Bicycling

Last edited Mon Oct 21, 2013, 09:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Deal and the Mount Salvage Tunnel is the peak of the trail, for Deal it is all down hill either way you go. Thus if you plan it right, a trip on the trail can be all down hill.

If you do decide to go up hill, the grade is gradual, mostly less then 1% (i.e. 1 foot raise every 100 feet in length). East bound, the steepest grade is .8% as you climb Allegheny Mountain (The Eastern Continental Divide). It is steeper going west up the same mountain (Allegheny) but only 1.75% (and if you go on a weekend, you can take a steam locomotive 2/3rds of the way up. The train leaves at 11:30 am from Cumberland Maryland.

Trail Grade and Surface
The trail has a packed crushed limestone surface for a smooth ride. Built mainly on abandoned rail beds, the trail is nearly level with the average grade of less than 1%. The steepest eastbound grade - 0.8% - is from Harnedsville to Markleton and Garrett to Deal. The steepest westbound grade is from Cumberland to Deal at 1.75%. Near the Big Savage Tunnel, the trail crosses the Eastern Continental Divide. From that point going east, the trail drops 1,754 feet in 24 miles to reach Cumberland and, going west, it drops 1,664 feet in 126 miles to reach Pittsburgh.

http://www.atatrail.org/tmi/about.cfm#trailgrade

This rail line was built in 1912, so the coal mine barons of Pittsburgh could ship coal to Virginia and Maryland for export and by pass both the Pennsylvania Railroad line to Philadelphia and the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad to Maryland. It is a very gradual grade going East. The rail line was so successful that in the 1960s it purchased the B&O and moved its trains to those tracks and in the 1980s sold the 1912 track to the Rail to Trails group (The chief reason the railroad went with the B&O tracks it that the B&O tracks were already double and tripled tracked while the 1912 line was mostly single track and with diesels grade was less of a concern then it had been with Steam Locomotives).

The elevation in Cumberland is 625 feet, in Frostburg, Mount Salvage Tunnel is 2392 and the city of Frostburg is listed at 2070 feet above sea level, but the Station is at 1931 feet. When the Railroad ran, they ran two tracks in that area, one to Frostburg and the railroad station in Frostburg, and one bypassing Frostburg. The Great Allegheny Passage bike route uses the bypass of Frostburg and it bypasses Frostburg at an elevation of only

Cumberland to Frostburg is only 16 miles, but an increase in elevation of 1780 feet. Thus the Railroad saves you 16 miles in distance, but 1155 feet in elevation. You still have to climb 220 feet over the next 2.2 miles to get to Mount Salvage tunnel. You then climb another six miles in length and 393 feet elevation to reach the height of the trail in Deal Pennsylvania. The grade is 1.6-1.7% in that area. Total increase in elevation from Frostburg to Deal is thus 613 feet. I have biked it, it is NOT an easy grade.

The train saves you 1155 feet out of a total increase in elevation of 1757 feet, or 65% of the increase in elevation. Just shy of 2/3rds of the total increase in elevation.

The Western Maryland Railroad provides a scenic rail STEAM rail line in the summer months between Cumberland and Frostburg. The train runs Friday through Sunday May through December (it peak in October Tuesday through Sunday, for the fall foliage, Diesel run the rails except in the weekends:

http://www.wmsr.com/calendar

For our guests that enjoy biking, you may choose to take along your bike for a small fee and ride one way on the train and take advantage of the Allegheny Highland Bike Trail. Call for additional information and to place your reservations. - See more at:

The train goes from Cumberland:


Through the "Narrows" which it shares with two other rail lines:


Helmstetter’s Curve


Woodcock Hollow:


Till you get to Frostburg and its turntable: