CSX Sand Patch, PA
Summit of Alleghenies two two five eight.
In an era before American industrial development, Wheeling Virginia, now West Virginia, was selected as the most suitable western terminus of the new Baltimore and Ohio railroad because it offered the most favorable location to harness trade from the Ohio River and National Road as the west grew. The B&O Main Stem was built across the mountains and reached Wheeling with a continuous railroad from Baltimore in 1852. As the Civil War was ending, B&O acted on an unused charter in Pennsylvania to complete a route west from Cumberland to Pittsburgh in order to gain access to the rapid industrial development there. B&O would have to construct a second crossing of the Alleghenies to reach Pittsburgh. A prior survey completed by Chief Engineer Benjamin Latrobe determined the best route west from Cumberland into Pennsylvania and over the Allegheny Summit would follow the ascending path of Wills Creek to “a point called the Sand-Patch” where a summit tunnel was required. The route would then follow the descending path of the tributaries of the Monongahela River to Pittsburgh. A through route from Cumberland to Pittsburgh was completed in 1871 and on to Chicago by 1891. Although the summit altitude at Sand Patch (2258 feet) is lower than the summit of the original B&O Main Stem at Altamont Maryland (2628 feet) and the grades and curves are less severe, helper locomotives were required to lift westbound trains from Hyndman 20 miles to Sand Patch and eastbound from Yoder 7.5 miles to Sand Patch.
Today the CSX Keystone Subdivision via Sand Patch and Pittsburgh serves as a primary trunk line to the west while the original B&O Main Stem via Wheeling, the CSX Mountain Subdivision, is no longer a through route to Cincinnati and St. Louis. Tunnel and bridge clearances have been increased from Baltimore to Chicago to allow double stack intermodal equipment. CSX eliminated the use of manned helper locomotives over Sand Patch by using Locotrol Distributed Power from terminal to terminal where needed. Few artifacts of the old B&O remain. B&O used concrete markers to indicate state borders and both Allegheny summits. A marker still stands at Sand Patch and reads “Summit of Alleghenies 2 2 5 8”.
The whistle of gas fired switch heaters for the helper pocket and a gusting wind are the only sounds as evening twilight fades on a bitterly cold winter day at Sand Patch. A distant horn at a grade crossing in Myersdale is the first indication of CSX I116-17, an eastbound domestic double stack intermodal from Chicago to the intermodal terminal at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Eastbound trains are configured to make the ruling grade encountered in the last miles from Myersdale to the summit. Though the lead locomotive consist passes at full throttle, by the time the mid-train DPU passes and the center of the train is draped over the summit, the throttle call has dropped to idle. As the last loaded well cars behind the mid-train DPU pass the faint smell of brake shoes indicates a brake application that will be held for the descent to Hyndman.
CSX Sand Patch, PA
Summit of Alleghenies two two five eight.
In an era before American industrial development, Wheeling Virginia, now West Virginia, was selected as the most suitable western terminus of the new Baltimore and Ohio railroad because it offered the most favorable location to harness trade from the Ohio River and National Road as the west grew. The B&O Main Stem was built across the mountains and reached Wheeling with a continuous railroad from Baltimore in 1852. As the Civil War was ending, B&O acted on an unused charter in Pennsylvania to complete a route west from Cumberland to Pittsburgh in order to gain access to the rapid industrial development there. B&O would have to construct a second crossing of the Alleghenies to reach Pittsburgh. A prior survey completed by Chief Engineer Benjamin Latrobe determined the best route west from Cumberland into Pennsylvania and over the Allegheny Summit would follow the ascending path of Wills Creek to “a point called the Sand-Patch” where a summit tunnel was required. The route would then follow the descending path of the tributaries of the Monongahela River to Pittsburgh. A through route from Cumberland to Pittsburgh was completed in 1871 and on to Chicago by 1891. Although the summit altitude at Sand Patch (2258 feet) is lower than the summit of the original B&O Main Stem at Altamont Maryland (2628 feet) and the grades and curves are less severe, helper locomotives were required to lift westbound trains from Hyndman 20 miles to Sand Patch and eastbound from Yoder 7.5 miles to Sand Patch.
Today the CSX Keystone Subdivision via Sand Patch and Pittsburgh serves as a primary trunk line to the west while the original B&O Main Stem via Wheeling, the CSX Mountain Subdivision, is no longer a through route to Cincinnati and St. Louis. Tunnel and bridge clearances have been increased from Baltimore to Chicago to allow double stack intermodal equipment. CSX eliminated the use of manned helper locomotives over Sand Patch by using Locotrol Distributed Power from terminal to terminal where needed. Few artifacts of the old B&O remain. B&O used concrete markers to indicate state borders and both Allegheny summits. A marker still stands at Sand Patch and reads “Summit of Alleghenies 2 2 5 8”.
The whistle of gas fired switch heaters for the helper pocket and a gusting wind are the only sounds as evening twilight fades on a bitterly cold winter day at Sand Patch. A distant horn at a grade crossing in Myersdale is the first indication of CSX I116-17, an eastbound domestic double stack intermodal from Chicago to the intermodal terminal at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Eastbound trains are configured to make the ruling grade encountered in the last miles from Myersdale to the summit. Though the lead locomotive consist passes at full throttle, by the time the mid-train DPU passes and the center of the train is draped over the summit, the throttle call has dropped to idle. As the last loaded well cars behind the mid-train DPU pass the faint smell of brake shoes indicates a brake application that will be held for the descent to Hyndman.