Conrail train #WHHA-95 served the southern end of the Winchester Secondary Track between Williamsport Maryland and Winchester Virginia with Monday - Wednesday - Friday service working out of Shomo Yard from April 1,1976 until November 30, 1986. Penn Central had offered six day a week service but operations and the customer base had slipped over the years. Initially under Conrail, the service ran after dark, with the motive power used for other duties during daylight. By November 1981 operations had stabilized so that the trains returned to daylight. Conrail filed to abandon the line on October 31, 1985 as part of its plan to climb out of bankruptcy. (A return to solvency meant the road who again be liable for property taxes.) As stated above, operation of the Winchester Secondary Track was based out of Shomo Yard. Shomo was a joint CR/NS facility located at Vardo Maryland on the southern end of the City of Hagerstown. On the Conrail lines north of Williamsport MD, around Hagerstown, customers received cars five days a week. But on three special days the rail service extended southward to the end of the track in Winchester VA. The train, officially known as WHHA-95 began the journey by leaving the north end of the yard on the Brickyard track and swinging to the west on the Runner Track. The Runner curved around to form the southern leg of the Wye track at the old PRR/Penn Central engine facility. Southward past a forgotten Pennsy position signal and through the Maryland countryside the trip continues. Downgrade we go picking up speed and soon we are sailing high over the Potomac River. You are now on the "south end". Watch out... soon the good rail putdown in the 1960s will run out and our trainwill reduce speed to 10 m.p.h... the afternoon sun shines in our eyes so we will turn our locomotive to long hood first to shade the engineer's view of the tracks... and don't get in any trouble as it is a long way to the nearest help.
All photographs this site COPYRIGHT : Mason Y. Cooper
WORKING AT MARTINSBURG ... WITH CONRAIL TRAIN #95 ...
Photos (clockwise from the upper left): - This snow covered afternoon finds the "95" with its train back together and ready to depart. The crew works quickly in the cold. A raw wind is blowing out of the west and the crew has the cab buttoned tight today, yet they know me well enough to question my sanity by being out today as the diesel goes by. - The 8243 is arriving at CV Junction with two cars the set off and several to pick up. The pickup will be sorted out with the cars routed north left for the return leg. - GP38-2 8240 spots an empty for pickup by CSXT. The boxcar had gone north with Kelly-Springfield tires and is returning to Cumberland for another load. - The #95 prepared to set off a carload of fur at the Sunbeam Bakery. - Engineer Mark McCollum enjoys some air as the train passes the former Cumberland Valley station in Martinsburg. Sold off prior to Conrail assuming operation the structure housed a used clothing store at this date. - While Jimmy walks to the far end of the loads, conductor Ernie Phillips prepares to make a cut as the crew sets out northbound cars that will be picked up on the return trip.
WORKING AT INWOOD ... WITH CONRAIL TRAIN #95 ...
Photos (clockwise from the upper left): Although nothing like is was during Penn Central times, Corning Glass located north of Inwood was still as important shipper. The outbound loads now went by truck but the plant still received inbound silica in big black CP covered hoppers. - A scenic highlight of the line was the "Darkesville Viaduct" one of two Pennsy style cut stone arches on the line. This one had been re-enforced with steel L-girders in the 1960's. - The 8109 approaches the road crossing serving the interchangefor I-81, which parallels the line. In addition to providing easy access for truckers the Interstate cost the railroad a shipper here as it was necessary to cut off a side track to construct this access road. - For awhile they thought they had won back at shipper. The crew works Knouse Foods at Inwood which coould load three cars at a time. It turned out tractor-trailer lengths had increased and had outgrown the plant scales. As soon as bigger scales were installed, Knouse went right back to trucks. - On another day the crew hurries by Knouse Foods with cars for the south end - GP38 8034 approaches te inwood Block Limit marker at the old station site on a snow covered afternoon.
