The Allegheny Midland Historical Society

The Midland Road logo copyright MODEL RAILROADER Magazine and Kalmbach Publishing Co., used by permission.

Along the Midland Road

The Allegheny Midland is a bridge line connecting the Nickel Plate Road's Wheeling District in southeastern Ohio with the Virginian & Ohio just east of the West Virginia-Virginia state line. The famed NKP-P&WV-WM-RDG-CNJ Alpha Jets that rushed products from the Midwest to eastern markets are augmented by several Alphajet South trains between Dillonvale, O., and the V&O.

The AM main comprises two divisions. The Wheeling Division extends north from the division-point yard at Midland, W.Va., to the NKP at Pine Valley yard in Dillonvale. The Appalachia Division extends south to the V&O connection at Kingswood Jct., Va. Sunrise Yard, about seven miles north of Kingswood Jct., is the AM's main classification yard, although North Yard at Midland is being expanded in 1957 to relieve congestion at Sunrise.

The AM's Big Sandy Subdivision branches from the Wheeling Division and heads for Connellsville, Pa. This provides direct access to northeastern railroads as well as to the produce terminal in Pittsburgh and auto-parts makers in eastern Ohio (tires from Akron, for example). Perishables for the Northeast, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland come north over the V&O's Durham Sub to the V&O's main line, then up the AM. V&O-AM train 261, the "Florida Perishable," handles most of the northbound perishable traffic, and its flip-side, train 262 (the "Hotrod"), rushes auto parts to Atlanta.

There are no major cities along the AM's mountainous main line. Coal tipples dot the Appalachian Division and especially the Otter Creek and Coal Fork subdivisions that branch off the main line at Big Springs Jct., W.Va. Coal is the major source of on-line revenue for the AM, but overhead (bridge) traffic is becoming an increasingly important part of the revenue stream in tune with increasing influence from parent Nickel Plate Road on day-to-day operations.

The AM has trackage rights over the Western Maryland from Parsons to Hendricks, W.Va., and from Glady to Durbin Jct., also in the Mountain State. The WM switches the West Virginina Pulp and Paper mill at North Durbin, W.Va., but a lot of the traffic that originates there as well as inbound pulpwood and wood chips generate tons miles for the AM.

Other on-line industries include a brickyard at Lime Springs and a pulpwood yard at Slate Falls, both in Virgina. Interchange traffic with the shortline Ridgeley & Midland County at South Fork (near Midland) also generates considerable coal and merchandise traffic.

Route Map copyright MODEL RAILROADER Magazine and Kalmbach Publishing Co., used by permission.

Last modified: November 23 2007.

Keystone Crossings has served 4991033 pages since June 1, 1997.