Lurgan Subdivision

Here you will find information and facts relating to the Lurgan Subdivision as well as links to various websites and a photo gallery.

The Lurgan Subdivision spans from Chambersburg, Pa, South to Hagerstown, Md and West to Cherry Run, WV in the process. Formerly the Western Maryland Railway (WM) line. The line is named after its former northern end in Lurgan Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where the Western Maryland once connected to the Reading Company along the Alphabet Route.

HISTORY:
The Western Maryland Railway, which had a main line from Baltimore, Maryland to Williamsport, Maryland made its first expansion into Pennsylvania in 1881. The Western Maryland leased a line from the Baltimore and Cumberland Valley Rail Road and the Baltimore & Cumberland Valley Rail Road Extension Company connecting Edgemont, Maryland to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. In 1886 the line was connected in Shippensburg to the Harrisburg and Potomac Railroad which was absorbed into the Reading system in 1891.

In 1899 the Western Maryland shortened the route between Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and Hagerstown, Maryland with the construction of the Altenwald Cutoff. This shortcut between Hagerstown, Maryland and Quinsonia, Pennsylvania reduced the steep grade for heavy coal trains as well as the overall distance on the branch. A portion of the cutoff was double tracked which also improved the line’s efficiency. The remaining line between Quinsonia, Pennsylvania and Edgemont, Maryland continued to operate with a lower level of traffic. The section between Waynesboro, Pennsylvania and Edgemont, Maryland was removed in the late 1950s.

In the late 1920s the Reading built a new connection to the Western Maryland at Lurgan.

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