BUNKER HILL ... PASSING THRU... HEADING SOUTH
Photos (clockwise from the left): The 8124 rolls down hill over the Bunker Hill viaduct approaching the old station site. Totally closed in when this picture was taken, today this bridge is wide open as photograghs are easy to take...If only the railroad was the same... - The 8123 approached the station site from the opposite direction. If you can barely see the rails of the former siding which served the Pet Dairy Products plant during PRR days. - The 7860 is climbing the hill away from Bunker Hill as it about to cross Rt.11. This is the same road way taken by General Lee's Confederate Army as they retreated from Gettysburg. - The 8073 squeezes by the brush encroaching on the viaduct. - The 7860 crosses the viaduct in a telephoto shot taken from nearly the same spot. - The 8129 rolls northward into Bunker Hill returning northward. Most of the GP38-2 power used on the Winchester Secondary had been financed by EMD. Upon expiration of the lease, GM recalled the units for their fleet of lease locmotives. Look carefully at the power, for not only is the carrier and crews retired, but also the motive power.
CLEARBROOK ... OUT OF THE CAB ... THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE ...
Photos (clockwise from the upper left): Constructed at a relatively late date the Winchester Secondary was mostly a straight line. The 8042 slows as it works through one of the rare curves, near the Freyco switch. - Jimmy looks down from cab of the 8123 at the Freyco switch. Jimmy was quite the practical joker so we will be on our toes as the locomotive passes. - The sharpest curve on the line was on the spur leading into the Freyco quarry. It was so sharp that for years it was believed the GE U-boats couldn't negotiate it. Hence a steady diet of GP38s served as power on the line - GP38AC 7657, the former Lehigh Valley 311, works south through Clearbrook VA. You can't tell by this photograph but the end is still Cornell Red - GP38 7860 heads the "95" southward through beautiful downtown Clearbrook.
ARRIVING AT WINCHESTER ... ON CONRAIL TRAIN #95 ...
Photos (clockwise from the upper left): - Engineer "Granny" Greenwalt brings the 8109 south near the I-81 bridge on the north side of Winchester. - With the I-81 bridge in the background the 8054 works the "95" south into Winchesteron a rainy afternoon. - Jimmy rides a cut of cars as the 8236 shoves southward to the CSXT interchange at CV Connection. - Jimmy and Ernie look down from the 7850. The locomotive was retired shortly after this photograph was made. - A down on broadside of the clean GP38 7983 contrasts against the clutter background of the Simbeck Trucking repair facility. - GP38 8057 makes a brake test before near CV Connection before departing northward.
WORKING CROWN ... BIGGEST SHIPPER IN TOWN ...
Photos (clockwise from the upper left): - A series of cabooses served Winchester Secondary trains with the final model being this transfer cabin. It holdsthe main line as the crew works a car into Crown Cork & Seal. - The 7990 wearing a test paint, pauses under Rt.37 at the Crown switch. Conductor Ernie Phillips observes the move as the 7857 sorts out cars on te Crown tracks. - We look down from the Rt.37 bridge as Jimmy handles the Crown switch. - GP38 8077 shoves a load of aluminum, soon to be made into beer cans, into Crown. The load arrived at the port of Mobile with NS getting the load haul to Hagerstown. Still, Conrail is needed to complete the move. - Former Penn-Reading Shoreline GP38, now the Conrail 7674 shoves a cut of cars into Crown Cork & Seal.
CONRAIL ... AT END OF TRACK ...
Photos (clockwise from the upper left): - The 7990 pauses at Commerical Street, the official end of the Winchester Secondary. This is point the line broke down into a series of "running tracks" to serve local sidings. - Using a CSXT boxcar as an idler car the 7990 treads lightly on the Wyck Running Track to reach a reefer spotted at Winchester Cold Storage. - GP38-2 8129 passes National Fruit as it spots a car load of rice hulls on the Shenandoah Apple Products siding. Rice hulls are used to thicken apple sauce produced at the plant. - Fellow railfan Bob Zimmeran and eonductor Ernie Phillips postulate solutions to the problem at hand. The 8179 has derailed at the north switch of the runaround siding on the Fairmont Running Track. Not to worry, by using a few crossties engineer Ned Kelso soon has te GP38-2 back on the rail. - The 8189 crosses U.S. Rt.50 at Amherst Street on the Fairmont Running Track with a load for Southern States.This was the southernmost customer on the line. - Conrail train #WHHA-95 works northward in the distance on the Fairmont Running track. It is begining the return trip northward to Hagerstown, as we bid good-bye to the Winchester Secondary Track.
GOOD-BYE BIG BLUE