Branch became part of the C&P Railroad, also owned by Consolidation Coal. However, for a period of 20 years, from 1850 to 1870, the Eckhart Branch Railroad operated independently of the C&P.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
(B&O) provided early motive power (locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s) and rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
to the Allegany County
Allegany County, Maryland
Allegany County is a county located in the northwestern part of the US state of Maryland. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 75,087. Its county seat is Cumberland...
coal short line railroads. The B&O supplied at least eight Camel
Camelback locomotive
A camelback locomotive is a type of steam locomotive with the driving cab placed in the middle, astride the boiler...
engines to the MMC, as evidenced in notes by locomotive builder Ross Winans
Ross Winans
Ross Winans was an American inventor, mechanic, and builder of locomotives and railroad machinery. He is also noted for design of pioneering cigar-hulled ships. Winans, one of the United States' first multi-millionaires, was involved in politics and was a vehement states' rights advocate...
. These included B&O engines nos. 161, 162, and 163, among others. In addition, Winans, among other builders, sold engines, tenders, and coal hoppers
Hopper car
A hopper car is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, track ballast, and the like. The name originated from the coke manufacturing industry which is part of the steel industry ....
to the various mining companies. Passenger service was provided on the Eckhart Branch sometime before 1853, and the C&P continued to use a gravity passenger car
Gravity railroad
A gravity railroad or Gravity railway is a railroad on a slope that allow cars carrying minerals or passengers to coast down the slope by the force of gravity alone. The cars are then hauled back up the slope using animal power or a stationary engine and a cable, chain or one or more wide, flat...
on that line. The passenger car was then hauled back up the mountain at the end of a string of empty coal hoppers. Servicing, watering, and coaling facilities were located in Eckhart. The C&P maintained an engine house and servicing facilities here, and the foundations of these were still evident in 1999.
Line naming
The term "Eckhart Branch" seems to date from the later period of the 1870s. In a schedule published in the Frostburg Mining Journal, the line is referred to as the "Cumberland Branch." In the earliest accounts, the line is simply called the "Maryland Mining Company Railway." During the Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the rail line was most probably used to transport supplies and patients to the Military Hospital facility at Clarysville. (ref. 100).
Locomotive roster
It is not known if this is a complete list of Eckhart Branch locomotives. All of the listed engines except the first are of the "Camel" type. Hicks (ref. 23) recounts that the transfer records in the Maryland State Archives (from MMC to CC&I) mention five engines. Two of these are Winans, but lighter in weight than the listed engines, and three are much lighter. Rankin (ref. 46) mentions that the company motive power included three first class engines, two second class, and forty-one horses and mules. Rolling stock included sixty-eight iron hopper, gondolaGondola (rail)
In railroad terminology, a gondola is an open-top type of rolling stock that is used for carrying loose bulk materials. Because of its low side walls, gondolas are used to carry either very dense material, such as steel plates or coils, or bulky items such as prefabricated pieces of rail...
, scow, and passenger cars in 1853.
| Builder | Wheel Arrangement Whyte notation The Whyte notation for classifying steam locomotives by wheel arrangement was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte and came into use in the early twentieth century encouraged by an editorial in American Engineer and Railroad Journal... |
Data | Name | Company | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unknown | 2-2-2 | ? | Enoch Pratt | MMC | unknown |
| Winans | 0-8-0 | 1849 | Eckhart | MMC | rebuilt in 1868, sold to C&P as #27 |
| Winans | 0-8-0 | 1849 | Mountaineer | MMC | sold to C&P as #28, scrapped in 1876 |
| Winans | 0-8-0 | 1851 | Fire King | MMC | unknown |
| Winans | 0-8-0 | 1852 | Black Monster | CC&I | sold to C&P as #29 |
| Winans | 0-8-0 | 1854 | Braddock | CC&I | sold to C&P as #31, later renumbered to #30 |
| Winans | 0-8-0 | 1853 | Cumberland | CC&I | sold to C&P as #30 |
| Note: The "Black Monster" has the same specifications as B&O Nos. 106 and 108: 19" x 22" cylinders, 43" drivers. | |||||
No pictures of any of these engines are known to exist. The Transfer records mention “2 engines of 23 ton's weight, 1 second-class coal/wood burner of 15 tons, 1 English make, American built of 15 tons, and 1 second class engine of 12 tons." The use of the "Enoch Pratt
Enoch Pratt
Enoch Pratt was an American businessman in Baltimore, Maryland, a Unitarian, and a philanthropist.-Biography:...
