Sad news for those who model the Western Maryland

[DeltaBravo]

Looks like the Verso paper mill in Luke is going to close Western Maryland paper mill to close, impacting 675 workers https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2019/04/30/western-maryland-paper-mill-to-close-impacting-675.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=article_du&ed=2019-04-30&u=yGOE2LeZWovJq9txV0FcRdL81p4&t=1556652857&j=88119151


I wonder what happens to the Georges Creek Railroad, which has been running pulpwood trains into the mill??

[wm3798]

If they ever stop burning coal at Mt. Storm, everything west of Cumberland will be pretty much kaput.
Since CSX already gutted Cumberland shops and yard, WMSR will be lucky to have a connection to the outside world in a few years.

From an environmental standpoint, it's not terrible news, and the 675 that will be laid off is really just a ghost of the thousands who once worked there.  But still, Western Maryland's economy has suffered a lot of gut punches over the past few decades.  Tourism and second homes just haven't made the impact that's been possible in West Virginia, which at least has decent skiing in the winter, and Virginia, which is just awash in cash.

Maryland has to figure out a way to be more hospitable to start ups and high tech manufacturing if it will ever breathe life into communities like Cumberland, or it's big brother Baltimore for that matter...  I just spent a lot of time in North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and even Ohio.  It was odd for me to see old industrial buildings in all of them that didn't have to windows broken out, and with business being transacted inside.  Without getting overtly political, and recognizing that there's a complex tapestry of issues in play, there's still some reason companies choose to close their Maryland facilities and keep them going elsewhere. 

Better go take pictures of those rail lines now.  They're going to be really quiet in another month or two.
Lee

[DeltaBravo]

One has to wonder what will happen to the WM units Georges Creek Railroad owns. It appears their only real customer was the Paper Mill. 

[wm3798]

I don't think we'll have to wonder long...  Gerald is going to have sell them, or find somewhere else to play trains.  The WMRHS can't afford them, I've heard he's not on particularly friendly terms with the WMSR, and after what's been the fate of the other WM equipment at the B&O Museum, I don't think anyone wants them to go there. 
The GP9s are going to be the toughest sell.  39 has been restored mechanically, I believe, but still needs a paint job, and 25 is the oldest of his collection.  It might find a home on a short line or a tourist operation.  I know Gerald is particularly attached to that one.
The SD40, if demonstrably in functioning order might be able to be leased, but I don't know how compatible it might be with modern power.  It was retired fairly recently, but I'm not familiar enough with any upgrades that may have been made to it by CSX over the years.  The SD35 is going to be an odd duck no matter what, there must have been a reason they disappeared by the late 80s.
I guess the best Gerald can hope for is if CSX decides to bail on the Mountain Sub altogether, and he can pick up  the coal traffic to Mt. Storm and whatever other dribs and drabs might remain from other shippers, if any. And that will only last as long as coal fired electricity does, which I'm certain is not infinite.
There's always the fantasy of operating a tourist line, but the state is already heavily subsidizing the WMSR, and the WVa funded Cass and the lines out of Elkins aren't very far away.
I expect we'll have some more rail trails sooner rather than later, and those beautiful black locomotives will end up in Genessee and Western orange somewhere.
 

[CRL]

Look on the bright side... If it folds, it will solidify your latest possible date in the timeline for your modeling efforts. No more changes to mess with your prototype research.

[sirenwerks]

Cumberland gave itself a bit of a jumpstart when it created its arts district (at least some of my work paid off when I was involved in the arts, when I was back in Baltimore). If the woman who was behind it 8 to 10 years ago, when I last visited, is still spearheading it. She seemed to have her act together, but she needs to get out and actively recruit more artists into the area. Cumberland could revive as a hot tourist destination. There's good building stock downtown for artists/galleries/shops/restaurants and housing is cheap in the surrounding area (and bound to slump even more now). It's close enough to Baltimore and DC and Philly for an established or communication-savvy artist to deal with the distance. And now that Ellicott City's regularly underwater, those shop/restaurant owners and tourists need a new place to go to (unless they're rebuilding it on stilts).

[OldEastRR]

Wondering why this isn't in the "Prototype RRs" forum.

[wm3798]

