The Tapeworm Railroad was a railway line planned by Thaddeus Stevens

Thaddeus Stevens

Thaddeus Stevens , of Pennsylvania, was a Republican leader and one of the most powerful members of the United States House of Representatives...

 and nicknamed by opponents ridiculing a lengthy serpentine section around the Green Ridge of South Mountain

South Mountain (Maryland and Pennsylvania)

South Mountain is the northern extension of the Blue Ridge Mountain range in Maryland and Pennsylvania. From the Potomac River near Knoxville, Maryland in the south, to Dillsburg, Pennsylvania in the north, the long range separates the Hagerstown and Cumberland valleys from the Piedmont regions of...

. Switchbacks were planned on the west slope at Hughs Forge

Old Forge, Franklin County, Pennsylvania

Old Forge is an unincorporated community in Quincy Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Michaux State Forest, at , at altitude 892 feet .-References:...

 along the E Br Antietam Creek

Antietam Creek

Antietam Creek is a tributary of the Potomac River located in south central Pennsylvania and western Maryland in the United States, a region known as the Hagerstown Valley...

 ("Cold Spring Cr" in 1839) and on the east slope at the 1822 Maria Furnace along Toms Creek (Monocacy River), with three east slope tunnels

Jacks Mountain Tunnel

Jacks Mountain Tunnel is a railroad tunnel located in Adams County, Pennsylvania about southwest of Fairfield. It was built in 1889 by the Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway, which was later acquired by the Western Maryland Railway...

 through spurs of Jacks Mountain. Excavation and construction began in 1936 and included the following (west-to-east):

• single-arch roadway bridge over Toms Creek (Monocacy River) west of Maria Furnace
• multi-arch bridge
• McPherson Ridge railway cut
  Railway cut of the Gettysburg Battlefield
  The railway cut of the Gettysburg Battlefield was the place of an 1863 military engagement of the Battle of Gettysburg, First Day, near the Edward McPherson farmhouse in which railroad tracks had not yet been placed, but which provided a deep entrenchment....
  
   used in 1863 for Battle of Gettysburg, First Day
  Battle of Gettysburg, First Day
  The First Day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War took place on July 1, 1863, and began as an engagement between isolated units of the Army of Northern Virginia under Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the Army of the Potomac under Union Maj. Gen. George G. Meade...
  
  , military engagements
• Seminary Ridge
  Seminary Ridge
  Seminary Ridge is a dendritic ridge which was an area of Battle of Gettysburg engagements during the American Civil War and of military installations during World War II.-Geography:...
  
   railway cut

The commonwealth's ended financing for the railroad after Stevens' lost his position on the Canal Commission and ordered a survey of the planned line in 1839. As late as 1885, "Tapeworm" was used for the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad

Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad

The Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad was a railroad line in Pennsylvania in the 19th century. The 38 mile main line ran from Orrtanna to Hanover Junction where it connected with the Northern Central Railway...

 line west of the preceding 1858 Gettysburg Railroad

Gettysburg Railroad

The Gettysburg Railroad was a railway line in Pennsylvania that operated from 1858-1870 over the 17 mile main line from the terminus in Gettysburg to the 1849 Hanover Junction...

 line.

Footnotes

1. 1. 2. 3. The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.