Hello all,
Recently I discovered a somewhat local historic railroad, the Potomac Eagle, and subsequently decided to go out and take a ride. The railroad is about 2 hours away from my home, requiring a drive through the beautiful mountains of West Virginia to reach it.
The "Potomac Eagle" runs exclusively as a tourist railroad, mostly on weekends. The trains depart from Romney, WVA. The "station" is housed out of some stationary cars and an old steel C&O caboose on a siding in Romney. The offer two trips, a 35 mile, 3 hour trip and a 8 hour trip with a stopover in Petersburg, WVA. As we went with our family, I choose the former "short" trip, which was just about the right amount of time.
The Potomac Eagle operates on the SBVR (South Branch Valley Railroad), a local spur line through the mountains on West Virginia. The name comes in part from the South Branch of the Potomac River, which runs near or parallel to the tracks in most places. Today, the SBVR is run by the state of West Virginia, and on weekdays operates local revenue freight service to support surrounding industry. In the past, this line was part of the B&O system, connecting to the B&O mainline in Cumberland, MD (abandoned by B&O the mid 1970s, and subsequently purchased by the state). Prior to B&O ownership the line was constructed and operated by various small rail companies, going back to 1909. The Potomac Eagle is purely a tourist railroad, although it may very well by the only passenger service of any kind (tourist or otherwise) available today in the state of West Virginia.
In terms of equipment, the Potomac Eagle owns a EMD F7A unit, #722, originally built in 1952. The unit came from the Bessemer & Lake Erie railroad, where it hauled ore up until its retirement. 722 has been repainted in classic 1950s/1960s B&O livery, although 722 is not an original B&O F unit number.
In addition to the F7A, the SBVR loans out various equipment for use on the Potomac Eagle, most frequently one of two classic GP9 units:
-GP9 6604, originally from Central New Jersey and later B&O. Also painted in classic B&O livery, and originally built in 1955.
-GP9 6240, originally from C&O, and then on through the B&O merger. Painted in Chessie System Livery, built 1957.
The Potomac Eagle rolling stock consists largely of old C&O and Canadian national commuter cars. In addition, a freight gondola has been converted into an open seating car. Our Potomac Eagle was operated in push-pull service, with the F7A on one end, and GP9 6604 on the other end.
In addition to being named for the river, there is a high likelihood of seeing Bald Eagles from the train, hence the "Eagle". Indeed, on our trip we saw a couple!
Just in case there is a desire for more information, check out their website here:
http://www.potomaceagle.info/