Tracing the birth of the Great Allegheny Passage

On the morning of May 21, 1975, a train pulled out of the B&O Station in Pittsburgh. It was a small train with a locomotive and two cars filled with excited passengers. The engine was a bright yellow and blue Chessie System diesel electric #6600 with the famous "Sleeping Cat" logo on the front. The first passenger car was an older model with a metallic silver bottom and painted bands of red, white and blue from the windows to the roof. Above the windows was the name Western Maryland. The second car was a shiny silver and chrome Amtrak dome car.

The purpose of the train wasn't to get somewhere, but to enjoy the journey.

The train left Pittsburgh and followed the Monongahela River to McKeesport. There it turned into the Youghiogheny River valley on the tracks of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and headed up river. At Connellsville the little train transferred off the B&O onto another set of tracks. Here at the western end of the Western Maryland Railway the real reason for the ride began.

From the Bowest yards just outside of Connellsville, the little train slowly wove through the deep forests on the south side of the Youghiogheny River. There was no schedule to keep so the engineer took his time and let the passengers enjoy the white water, rock cliffs, and multihued spring greens of the Allegheny Mountains.

Just before Ohiopyle the train stopped. Passengers were allowed to get off and walk across the high bridge over the Youghiogheny. It was a chance to get pictures because this was a special little train. It was the last train carrying passengers to travel the tracks of the Western Maryland Railway.

As soon as everybody got to the other side of the bridge the engine and two cars slowly crossed.

At Ohiopyle the train detoured back onto the Baltimore & Ohio tracks because the low bridge at Ohiopyle was already missing a portion of its span. The bridge section was removed to allow truck traffic to more easily travel Route 381. In 1975 trucks were already more important than trains.

At Confluence the little train transferred back onto Western Maryland tracks and continued east. People were gathered along the tracks to wave, take pictures, and watch since this would be the last time such a train would pass this way.

The little train rolled through Harnedsville, Fort Hill, Markleton, Rockwood, Garrett, Meyersdale and Sand Patch. Finally the climb through the mountains was over. As the little train rolled through the coal black dark of the Big Savage Tunnel, it crossed under the eastern continental divide. Off of Allegheny Mountain and headed into the Appalachian Ridge and Valley lands, the little train passed through Frostburg and Cumberland to stop at Hancock, Md., where the trip ended.

It was the last stop for the little train that carried the last passengers on the Western Maryland Railway.

But it wasn't a trip of sadness. Just the opposite, it was a trip of excitement and new visions.

Months before the little train made its journey the Western Maryland Railway had petitioned the federal government to abandon its westernmost tracks. Railroad mergers during the 1960s and '70s lead to ownership of the Western Maryland by the B&O. That made having railroads on both sides of the Yough and Casselman Rivers obviously redundant.

Fortunately, the senior management of the Western Maryland realized that the route "through the Allegheny Mountains, not over them" was easy enough for multi-ton locomotives and it would be just as easy for two-wheeled humans to negotiate. The officers of the railway didn't want to just abandon the railway, they fervently wanted to make sure that this spectacular route would be opened to public enjoyment well after the sound of the engines subsided.

That vision was shared by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Joshua C. Whetzel was the president of the Conservancy at the time and he also recognized the potential for the path of the Western Maryland as a bicycle trail. With the help of the railway, the little train was arranged to carry local officials, charitable foundation officers, reporters, state officials, dignitaries and others to let them see firsthand the beauty of the river valleys and water gaps. And they did.

By the end of the ride to Hancock there was unanimous approval of the idea and the passengers were ready to ride back to Pittsburgh on bicycles.

However, in the time following the trip the reality of maintaining major bridges, answering numerous questions about land ownership of the right of way, deteriorating tunnels and other issues arose. Months after the little train rode through the mountains, the vision began to cloud.

By the end of 1975 the project was shortened to just 25 miles within Ohiopyle State Park. It took three years to sort out all the details and in May 1978 the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy purchased land from the Western Maryland Railway. Later that same year WPC transferred the right of way through Ohiopyle State Park to the state of Pennsylvania.

At Ohiopyle State Park, Superintendent Larry Adams hadn't forgotten the vision. He quietly began to build a bicycle trail once the tracks, ties and ballast were gone. The embryonic path was between Ohiopyle and Confluence through the spectacular Laurel Ridge Water Gap.

Once built, they came. A public becoming more and more interested in outdoor recreation and bicycle travel used the nine miles of trail and clamored for more. The High Bridge at Ohiopyle was fitted with boards instead of rails, and railings were added. The trail was extended first to Bruner Run, then in the 1990s to Connellsville.

In Somerset County a group of dedicated volunteers didn't forget. They kept the vision alive and negotiated for what remained of the Western Maryland Railway and, with state grants, County assistance, and foundation support, acquired pieces of land from Confluence to the State Line. They started building what was to be called the Allegheny Highlands Trail. It was first opened in the vicinity of Meyersdale, Garrett and Rockwood. Finally, in 2001, a first-class biking/hiking trail connected Meyersdale to Confluence, where it joined with the Ohiopyle State Park portion.

Other people and groups saw the popularity of these trails and started working to the north of Connellsville on an abandonment of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad. This trail continued to follow the Youghiogheny River and ended in McKeesport, taking the dream of a major recreational trail beyond what was first imagined. Efforts in Maryland joined those in Pennsylvania and the link to Frostburg and Cumberland was planned.

Although the corridor of the former Western Maryland Railway was now a high quality trail, each section was a local group effort. The Allegheny Trail Alliance was formed to be an umbrella group assisting the local groups, and helping coordinate funding and activities. The ATA recognized the need for a single name, and the Great Allegheny Passage came into being.

Under the leadership of the ATA the vision that stirred peoples' imagination and enthusiasm on that little train 30 years ago will soon be fulfilled and more. The last gaps in Somerset County are being filled, and very soon there will be a first class biking/hiking trail from McKeesport to Frostburg, Md. In the near future that trail will go even farther and link to Pittsburgh on the west and Cumberland on the east.

But just as the ride on the little train 30 years ago was more about the journey than about getting from place to place, the Great Allegheny Passage is more than a trail linking cities. In keeping with the vision, the trail is about stopping to listen and watch colorful songbirds along the Yough at Cedar Creek Park, or spending a long pause while a morning mist burns off and the sparkling water of the river appears at the Bruner Run Overlook.

It is breathtaking views up and down river from the high bridge at Ohiopyle, seeing a river otter in the Laurel Ridge gap near Confluence, or spring wildflowers on the slopes overlooking the Casselman River at Harnedsville. It is the wild solitude along the trail around Pinkerton Horn where you can quietly sit and listen to wind and water, or the history of the restored Opera House at Rockwood. It is also the grand view into the Ridge and Valley lands east of the Big Savage Tunnel and the long downhill ride from the Allegheny Mountains to the Potomac River.

To each of us, the Great Allegheny Passage is something extraordinary. I had the unique pleasure to ride on that little passenger train 30 years ago yesterday and today to ride again on the trail through a warm western Pennsylvania spring.

To all those people that had, and still keep the vision of 30 years ago, thank you.