" label is questionable, although it may be the "American built of 15 tons" mentioned. A 2-2-2 wheel arrangement is unusual. The Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823. It was the first company set up specifically to build railway engines.- Foundation and early success :...
Patentee locomotive
Patentee locomotive
This was a revolutionary 2-2-2 steam locomotive type introduced by Robert Stephenson and Company in 1833, as an enlargement of their 2-2-0 Planet type...
of 1834 was of this pattern. American manufacturers known to have copied Stephenson's work from Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
include Baldwin Locomotive Works
Baldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...
, Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works
Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works
Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was a 19th-century manufacturer of railroad steam locomotives based in Paterson, in Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. It built more than six thousand steam locomotives for railroads around the world. Most railroads in 19th-century United States...
, the Locks & Canal Company of Lowell, Ma., and the West Point Foundry
West Point Foundry
The West Point Foundry was an early ironworks in Cold Spring, New York that operated from 1817 to 1911. Set up to remedy deficiencies in national armaments production after the War of 1812, it became most famous for its production of Parrott rifles and other munitions during the Civil War, although...
. No extant records support the sales of an engine from any of these companies to Eckhart. The West Point Foundry had supplied the machinery to the Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company
Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company
The Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company is a defunct coal mining, iron producer and railroad company that operated in Maryland from 1835 to 1863.-Iron furnace:The company was formed in 1835, and chartered in the state of Maryland on March 29, 1836...
or the blast furnace
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...
at Lonaconing
Lonaconing, Maryland
Lonaconing is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, United States located along the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,205 at the 2000 census.- History :...
.
The Eckhart was a "second class" engine, with 17 inches (431.8 mm) cylinders. The Braddock was a first class engine, with 19 inches (482.6 mm) cylinders. Winans customarily gave a thirty-day trial period to the purchasers. The engine Mountaineer was delivered on December 1, 1849, and accepted on Jan. 8, 1850. The engine Cumberland cost $11,000. and was delivered May 28, 1853. The engine Fire King, delivered 6/30/1851, came with a 4-wheel tender, holding 1½ tons of coal, and 900 gallons of water. The engine Frostburg went into service on Nov. 20, 1852.
Operations
Service on the Eckhart Branch was hard, as evidenced by a series of correspondence with the Winans works in BaltimoreBaltimore
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...
in 1856. On June 16, 1856, CC&I ordered a replacement right-hand crosshead for the Braddock. The Braddock had gone into service on July 1, 1854. On September 24, they needed the same part for the Eckhart. The Eckhart had been placed into service on August 1, 1849. A frantic telegram on December 9, 1856, emphasizes the need for urgency for shipment of the replacement left-hand crosshead for the Eckhart. The engines Black Monster and Cumberland were at work at that time. The parts were delivered to the B&O Railroad at Cumberland. It is not known whether the repair work was done at Cumberland, or at Eckhart. The engine Eckhart was later rebuilt at the C&P shops in Mount Savage
Mount Savage, Maryland
Mount Savage is an unincorporated community in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. A small blue-collar community, Mount Savage lies at the base of Big Savage Mountain in the Allegheny Mountains, between the cities of Frostburg and Cumberland...
in 1868.
At the opening ceremony of the railroad on Wednesday, May 13, 1846, a special train took the board of directors and guests from Cumberland to Eckhart, and returned. About two weeks later, an accident occurred on the line near the junction with the Mount Savage Rail Road, at the west end of the Narrows. A dozen passengers were injured when the brakes burned out on the train, and it overturned due to excessive speed. It was noted in a contemporary newspaper account that these were the same brakes commonly used on the B&O line, but they were not adequate for the grades of the Eckhart Branch. Flooding in July 1846 also caused extensive damage to the line's lower end.
From 1846 to 1870, the Winans Camel engines of the Eckhart Railroad eased the heavy coal loads down the mountain, around the horseshoe curve, and through the tunnels to Cumberland. These were the days of manual car brakes, and link-and-pin couplers. Brakemen
Brakeman
A brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job it was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The advent of through brakes on trains made this role redundant, although the name lives on in the United States where brakemen carry out a variety of functions...
ran across the tops of cars, in all sorts of weather, to manually set and release the handbrakes. Later, the Camels would haul the empty coal hoppers and the lone passenger car back up the mountain in preparation for another day's work. The legacy of the Eckhart Branch railroad continued with the C&P, and with Western Maryland Railway
Western Maryland Railway
The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad which operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation. The WM became part of the Chessie System in 1973 and ceased operating its lines...
equipment into the 1950s.
