The Patterson Creek Cutoff is an abandoned railroad line built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 (B&O) in northern West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

 and Western Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, that served trains running on the B&O "West End" line in the Cumberland, Maryland

Cumberland, Maryland

Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...

 area. The cutoff route ran from McKenzie, Maryland

McKenzie, Maryland

McKenzie is an unincorporated community in Allegany County, Maryland, containing only a few houses, and mostly land. Its name is derived from a family which owned a large farm along the river bottom in the area. It is directly across from the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in Rocket Center, West...

 to Patterson Creek, West Virginia

Patterson Creek, West Virginia

Patterson Creek is an unincorporated community in Mineral County, West Virginia, USA. It lies at the northeastern end of the county, and is named for Patterson Creek which empties into the North Branch Potomac River here....

, providing a bypass of the B&O rail yard

Rail yard

A rail yard, or railroad yard, is a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic....

 in Cumberland for coal trains moving between Keyser, West Virginia

Keyser, West Virginia

Keyser is a city in and the county seat of Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,303 at the 2000 census.- History :...

 and Brunswick, Maryland

Brunswick, Maryland

Brunswick is a city in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The population was 5,870 at the 2010 census.- History :The area now known as Brunswick was originally home to the Susquehanna Indians. In 1728 the first settlement was built, and the region became known as Eel Town, because the...

.

The B&O opened the double track

Double track

A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...

 line in 1904, and it included a tunnel and a bridge, both of which are still in existence. The tunnel passes through Knobly Mountain

Knobly Mountain

Knobly Mountain is a part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, located east of New Creek Mountain in Mineral and Grant counties, West Virginia, in the United States....

 and is slightly less than 1 miles (1.6 km) in length. The cutoff was later reduced to single track

Single track (rail)

A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....

, and ultimately abandoned in the early 1970s by the Chessie System

Chessie System

Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway , the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , the Western Maryland Railway , and several smaller carriers. It was incorporated in Virginia on February 26, 1973, and it acquired the C&O on June 15...

, the successor to the B&O. The rails have been removed from the bridge structure, and a few railroad tie

Railroad tie

A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...

s are in an advanced state of decomposition. The line's right-of-way can still be easily distinguished, especially in McKenzie, where there is a large cut and fill

Cut and fill

In earthmoving, cut and fill is the process of constructing a railway, road or canal whereby the amount of material from cuts roughly matches the amount of fill needed to make nearby embankments, so minimizing the amount of construction labor...

.

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

, the successor to the Chessie System, continues to operate the main rail line in the McKenzie area as the Mountain Subdivision

Mountain Subdivision

The Mountain Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Maryland and West Virginia. The line runs from Cumberland, Maryland west to Grafton, West Virginia along the original Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road main line...

, and the Cumberland Subdivision

Cumberland Subdivision

The Cumberland Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Maryland and West Virginia. The line runs from Weverton, Maryland west to near Cumberland, Maryland along the old Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road main line...

in the Patterson Creek area.