Arts, tourism and entertainment thrive amidst a more vibrant and diverse economy.  Cumberland and the surrounding area lack that unfortunately.  Without corporate patrons like Verso, CSX, or the long departed PPG Glass and Kelly Springfield, there are few resources, save for public subsidies, to underpin the more frothy aspects of civic life.
A short distance away, in Thomas, WV, a town left for dead when the rails were pulled in 1987, the arts are doing well because a short distance away is the Canaan Valley with its ski lodges, Davis and Elkins University, and the gradually developing rail trail through Blackwater Canyon.  Cheap real estate and a funky environment, along with state subsidies, are helping.  It also helps that Thomas is tiny in comparison to Cumberland, so it lacks some of the more desperate urban problems.
Years ago the wags in Annapolis determined that Rocky Gap State Park should be developed as a gaming mecca, which over the decades has proven to be a resounding failure.  The GAP trail is probably the area's greatest strength in terms of tourism, but it needs more businesses serving hikers and bikers to beget more businesses to generate the critical mass needed to form the basis of tourism/arts community.
If anything is a ray of hope, Annapolis has passed some bills that loosen the grip on the craft brewing industry, which has demonstrably breathed life into numerous post-industrial communities by both attracting beer tourists as well as good paying production jobs.  Manufacturing does still exist, my friend Paul Hutter is a Cumberpatch lifer, and he works at the Hunter Douglas plant (in the old PPG works) customizing and shipping window treatments all over the region.  But most of these types of operations rely heavily on tax abatements, and you can usually set your watch by the duration of the subsidy and the day the plant closes.
Geography, though, is probably Cumberland's chief challenge.  It's too far away from Washington to take advantage of the "blast zone" that sends waves of vinyl siding (and money) into the hinterlands as far as Winchester, Martinsburg and even into southern PA.  But it's just not on the way to anywhere except possibly Morgantown or Deep Creek Lake, which both have their own fragile centers of gravity to worry about.
It's going to be difficult to watch this fourth tire of the WM economy lose its air...

Lee

[DeltaBravo]

Lee,
 To your point Oakland is not doing all that well either, but at least the county has Deep Creek Lake and the Ski season at Wisp to bring in outside revenue.

[Point353]

Geography, though, is probably Cumberland's chief challenge.  It's too far away from Washington to take advantage of the "blast zone" that sends waves of vinyl siding (and money) into the hinterlands as far as Winchester, Martinsburg and even into southern PA.  But it's just not on the way to anywhere except possibly Morgantown or Deep Creek Lake, which both have their own fragile centers of gravity to worry about.

There are those who commute to New York City from the Scranton PA area, which is comparable in distance/travel time to that between Cumberland and Washington DC.
While it doesn't appear that train service along that line could be competitive time-wise, has there been any effort made to establish express bus service between Cumberland and DC?  Such service could also run to/from the MARC or Metro stations in Rockville, instead of going all the way into DC.

[Philip H]

There are those who commute to New York City from the Scranton PA area, which is comparable in distance/travel time to that between Cumberland and Washington DC.
While it doesn't appear that train service along that line could be competitive time-wise, has there been any effort made to establish express bus service between Cumberland and DC?  Such service could also run to/from the MARC or Metro stations in Rockville, instead of going all the way into DC.

If MARC can get enough riders to run all the way out to Harpers Ferry (where several of my co-workers commute from daily) it can run trains to cumberland and back.

[Point353]

If MARC can get enough riders to run all the way out to Harpers Ferry (where several of my co-workers commute from daily) it can run trains to cumberland and back.

Being able to run trains is one thing, but how long would that trip take?
The current Amtrak schedule calls for about 3.5 hours. Would commuter rail run any faster?
By comparison, the fastest routing on google estimates a drive time of under 2.5 hours.

[wm3798]

Harpers Ferry to DC can be accomplished in about 90 minutes, making it competitive with an automobile commute.  Ridership from Martinsburg, the end of the run for MARC, I believe is substantially lower.  There is precious little population between Martinsburg and Cumberland, and a whole lot of miles of track and CSX freight to make a commuter train make very little sense.  Scranton to NYC is not an adequate comparison, given the population density that exists between the two, and the fact that no matter how big Washington thinks it is, it will NEVER be the center of gravity that New York is.  New York also has incredible public transit resources at its disposal on the receiving end of all those commuters, while DC as an aging Metro that is fraught with troubles.

DC's market is also spread all over the place, from Dulles and Chantilly over to Bowie and Annapolis, and from Frederick to Fredericksburg.  Getting to town by rail is only half the battle... getting to WORK could take another hour.

As with so many small railroad cities around the country, Cumberland will have to come to terms with what it wants to be on its own merits.  Since the demise of the steam locomotive, and especially now with the ghost of Hunter Harrison lurking in every yard, there just isn't a need to have a city every 100 miles.  Cumberland has a rich history, a beautiful location, some amazing architecture, but it needs a new purpose for being there. 

And unfortunately, towns like Luke and Westernport, who put all of their stock in one industry, are particularly precarious.  I read this morning that the mill provides the town's drinking water and sewerage treatment as well as all those jobs...  What will become of that when the mill shuts down?

Lee

[Point353]

Cumberland has a rich history, a beautiful location, some amazing architecture, but it needs a new purpose for being there. 

Cumberland was included on the Travel Channel's list of 50 Most Charming Small Towns in America:
https://www.travelchannel.com/destinations/us/photos/50-of-the-most-charming-small-towns-in-the-us

[wm3798]

It's also ranked near the top for slum lords, opiates, unemployment, and other symptoms of small to medium towns that have de-industrialized in recent decades.

That's not to say it doesn't have its strong points.  I love going out there, and I see improvements every time I go.  Just keep in mind that fluff pieces in tourist journals aren't going to paint a complete picture.

I think we all saw this coming, electronic media has made the products made there obsolete.  If they made corrugated packaging or toilet paper, they'd be set for life, but they don't.  The cost of converting the plant to a more profitable line was probably analyzed, the company made the choice it had to make.

And Western Maryland takes another gut punch, taking perhaps two steps back after tourism has dragged it maybe one step forward...

Lee