B & O Queen City Station - Cumberland

   While I can't supply the technical information you want, as a kid I do recall going through the B&O station in Cumberland, when we visited family near there. I recall it was huge, with offices & possibly guest rooms for train crews. Sadly, It was taken down years ago in the interest of "progress": a jumble of expressways, ramps & intersections that wiped out much of the downtown area. Crazy!!!

My understanding is that Queen City included a fairly substantial hotel, and that appears consistent with the old photos I've seen of the overall structure.

The B&O Historical Society has a package on the Cumberland Station.

Go to:  http://www.borhs.org/Shopping/index.html

On the left side of the web site click on "Facilities".

Scroll down to item #79454

"BORHS Scans from the Archives Volume 4, Diagram Plans for Queen City Station, Cumberland, MD." This item is a combination of a booklet and a CD, each having the same title and contents, i.e, the booklet is a hard copy version of the digital images on the CD. Neither the booklet nor the CD is available individually. The diagrams are the result of years of work sorting and digitizing drawings held by the Archives of the B&O Railroad Historical Society. The contents of this product are 18 drawings and "A Case Study in Preservation" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation".

Package is $21.00.

When you are finished digesting this, you will know way too much!!!!

cheers, ray

Many thanks to Ray for introducing me to the B & O Historical Society merchandise site.   My suggestion to anyone interested in emulating prototype operations and/or facilities - even if you're not a B & O fan - is:  take time to review it - the resources are fascinating.

--Bill

Queen City? Never heard of it.

As far as downtown is concerned, it was and always be a "Professional" physics problem due to the Big WALL built at the bottom to keep rigs from flying off and smashing into the city. Bottom of Big Savage if memory serves.

Was there a Brewery or something there at one time?

Yep. It was the "Queen City Brewery"  The beers I remember were Old German and Old Dutch.

http://www.beercollections.com...een_City_Brewing.htm

Wish I had the dimensions for you, but I don't.  Here's some photos I took of the station when I was up there 2 years ago.  I don't think anything has changed.  Thought maybe you could use them for your detail.

If these are of any help, I have some more from different angles.

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for taking the time to post your really beautiful photos from Cumberland - excellent job of handling light and shadow and the station looks great. 

Perhaps my original request was less clear than should have been:  I'm looking for platform specifications - and photos - from the former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station which was actually demolished in - I believe - the 1970s.   Your photos are of the former Western Maryland station which now serves in part as National Park headquarters for the Chesapeake & Ohio/Potomac River Canal Towpath between Cumberland and Washington, DC.

I was there a few years ago when my wife and I bicycled from Pittsburgh to D.C. on the combined Great Allegheny Passage (mostly former W & M right-of-way between Connellsville and Cumberland) and the C & O Canal Towpath.

This station, too, is a gem, and worth viewing by anyone in the Cumberland area.  Thanks again for your thoughtfulness.

Bill 

Hi Bill -

Yes, I did misunderstand you.  Sorry.  Thanks for clearing it up and replying.

Mike

Y

You might still want to contact the B&O RR HS. I'm a member, and there's bound to be someone there who can supply you with the info you're looking for. Heck someone there probably knows how many nails were used.