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Welcome to my Travel Diary. These pages are a chronological report of a series of trips I took in late September/early October 1999 while staying near Washington, DC. As such they are more a personal recount rather than a railfanning guide. Washington 1999 Image Gallery Select this link if you'd rather just see the pictures, without text. If you are unfamiliar with the area, I suggest you visit these links and frequently refer to them while reading: Northern West Virginia's Railroads Excellent railfan information on the general area Frograil Railfan Locations Extremely comprehensive listing of interesting railfan spots, and home to the best railfan guides on the Web

My first day and it's already raining. Doesn't matter, since I don't know where I'm headed anyway. From my hotel in Fairfax I drive west on US-50 via Winchester, Capon Bridge, Romney. Beautiful scenery, and while I'm roughly paralleling Norfolk Southern's B-Line I'm oblivious to the fact. Oh well - next year. After hitting the mountains west of Winchester I decide to test my rental cars' off road abilities in the Ft. Mill Ridge Wildlife Management Area. Good fun, and you have the added bonus of being real close to the South Branch Valley's main line south. No trains are running today, though, so I continue west. I'm nearing Keyser, the magical location on the old B&O's West End, today CSX's Mountain Subdivision. In the yard, an eastbound coal drag is parked without a crew. This will be a harbinger of things to come, but for now I'm content with just snapping a couple of pictures of the first CSX AC unit I see. The humidity in the air obscures much of the mountains looming to the west of this location, creating a haze in the pictures.     With no crew in sight I continue west along the Mountain Sub. Autumn is really setting in in the Glades, and the colors are something to behold. Rather than closely following the tracks I stay on the main roads, passing through Oakland and Terra Alta. West of Terra Alta, the steep, twisting descent into the Cheat River valley to Caddell is extremely good fun. From Caddell I follow the river upstream to Rowlesburg and M&K Junction, unfortunately as deserted as the rest of the West End at this time. From Rowlesburg I take WV-72 to US-50 and go directly to Grafton. There is a moderate amount of power congregated at the engine service facility. Grafton sports many extremely interesting old buildings, including this beauty with several decades of painted advertisements layered on its wall. Dusk and rain is catching up with me, and I wrap up this first visit to the Mountain Sub. I'll have more time in a week, so I head back east on US-50 for the long trip home to Fairfax. Even though I have seen only one train, the beauty of the West Virginia countryside has turned this day into a pleasure.

After several fairly stressful days I have the weekend off. The weather is nice and I again head west on US-50 after work. It's almost dark by the time I reach Keyser. A local is getting ready to switch the industrial park east of town, reached by crossing the bridge over the railroad, making a 270 degree right hand turn and then following the street through town. I watch a little, then hit US-220 north to LaVale and use the remaining daylight to follow the Keystone Subdivision into Pennsylvania to Hyndman. Upon returning to Cumberland I find the famous Holiday Inn to be fully booked and instead stay in the Oak Tree Inn in LaVale, a fairly inexpensive but very nice place. The proprietor is a railfan himself, as evidenced by the pictures in the lobby.

The day dawns bright and sunny. I go down to Cumberland and am greeted by a departing westbound freight in the Narrows which I chase on MD-35/PA-96. I catch it in Hyndman. The train has a ex-Conrail SD40-2 and a Helm Leasing SD45 on the point, and a SD50 shoving on the rear. Just after crossing bridge 10 it hits a red block and stops, strung out over the grade crossing north of Hyndman. The rear (pusher) crew cuts the train and backs the tail end downhill to clear the grade crossing. I continue up Wills Creek along SR-3004 and set up at the Fairhope grade crossing to wait for the train. And wait. And wait. Very quietly, a set of SD50s sneak down the hill running wrong hand main. What I assume to be a helper set is in fact the road power from an eastbounder sitting a few miles west at Glencoe, also on a red block signal. The two units continue downgrade to meet the train I'm waiting for, couple onto the head end, and assist it upgrade. The following pictures show the train rounding the big curve at Fairhope, and crossing Shaffers Run. As it turns out later, the whole Keystone Sub and indeed a major part of the CSX system has turned into a terrific traffic jam. The Conrail takeover only a few months past has resulted in trains being parked in nearly every block both ways on the Connellsville line, which includes Amtrak #30, the Capital Limited. I continue through the southern Pennsylvania hinterland to Berlin, then return to the mainline at Garrett via small country roads. This panoramic view was taken just south of Berlin. Garrett, PA used to be an important place on the Keystone Sub. Here, the Berlin Sub diverted from the main line and went northward to Berlin. To the west, the Quemahoning Branch split, crossed the Casselman River, and followed its south bank to Rockwood, where it crossed over the main and became the S&C Subdivision. Today, few traces of these two lines remain, but Garrett is still attractive for railfans. Helpers sometimes cut onto eastbound trains here for the shove up to Sand Patch. A siding is used for storage of equipment or an occasional meet, and nearby Salisbury Junction sees coal traffic. Perhaps most importantly, an overhead road bridge in town provides an excellent vantage point for photographing east- and westbounds, as can be seen in these photos. A westbound "Trailer Jet" is stuck on the main line waiting for the train ahead of him to get out of the way. A short while later, the waiting eastbounds get a move on, enabling a manifest with SD60 #8637 and a Canadian National unit to slip into the next block. On this particular day, chasing trains is more a matter of finding block signals, taking pictures of the equipment waiting there, and continuing on to the next location. My next stop is the US-219 bridge over the tracks a short ways east of Garrett. Two trains are parked here nose to nose, clearing the grade crossing between them. GE C40-8 #7587 leads (sometimes) an eastbound manifest, and it's crew having been on the job far longer than expected, is starving. While I snoop around, taking pictures, the head brakeman approaches me asking whether I'd drive him to the local pizza joint in nearby Meyersdale to fetch food for the crews. Naturally I agree. As a thank-you I get shown into the GE's cab. Neat! Anytime, folks! The eastbound gets a free block shortly after we arrive with the stack of pizzas. I run ahead to Meyersdale, then head east through the woods, enjoying the fall colors. By this time of year, the mostly still green forest is dotted with extremely colorful trees like the ones pictured here. The contrast is nothing short of amazing. Mostly by coincidence, I end up at Glencoe, a picturesque little village deep down in the valley of Wills Creek. This place was devastated by the flood of 1984; a plaque near the church reminds visitors and locals alike that the mountains aren't always as peaceful as they seem today. Parked at Glencoe I find the two SD50s that earlier rescued the ailing westbound at Hoblitzell. They have recoupled to the front of their train, which has not progressed very far in the 6 hours since I saw them at Fairhope. This concludes a beautiful and fascinating day on Sand Patch. I head back home to Cumberland enjoying the setting sun adding yet more gold to the autumn forest colors. A copious steak dinner concludes the day. Life is good!

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