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Satellite, Green St. on the east side is on the former B&O right-of-way.)
Abandoned by Sherman Cahal
posted three photos with the comment:
The Martin Tunnel is mostly sealed, though a small opening has been knocked through the cinder-blocked portal, allowing a limited view inside.
The tunnel was part of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s Fairmont Subdivision in West Virginia, a line completed around 1851. For more than a century, the route served the region’s timber, oil, gas, and coal interests, but those industries gradually declined through the 20th century. Timbering had largely faded by the end of the 19th century, while oil and natural gas production began to diminish by the 1940s. Through traffic ended in 1956, and the Fairmont Subdivision was abandoned in 1972.
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lstraubb
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| 1960/62 Littleton Quad @ 24,000 |
B&O Old Main
The Martin tunnel was on the B&O Fairmont Subdivision, which went from Cumberland to Wheeling through today's West Virginia. The tunnel is between Cameron and Mannington on this map.
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), incorporated in Maryland in 1827 and Virginia in 1826, was the first railroad in the United States chartered for commercial transportation of freight and passengers. Its goal was to connect Baltimore, Maryland, with the Ohio River at Wheeling, Virginia. An early alignment was proposed from Baltimore through Pennsylvania to Wheeling, but political opposition forced the railroad to route the line through western Virginia instead.
Construction of the B&O main line began in Baltimore on July 4, 1828. By January 1830, trains were operating between Mount Clare and Pratt Street in Baltimore. The railroad soon extended westward: an additional 13 miles were completed to Ellicott’s Mills later in 1830, a branch reached Frederick in 1831, the main line arrived at Harpers Ferry in December 1834, and it reached Cumberland, Maryland, on November 5, 1842. Expansion then paused while the B&O upgraded portions of its hastily constructed track. Early sections used iron strap rails fastened to wooden beams; when these straps loosened or broke, they could penetrate the floors of wooden railcars, seriously injuring passengers. The later adoption of solid iron “T” rail eliminated this hazard.
Construction west of Cumberland resumed in late 1848 as the B&O pushed toward the Ohio River. The line crossed the Allegheny Mountains through Grafton and Fairmont, Virginia, before turning northwest toward Wheeling. The final spike was driven at Roseby’s Rock, seven miles east of Moundsville, on December 24, 1852. Completion of the route required 113 bridges and 11 tunnels, including the 4,100-foot Tunnelton Tunnel, which at the time was the longest railroad tunnel in the world. Major structures also included large iron bridges at the Cheat River and Tray Run.
The first train reached Wheeling on January 1, 1853. A formal celebration followed on January 12, when approximately 400 passengers—including the governors of Maryland and Virginia, members of both legislatures, and other officials—traveled the completed line.
Today, CSX uses the originally desired route through Pennsylvania.
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