October 19th, 2022
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad * Frostburg Flyer * First Class * Overland Lounge
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The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad traces its origins to the original Western Maryland Railway which operated from 1852 to 1983. Today the railroad operates year round excursions out of its home base in Cumberland, Maryland. I am attracted to its flagship run, the Frostburg Flyer, for three reasons. First, the rolling hills of Western Maryland’s Cumberland Mountains promise a beautiful ride. Secondly, this ride offers a great opportunity to enjoy 1950s luxury and ambiance via a seat aboard the ex-Southern Pacific lounge car “Overland Trail” which once provided First Class lounge space, barbershop/valet service and stewardess/nurse quarters aboard the famous San Francisco Overland streamliner that plied the rails between Chicago and San Francisco/Oakland. And third, the trip from Cumberland out to Frostburg is a good long one as excursions go, taking four and a half hours out and back, including a 90-minute layover in the mountain town of Frostburg. Shuttle busses will be available to get us into town where there’ll be plenty of time to get a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants on Main Street.



Route of the Frostburg Flyer


Arriving into Cumberland about 40 minutes before train time, my first challenge was finding a place to park. Early birds had snagged all of the close in parking in the two lots closest to the Cumberland Depot, but after ten minutes of driving around I was able to find a metered spot for just $4 to cover the requisite time needed for the ride. From there it was a four block walk to the depot.

The WMSR offers a wide variety of seating choices aboard the Frostburg Flyer, ranging from seats in an open air car to dome seats upstairs or downstairs aboard a choice of super or standard dome cars and finally what for me is the best option on the train – a First Class seat in the Overland Trail lounge

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Ex-Southern Pacific First Class Lounge “Overland Trail”


A printed flyer nearby our seats provided a bit of history about our car. The Overland Trail was built as a club-lounge car in 1949 by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company. It’s been painstakingly refurbished to reflect the attractive Streamline Moderne interior with its large picture windows, good-looking quarter-circle bar and the last operating railroad barbershop on the rails. In short, lounge cars like the Overland Trail epitomize the notion that back in the 1950s and 60s, train travel in America was not just a means of traveling from one city to another, it was an integral part of the journey's experience. Getting there truly was half the fun!

Here – check out the barber shop!



Barbershop on the rails


As we began to ease out of the station, I glanced at my watch and noted with satisfaction that we’d departed with all the punctuality of a Swiss train, right on time at 11:30am. It was a beautiful sunny day and I sat back in my comfortable lounge chair secure in the knowledge that this was gonna be a great trip.

Sat across from me were Jim and Kay, a retired couple who’d driven in from Richmond, Virginia. Like many aboard this train, their ride was part of a larger trip encompassing the overall region of western Maryland, southern Pennsylvania and nearby West Virginia. The fall colors are a real draw throughout the eastern third of the country, from north Georgia and the Carolinas all the way up to Maine. They are the impetus for a lot of people – both locals and visitors from afar – to get out and take anything from a long weekend to a longer trip just to see and enjoy the colors.

That said, I don’t believe I’ve seen peak fall colors anywhere on this trip so far. Mind you, I’m hardly disappointed because the colors are there, but in most cases they just not as bright as I know they could be. I’m either just a few days too early or too late. But again, that’s cool. This entire region is so beautiful regardless of the time of year, so even 50 to 60% of the colors results in some beautiful vistas.

Our car attendant if you will was a young fellow casually dressed in jeans and a baseball cap. He came around shortly after departure offering everything from coffee to mimosas. Jim, Kay and I all ordered mimosas and carried on getting to know each other and sharing travel information and insights. Here’s a shot of the bar and our bartender pouring a coke during our layover in Frostburg.



First Class Bar and Bartender


We were all having such a good time chatting that I didn’t take any pictures of the landscapes as we rolled through the mountains enroute to Frostburg. That’s probably for the best as the sun was pretty high and the afternoon shadows would likely result in much nicer pictures on the way back.

It’s about an hour and a half ride from Cumberland out to Frostburg. Upon our arrival, I hung back to get a couple pictures of our car and the barber shop before heading up to the quaint Frostburg Depot where shuttle busses came through every 5-10 minutes to take people up the hill and into town.

Following a nice lunch at bar/restaurant located in an older downtown hotel, I walked back to the bus stop to head back to the train and get some pictures of the cars and locomotives that make up our train . Like many of these trains I’ve ridden over the years, there was no place to turn the entire consist around at our destination and so we had an engine at each end of the train – one for the outbound trip, one for the return.

One engine in particular caught my attention – a beautiful large steam locomotive that led the charge on our westbound journey to Frostburg. I hadn’t been aware of it when I boarded in Cumberland, but I saw it on my way to the shuttle bus and just had to get a closer look upon my return to the train after lunch.



Baldwin Locomotive Works articulated class "H-6" "Mallet" steam locomotive


Constructed in 1949 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, it originally toiled for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway to handle the railroad’s heaviest coal trains throughout Kentucky and West Virginia. I must say it was a mighty impressive sight as it sat alongside the Frostburg Depot hissing steam from a variety of ports. I later found out it is the largest operating steam locomotive east of the Mississippi River.

Behind it was another car to which I took an immediate interest. That would be ex-Northern Pacific dome car “Stampede Pass”, once part of the beautiful two tone green North Coast Limited that operated between Chicago and Seattle back in the 1950s and 60s..



Ex-Northern Pacific dome car “Stampede Pass”


Comfy lower level seating on “Stampede Pass”


How “Stampede Pass” looked sixty years ago


On the ride back, the good times continued in the lounge car which meant I snagged only a couple of good outside shots. Still, the bottom line is enjoying yourself in whatever form that may take, and today the lounge and my travel companions won out. In all, this was a great trip and one that I wouldn’t mind doing again someday.



Chugging through the forests of Western Maryland


Climbing through the Cumberlands