B&O West End

[landnrailroader]

I noticed that the author has put the route in the unfinished section and someone else has tried to add enough information to provide activities. I'm quite familiar with this route since I am retired from CSX and a lot of engineering & signal work involved it. If anyone can provide track charts for it (didn't see any on the 'net) I can add to it the locations of signals and mileposts. As many may know, this is a part of the original line of the B&O. It has been abandoned west of Grafton, WV but a lot of coal still comes out of that area, and it might be possible to extend the route on to Parkersburg, WV if enough right of way is visible on Google Earth. It is not in my "bucket list" so I won't tamper with the terrtex files. That way, I would create another version of the incomplete route that would use the existing terrtex material.

J. H. Sullivan

[dgionet]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for taking on the completion of the route with signals and Mileposts. Among the data used to create and naming sidings, I have used the following attachment found online. Someone has also pointed me that the Rinard area should have been named Terra Alta, although both locations are only one mile apart according to the timetable provided here.

Hope this helps and thanks.
Denis

[CSXT Q-317]

Charts for this route are scarce on the net. I attempted to signal it but gave up due to lack of info on charts. Moved back to the Parkersburg Branch that I have been eying on doing. So that and figuring out what exactly to do with the Parkersburg to Cincinnati line I have that's been in the fire for years.

[landnrailroader]

Denis,
Others,

I had that item but it is just a piece of information found in the employee timetables. Oddly, there are lots of track charts available on the "Net" but no good ones of this line. I am retired now 22 years from CSX Signal Dept. and I don't know a soul there now but I have reached out to a newer retiree to see if he might have a contact. Crazy part is that I was one of the guys that set up the standards for doing track charts with CAD equipment ----- way back in 1982. I did find track charts of a sort which show the mileposts but as they are white lines on black background, .pdf files it might take a lot of ink to print them and each one covers less than 1 mile. I suspect that someone photographed a long strip chart a piece at a time as there are overlaps. These also do not show station numbers for the mileposts nor the actual distance between them (typically almost never 5280 feet). So I will keep plugging away to see what I can get.

Jerry Sullivan

[landnrailroader]

Denis,
Others,

Well luck was good. I have a friend that works for a local signal contractor and I have helped him out pro bono a few times, so I called in a chip today and he sent me the track chart I needed. I was also able to get the route on my PC but I will point out that ExpressZip which is free burps on the TerrTex zip file, so, having used WinZip for years I downloaded a trial version from CNET and it unzipped the files correctly. When my 21 day freebie is up, I'll pay the ticket and get rid of ExpressZip. My plan now is to create a marker file of mileposts, signals, etc. so that someone else can finish the route. I'll load it to the incompletes group with a name similar to the two already there. The guy that started the route has done a great job and in the period he worked, the line went on to the Monongah Division and extended to Parkersburg. Likely no material available on that one but it would be interesting. When I worked for the FRA I was on a test of that line back in 1979 or so and it seemed to be mostly underground - tunnels.

J. H. Sullivan

[spoony1999]

Thanks goes out to everyone trying to give this route a 2nd life. I have a lot of B&O/ Chessie and Sandpatch is about the only route I have to run them on

[landnrailroader]

I am creating the marker file and have ceased editing to take a sleep break but I have done around 30 miles working east from Grafton. The image is from Google Earth showing the mileposts. Since we have that list of siding names etc, I will key those in so they show up and then one or many of you can have at it, putting in the necessary goodies for making activities. I am exclusively using TSRE now except for making cuts & fills which is does much better than TSRE. Chris put several of the branches off of the BA line and any of those could be developed as a full connection.

J. H. Sullivan

[llanning08]

Extending the B&O West End route to Parkersburg WV will be a nice enhancement. The eastern end of track for the B&O West End route is in McKenzie MD. Both the B&O and Western Maryland tracks end about ten miles westbound from MLT's Sandpatch route. Could the West End route be extended to Cumberland MD? Also near McKenzie is where the B&O Patterson Creek Cutoff went east. Patterson Creek Cutoff was used by coal trains to bypass the Cumberland yard and was removed in the 1970s when the Chessie System took over the B&O. The WM Thomas Sub is modeled from about Hampshire WV to McKenzie MD on the B&O West End route.

