CSX 9010 East exits Graham Tunnel and crosses the Potomac River as it passes from West Virginia into Maryland through the tunnel and then back into West Virginia at Magnolia, as described by the path of the Potomac River. The lead locomotive is passing over a point where the original B&O mainline once paralleled the river. The circuitous nature of the route by the twisting Potomac justified the construction of the Magnolia Cutoff, opened in 1914 at a cost of six million dollars. Four tunnels enabled the elimination of 877 degrees of curvature and an eastbound helper grade - an investment paying dividends to this day. The original mainline wound around Tunnel Hill and passed beneath the tangent of the cutoff at the other side of Graham tunnel.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
