Through a lease, the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad has acquired the dormant railroad line in southwestern Allegany County, the Georges Creek Railway. It will re-brand the line as the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, Georges Greek Division.
Western Maryland Scenic has signed a long-term lease with Georges Creek owner Eighteen Thirty Group PPC. The lease will allow WMSR to diversify and expand its future. Operating as the Georges Creek Division, the WMSR intends to pursue various revenue streams, including passenger and potential freight opportunities. Over the last three years, the Scenic has doubled the number of visitors served on their current excursion line between Cumberland and Frostburg. The Georges Creek Division will structure itself as a separate business managed by WMSR. The WMSR seeks to emulate the short-line railroad success stories of the Tennessee Valley, Everett, and the Naugatuck Railroads, to name a few.
Executive Director Wesley Heinz says this is the realization of two years of discussions with the Eighteen Thirty Group to secure the potential of the railroad line along the Georges Green. Heinz shared that CSX and various vendors have occasionally approached the Scenic to provide limited freight service better suited to a detail oriented shortline railroad than a large Class Ones such as CSX.
The Eighteen Thirty Group LLC and Georges Creek LLC purchased the railroad line in 2006 out of bankruptcy, intending to maintain the accessibility and potential viability of the historic rail line. Providing freight traffic and switching services for the former Verso Paper Mill in Luke, Md., the railroad ceased operation in 2018 when the mill closed. Since 2021 the WMSR presented multiple concepts to sustain the potential held in the rail line.
-via Press Release
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