Eckhart Branch Railroad
The company built the railroad from Eckhart to Wills Creek, a length of 9 miles (14 km), along Braddock Run in 1846.
[1] 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 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.
A picture of a classic wreck scene, circa 1860, shows that bridge collapsed into Wills Creek, with the engine C.E.
The original Potomac Wharf Branch bridge was a 203-foot (62 m) deck plate girder structure, with two support pillars in the creek.
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.
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 passenger car was then hauled back up the mountain at the end of a string of empty coal hoppers.
During the Civil War, the rail line was most probably used to transport supplies and patients to the Military Hospital facility at Clarysville.
23) recounts that the transfer records in the Maryland State Archives (from MMC to CC&I) mention five engines.
The West Point Foundry had supplied the machinery to the Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company or the blast furnace at Lonaconing.
The engine Fire King, delivered 6/30/1851, came with a 4-wheel tender, holding 1½ tons of coal, and 900 gallons of water.
A frantic telegram on December 9, 1856, emphasizes the need for urgency for shipment of the replacement left-hand crosshead for the Eckhart.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