[landnrailroader]

The Patterson Creek cutoff was also used by one of the fast passenger trains for a number of years. It has been many years since the line to Parkersburg, was abandoned but the track chart (.pdf file) I will include, actually starts right at Cumberland and I have another one, just a couple of sheets that is o f the Cumberland terminal. Signals are going to be a fright because this recent track chart does not show the signals. I set up the original charts which were done by CAD but several years ago the computer geeks thought they knew more than us professional railroaders and took over the task. Now a very minimal chart is done on a mainframe and just sent out as needed. For example a signal guy looking at these charts and seeing a symbol that is a circle with a "G" in it would think it was a grade signal -- NO IT IS A RAIL GREASER. However most of the current signals are visible in Google Earth and you can go back through several images if necessary since the current signals have been in place around 10 years. Signals at crossovers etc. are pretty standard. B&O color position light signals are very different from those on the N&W though so for the era that this route has been done in, modern signals may be out of place. There are also stretches of single track now, where it was all double track in the not so long ago. Last night I finished putting the things on the profile that were identifiable from the chart as well as several signals. Now I'll add the name list and then examine the route again hunting signals. Another oddity. You see a line across the track and it has the name of the road and the note that signals are "none". Then look on Google Earth and you find that it is actually a overhead bridge. Go Figure.

[eric]

That's where topographic maps come in really handy. I've been using mapper.acme.com for years as well as the national map put out by the US GIS. They aren't much help for signals but they are definitely help for sidings and where overhead Bridges might exist.

[CSXT Q-317]

Extending the B&O West End route to Parkersburg WV will be a nice enhancement. The eastern end of track for the B&O West End route is in McKenzie MD. Both the B&O and Western Maryland tracks end about ten miles westbound from MLT's Sandpatch route. Could the West End route be extended to Cumberland MD? Also near McKenzie is where the B&O Patterson Creek Cutoff went east. Patterson Creek Cutoff was used by coal trains to bypass the Cumberland yard and was removed in the 1970s when the Chessie System took over the B&O. The WM Thomas Sub is modeled from about Hampshire WV to McKenzie MD on the B&O West End route.

Is someone extending this great route to Parkersburg?

[landnrailroader]

M. Payne, Others,

As far as I know, nobody is working on extending the line to Parkersburg. Given the really good scenery & terrain done in the existing route I hope if anybody does, it is someone that can maintain the quality which I know I can't. The use of painted terrin textures has the drawback that there are huge numbers of them. I can probably come up with a track chart as far as Clarksburg but the line between there and Parkersburg has been history for 25 years or more. I do see where much of it can be traced from Google Earth and then just use "simmers license" to fix the gaps. The elevation data in GE leaves a bit to be desired but I have placed elevation markers and then measured between them to come up with gradient and it works fairly well. No track charts will be available for the abandoned line unless they are in the C&O or B&O historical group's archives.

About an hour ago I uploaded marker, and kml files for the existing route, and an extension east through Cumberland to Mexico Tower. I included track charts.

J. H. Sullivan

[CSXT Q-317]

M. Payne, Others,

As far as I know, nobody is working on extending the line to Parkersburg. Given the really good scenery & terrain done in the existing route I hope if anybody does, it is someone that can maintain the quality which I know I can't. The use of painted terrin textures has the drawback that there are huge numbers of them. I can probably come up with a track chart as far as Clarksburg but the line between there and Parkersburg has been history for 25 years or more. I do see where much of it can be traced from Google Earth and then just use "simmers license" to fix the gaps. The elevation data in GE leaves a bit to be desired but I have placed elevation markers and then measured between them to come up with gradient and it works fairly well. No track charts will be available for the abandoned line unless they are in the C&O or B&O historical group's archives.

About an hour ago I uploaded marker, and kml files for the existing route, and an extension east through Cumberland to Mexico Tower. I included track charts.

J. H. Sullivan

Thank you, I had recently started marking out the right of way for the Parkersburg to Grafton stretch on a separate one. I wouldn't class myself as an expert route builder by any means hence separate route.

[landnrailroader]

There are only a few members of our hobby that make both accurate and really good terrain. As a former track inspection manager for Southern Railway I demand accurate track and strive to make it but I am no artist.

[landnrailroader]

Friends,

I was able to get the track charts (Bridgeport Sub.) from Grafton to Clarksburg and so I will go ahead and digitize the track for the route, startiing at mile BA-290 or so in the Grafton Yard. That way anyone brave and skilled enough, i.e. more than I, can extend the existing route, (about 15 miles or less) or create a new one. I have feelers out to try to get charts on the abandoned line west of Clarksburg, but I believe I can digitize it good enough to use. The topo maps indicate 20 tunnels on the line but if memory still works, I believe some of those were daylighted in the early 1960s when the B&O was trying to improve clearances. My advice to anyone contemplating doing these missing parts, including myself, is to start from scratch and do Grafton to Parkersburg as a new route. Then just do the best you can on the terrain. I might look into doing the initial part of the route, using DEMEX on the basic terrain and layiing the tracks and then putting it in the unfinished section. I need to complete my education project for the FCTS before getting any deeper in this.

Jerry Sullivan