In 1973, executives of the Western Maryland Railway (WMdRwy)faced a difficult decision. The company was part of the larger Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad and both railroads owned a corridor through the Allegheny Mountains of western Maryland and southwestern Pennsylvania. The two lines were redundant in an era when railroads were losing ground to trucking on interstate high ways. One line had to be abandoned.

The decision to abandon the Western Maryland was logical. The B&O had better facilities, more business, and the freight carried by the WMdRwy could easily be handled by the B&O’s rail capacity.

However, the WMdRwy corridor from Cumberland, Md. to Connellsville, Pa. was a uniquely spectacular path beside wild rivers, past towering ancient mountains, and wrapped in a mantle of verdant forests. The scenic and natural value of the land was obvious to the management of the Western Maryland.

The railroad executives had a vision. Their plan was to proceed with abandonment, but to do everything they could to keep the corridor intact and ultimately dedicated to public recreation. The executives searched for a single owner to hold the property. They first talked to several federal agencies with no success.

Finally, they found an individual and organization that shared their vision.

Joshua C. Whetzel Jr., then President of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, had walked the C&O Towpath, a similar scenic corridor, during his tenure with the Conservation Foundation in Washington, D.C. Josh recognized the value of long threads of green space as multipurpose trails and quickly embraced the idea of converting the Western Maryland corridor to a trail.

In October of 1973, Whezel, along with WPC Vice President John C. Oliver, met with Western Maryland executives in Cleveland. From the meeting, a plan for the preservation of the rail corridor from Cumberland, Md. to Connellsville, Pa. was born. In the following months, a multitude of details associated with such a complicated land transaction was the focus of the Conservancy staff. Whetzel led the intricate negotiations between the railway, the Conservancy and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with his usual foresight and thoroughness.

In February of 1975, the official abandonment proceedings were approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and the way was paved for a multipurpose trail from Cumberland to Connellsville.

Josh and John stepped up their efforts and the first major event to sell the idea of a long distance multipurpose trail through the Allegheny Mountains was planned—a special “last ride” on the Western Maryland line.

On a glorious spring day, May 21, 1975, state and local officials,  conservationists, and journalists gathered beside a two-car train in the WMdRwy Bowest Yards near Connellsville. The vision of a trail through the Allegheny Mountains was presented to an enthusiastic crowd. Once the presentation was completed, the group boarded the train and headed for Cumberland.

Along the way, the guests marveled at the wild splendor and remote, spectacular beauty of the wild waters of the Youghiogheny River. Just before crossing the High Bridge at Ohiopyle, the passengers were invited to walk across the bridge to witness the train as it made a last crossing.

The ride introduced decision makers to the scenic corridor and to the visionary idea to replace the rails with a long distance multipurpose trail that would provide new access to this remote region for hikers, bikers, naturalists, sportsmen and others with a love for the outdoors. The idea was widely applauded by the passengers, and one optimistic rider predicted to a New York Times reporter that the trail could be done in a year or two.

After the euphoria of the ride, the reality of actually building a trail began. The cost estimates of repairing and maintaining massive bridges and long tunnels for hikers and cyclists, as well as finding a suitable organization or agency home for the completed trail began to narrow the scope of the original plan. The WMdRwy took up the rails and the Department of Environmental Resources (DER), under the then Secretary, Maurice Goddard, agreed to improve the surface
of the trail between Ohiopyle and Confluence, to make it suitable for biking.

After long negotiations and an exhaustive search of many alternatives, the Conservancy was finally only able to purchase that portion of the corridor within Ohiopyle State Park. The remainder of the right-of-way in Somerset County and Maryland lay dormant and deteriorating. More negotiations followed and the Conservancy was able to purchase the section of the WmdRwy between Connellsville and Confluence for a very reasonable price.

Soon thereafter, Josh Whetzel left WPC to head the creation of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science Center. John Oliver became President of WPC. In November of 1978, John passed the deed for the Western Maryland project to the State of Pennsylvania.

All above photos by Paul g. Wiegman.