According to its charter, it was to run from Cumberland, Maryland to the Pennsylvania line where it would connect with other branches of the Pennsylvania Railroad system and provide another outlet for Maryland's soft coal to the major industrial cities.
[1] The railroad had also been promoted by coal companies in the Georges creek valley in Maryland, principally the Maryland Coal Company and the American Coal Company [2] as well as the city of Cumberland, Maryland to provide "the benefit of a competitive road with the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, then its only outlet.
"[6] Three years later in 1876, the Cumberland interests formed the Pennsylvania railroad in Maryland to escape that control.
In January 1878, the railroad engaged John A Haydon to be its Chief Engineer[3] and started construction the next year in May 1879.
[2] The road commenced passenger service to Washington and New York on December 15, 1879.