Before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, locomotive manufacturer Baldwin and the C&P management discussed the building of a small articulated engine
Articulated locomotive
Articulated locomotive usually means a steam locomotive with one or more engine units which can move independent of the main frame. This is done to allow a longer locomotive to negotiate tighter curves...
to work the Eckhart Branch. The catalog Baldwin 2-4-4-2 was rated at 44,200 pounds of tractive effort, and grossed 188,000 pounds. It was rated for 475 trailing tons on a 3 percent grade. It used 51 inches (1,295.4 mm) wheels, and 200 psi boiler pressure. It was a Mallet
Mallet locomotive
The Mallet Locomotive is a type of articulated locomotive, invented by a Swiss engineer named Anatole Mallet ....
design, with the high pressure rear cylinders rigidly attached to the frame, and the front low pressure cylinders pivoted, in the manner of a pilot. The high pressure cylinders were 19” x 26”; the low pressure ones were 29” x 26”. Baldwin built at least two engines to this design for the Little River Railroad
Little River Railroad (Tennessee)
The Little River Railroad is a historic class III railroad that operated between Maryville and Elkmont, Tennessee during the period 1901 to 1939.-History:...
in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. The first was rejected, and eventually went into logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
service on the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
.
C&P’s Master Mechanic Sarby calculated he could get the same tractive effort by boring out the cylinders out on a C&P Class L 2-8-0. Engine number 23 was selected. Number 23 was a Mount Savage-built engine that entered service in October 1904. For some reason, Sarby was fired a short time later. The engine remained in service until scrapping in July 1944.
There are no details on the conversion, but if we assume that the cylinders were bored an additional 1”, the tractive effort would have increased by about 10 percent. This is following Baldwin’s published formula for tractive effort (ref. 78). Boring out the cylinders would have required new pistons, of course. The weight of the unit would not have changed significantly. The steam capacity of the boiler would have been sufficient for the low speed operations of the Eckhart Branch. One of the limitations of the Eckhart Branch, besides the tunnel clearances, curves, and grade was the load capacity of the Wills Creek Bridge, at the West End of the Narrows.
After the acquisition of the C&P by the Western Maryland Railway
Western Maryland Railway
The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad which operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation. The WM became part of the Chessie System in 1973 and ceased operating its lines...
, the Eckhart Branch was worked by WM number 1102, a Baldwin Decapod (wheel arrangement 2-10-0). This class of engine was noted for its light axle loading, and had no flanges on the main drivers, for negotiating sharp curves.
| Actual and Proposed Units on the Eckhart Branch | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parameter | C&P Class L | Baldwin Articulated | No. 23, bored out 1" | WM Decapod | Camel (Winans) |
| Wheel Size (inches) | 50 | 51 | 50 | 52 | 43 |
| Steam Pressure (PSI Pounds per square inch The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units... ) |
200 | 200 | 200 | 180 | 95 |
| Wheel Arrangement Whyte notation The Whyte notation for classifying steam locomotives by wheel arrangement was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte and came into use in the early twentieth century encouraged by an editorial in American Engineer and Railroad Journal... |
2-8-0 | 2-4-4-2 | 2-8-0 | 2-10-0 | 0-8-0 |
| Cylinders (inches) | 21x26 | 19x26 | 22x26 | 25x28 | 19x22 |
| Weight (lb) | 174,500 | 188,000 | 174,500 | 195,500 | 74,300 |
| Tractive Effort (lb) | 39,000 | 44,200 | 42,785 | 51,500 | 14,915 |
The figure of merit on the Eckhart Branch was the number of empty hoppers that could be pulled uphill. This figure depends on the rolling resistance of the car, the grade resistance, and the curve resistance. The Winans engine could handle 40 hoppers, based on a tare weight of 3 tons for the Winans-designed 6-wheel hoppers in use in 1854. The later engines would haul 55-ton capacity hoppers, of tare weight 20 tons. The capacity of a standard C&P class L engine would have been 21 cars. The articulated engine could have handled 24. The later Decapods pulled 28 cars.