GAP = Great Allegheny Passage
"Built 1912, Abandoned 1975. Converted for pedestrian use 1998." [BridgeHunter]
The trail head is at the former WM depot in Meyersdale.
East of here along this trail is the 1871 Bollman Bridge and the Keystone Viaduct.
"Significance: This viaduct across the Casselman River Valley was on the Western Maryland Railway's Connellsville Subdivision, which ran from Cumberland, Maryland, to Connellsville, Pennsylvania. The 1.900- foot-long structure is one of the Western Maryland Railway's longest viaducts." [HAER-data, this web page includes a history of the Western Maryland Railroad.]
Note that the trestle was built to accommodate a second track.
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| HAER PA,56-MEYER.V,1--1 GENERAL VIEW OF VIADUCT LOOKING NORTHWEST - Salisbury Junction Viaduct, Spanning Casselman River, State Route 219 & T381, Meyersdale, Somerset County, PA |
The taller towers are on the left were it crosses the river.
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| Street View |
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| Street View, Aug 2022, looking East |
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| Ca. 1914 via HistoricBridges |
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| RailsToTrails via BridgeHunter, Photo by Milo Bateman |
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| paulfeighner Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) |
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| Bryan Monaco posted The Salisbury Viaduct, near Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, as seen from my roomette on the Capital Limited (10-5-24). The Western Maryland built it 1912 and it went out of service in 1975. |
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| Aaron Holochwost, Jul 2018 |
The CSX/B&O route under the viaduct is still active.
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| Worldwide Railfan Productions posted CSX passes under the Salisbury Viaduct |
Unlike some viaducts, the depth of the girders over the towers is as deep as the girders between the towers.
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| Street View, Sep 2019 |
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| Jackson-Township historical preservation posted B & O (Baltimore & Ohio) train near the community of Meyersdale, Somerset County in 1976. Larry Whyte: There's the Salisbury Viaduct of the Western Maryland Railroad in the background. Today that viaduct carries the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail across the valley of the Casselman River. Bob Bevec: A couple years ago while visiting friends in Meyersdale, we did an evening walk along the Great Allegheny passage, which the bridge in the background is part of. Formerly part of the railroad, it's now an exceptional part of the trail. Unfortunately, I got about 200 feet onto the bridge and had to turn around. Didn't realize I wasn't made for heights in an open atmosphere until then. But it's still a very neat part of the trail. There's also a very old, very small, unkept cemetery just before this bridge. Found a grave there with the name Meyers. Wondered if it maybe was the founder. - or relativ - of the borough. Patrick Daerr: Bob Bevec I think it was the graves for the workers that died building that bridge a crane toppled over the bridge during construction. Loren Pyle shared Jeffrey Sessa: ESSO, 4-16-1976. Photo by Max Robin. |
Dean Kurowski posted three photos with the comment: "Former Western Maryland viaduct north of Meyersdale, PA. Over hwy US219 and the former B&O or current CSX."
Scott Krocker: The Salisbury Viaduct. I biked over it a few years ago.
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Larry Chinofsky posted three photos with the comment: "The Salisbury Viaduct - West Meyersdale, PA. https://www.abandonedrails.com/salisbury-viaduct."
Jesse Fariello: Really cool shots. While it sucks the bridge is no longer in use, it looks like they is still some kind of active rail line due to the train in the last picture underneath the bridge.
Kent Miller: Jesse Fariello Bridge is heavily used over a million people use the Great Allegheny Passage Trail runs from Pittsburgh to DC. Over 20 years ago last train ran over it. Sure I hate seeing such a well built line abandoned but consider this. The only reason rail line was built was to give Jay Gould a transcontinental railroad. Even if Norfolk and Western could have gotten the line in 1964 they would have never kept after getting a parallel double track line 50 miles to the north in conrail split. There is no online traffic. The last traffic close to Meyersdale was a coal mine shut down by 2000s. Wheeling and Lake Erie would not have bought the line to run 1 or 2 trains a day over it especially since they have trackage rights over parallel B&O. I am glad it is a easy trail to hike and it wasn't divided up into a number of different private properties. Now we all can still enjoy the scenery of Pennsylvania and Maryland never could before the trail
Jesse Fariello: Kent Miller Sorry. I should have said it’s no longer in use for rail traffic.
Kent Miller: Jesse Fariello Bridge was used close to 2000 before coal mine shut down. I still remember active track in Meyersdale. I believe they had a track a few miles east of Meyersdale that connected to the B&O I know tracks were still there in 1998 because I was naughty and walked halfway across the Salisbury Viaduct(this is it's name given to it) I hope you noticed the Viaduct was constructed for a future double track. Traffic never materialized enough for double track. Too bad. If it did CSX would have abandoned the parallel B&O line. I biked this 2 years ago from Connellsville to Cumberland. I could not believe how straight the line was. Not many curves unlike the parallel B&O which is curvy and steeper grades.
Tim Shanahan shared
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