Bill Foster and I left Morgantown around 8:30 and headed over to Frostburg. The plan was to bike the Great Allegheny Passage Rail-Trail to Myersdale via the newly opened Big Savage Tunnel, have lunch and then return to the north Portal of the tunnel for the opening ceremony.
This shot of the trail head in Frostburg, MD was taken part way up the switch back connector which goes up to the downtown area.
Overview of the trailhead at Frostburg. The road is Rt 36 and is the steep hill which is avoided by using the switchback connector trail.
Photo: Bill Foster
"Borden Tunnel is 2.5 miles west of Frostburg. The tunnel was bored for two tracks and has a length of 957.5 ft. It was reported to be in very good shape today and known to drain very well. It will soon be part of the Allegheny Highlands Trail.
After the 1975 abandoment the track was left in all the way up west of the tunnel. It was left to serve a small coal strip mine here. When looking at a topographic map of the area, it is dotted with strip mines. A fella drove along the right-of-way west up to Deal some time ago. He spotted a truck scale and a Chessie System C&O coal car in the area. He wrote that trucks would haul coal from the mines and load the railcars. After the railroad stopped serving the mines, coal was still hauled out by truck for some time."
This helipad is at the top of the grade, just before the entrance of the Big Savage Tunnel.
I spotted several of these Pink Lady's Slippers ( Cypripedium acaule ) along the trail. Bill scrambled up the bank and found about 40 more plants in bloom.
Photo below: Bill Foster
Detail: the south Portal of the Big Savage Tunell. The tunnel has a slight curve in it. This is why the lights seem to veer to the left.
Photo: Bill Foster
"Big Savage Tunnel is WM's 2nd. longest tunnel with a length of 3,294.6ft. Indigo Tunnel, east of Little Orleans is WM's longest at 4,350ft. Big Savage Tunnel is 2 miles east of the summit of the Alleghenies at Deal. It was the only tunnel on the Connellsville Sub that was not bored for double track, as were Brush, Borden, and Pinkerton Tunnels.
A friend who used to drive the WM after abaondoment told me two stories about Big Savage Tunnel. The first being driving west in the tunnel on the ballast just after the rails and crossties were pulled. All of a sudden here drove up on crossties and nearly lost control, then he hit rail that was left in place. He had to back out of the tunnel. The second time he was doing the same thing much later after the crossties and rail were gone. He met another fella driving east in the tunnel. He was not as far in as the other guy and had to back out of the tunnel and let the guy pass. After continuing thru the tunnel he drove out the west end to find a farmer standing on the right-of-way with a shotgun. The farmer told him to get off his land, that he was not allowed here. The farmer must have been making moonshine or something similar.
Big Savage Tunnel was recently rebuilt with an intirely new waterproof lining and lighting system. It will become part of the Allegheny Highlands Trail that will run from Pittsburgh to Cumberland. This trail is also known as the Great Allegheny Passage."
We stopped to check out this Wood Turtle which was crossing the trail.
Photo: Bill Foster
We got a first hand look at these bird and bat bashers used to generate even more cheap power than we have already.
Just beyond the Keystone viaduct and nearly into Meyersdale is this rather interesting detour around the Scratch Hill Road trestle, which is currently closed.
Photo: Bill Foster
We heard the trilling of American Toads in several places along the trail. On the way back we stopped and were lucky to see one in one of the watered ditches.
When we got back to the Big Savage Tunnel the dedication was in full swing and there was much patting of backs and congratulatory oratory.
Rain had been threatening all day and we finally got it. There was a steady down pour the entire way back to the car.