In the early 80s railroading in America saw many lines abandoned, shop closures, shop transfers, worked consolidated to one shop verses several others. The B&O shop at Cumberland, MD, then part of the Chessie System and later CSX, felt the same pains. Cumberland transferred much of its reclamation work to our shop at Huntington WV. Our wheel shop was one area that all work was transferred to Huntington. The large wheel press was left behind and not needed. We moved the press to another building that was not razed. We continued to use the press for maintenance projects over the next 7 years. Around 1989 we experienced another round of downsizing, our lathes, radial drill press , shapper and wheel press was put out for bid. There were only 2 bids for the wheel press; one from a scrap dealer, the other from the state of West Virginia representing Cass Scenic Railroad. I am happy to say the bid from the scrap dealer was rejected and the bid from Cass RR was accepted. The press had a new home and a new life. Our maintenance crew and myself worked to get the press removed and loaded onto the state truck from WV. Today I stopped by the shop to see the press at the Cass RR repair shop. There it was in its glory waiting for the next set of wheels to be pressed off and new pressed on. A long story but one worth telling. Before leaving the shop to drive back to cbr, i gave a little tap on the press and said good bye, knowing when I leave this earth there will be a bit of history from the B&O and Cumberland, still in use generations from now, thanks to some of us at the Cumberland Locomotive shop at Cumberland MD.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 03:27:42 +0000
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