Tapeworm Railroad Explained

The Tapeworm Railroad (Gettysburg Rail Road) was a railway line planned by Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and nicknamed by opponents ridiculing a lengthy serpentine section around the Green Ridge[1] of South Mountain after an orator compared the path to a tapeworm depiction on a product's packaging. Switchbacks were planned on the west slope at Hughs Forge[2] along the E Br Antietam Creek ("Cold Spring Cr" in 1839) and on the east slope at Stevens'[3] 1822[4] Maria Furnace along Toms Creek (Monocacy River), with three east slope tunnels through spurs of Jacks Mountain.

In 1836, Herman Haupt had surveyed the "road from Gettysburg across South Mountain to the Potomac" and in 1838, the rail "bed"[5] was "graded for a number of miles, never got further than Monterey",[6] and included the following (west-to-east):

After Thaddeus Stevens lost his position on the Canal Commission, the commonwealth ended the railroad's financing and work was suspended in 1838,[10] and an 1839 survey was ordered of the planned line.[11]

The Tapeworm Railroad right-of-way was later used by the Susquehanna, Gettysburg and Potomac Railway and its successor, the Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway to build a line from Gettysburg west to Highfield, Maryland.[12] [13]

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Feature Detail Report for: Green Ridge. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) . 2012-06-17.
  2. Book: Dalton, Rodney Garth . From Knights to Dreamers . IV Our Dalton Family in Carmarthenshire, Wales. 2012-06-17.
  3. Book: Congressional edition . 1577 . 677 . US Government Printing Office . 1873 . Mr. Stevens [owned] the Caledonia Furnace property, and the Maria Furnace property, most of which he acquired prior to 1830 in partnership. He subsequently bought out his partners.. 2012-06-17.
  4. Book: History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania . III, History of Adams County . 276–283 . XXXV Hamiltonban Township . Chicago . Warner, Beers & Co. . 1886 . 2012-06-17.
  5. Web site: Early History of Hamiltonban Township (1730 - 1860) . 2012-06-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120703004808/http://hamiltonban.com/earlyhistory.html . 2012-07-03 .
  6. News: Baltimore American . August 28, 1887 . 7 . Upon the Warm Belt . 2012-06-17.
  7. News: The Gettysburg Times . 18 April 1925 . Virginia Mills . 2012-06-17.
  8. News: Gettysburg Compiler . Town and Country – Railroad Notes . 22 July 1884 . 2012-06-17.
  9. Web site: Rifts, Diabase, and the Topographic "Fishhook": Terrain and Military Geology of the Battle of Gettysburg—July 1-3, 1863 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120928075204/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/pub/openfile/pdfs/of06_02.pdf . dead . September 28, 2012 . 1. Inners . Jon D. . Cuffey . Roger J. . Smith II . Robert C. . John C. . Neubaum . Richard C. . Keen . Gary M. . Fleeger . Lewis . Butts . Helen L. . Delano . Victor A. . Neubaum . 51 . 2012-06-17.
  10. News: Thad Stevens's Railroad.; The Old "Tapeworm" Line At Last Completed . . 1889-06-17 . 2012-06-17 .
  11. (cited by 1839 map)
  12. News: July 29, 1884 . Town and Country . Gettysburg Compiler . 2010-06-29 . Engineer Gitt has located the connection between the "Tapeworm" track and the Round-Top branch, and grading will be commenced at once. It is to have new steel rails. … Orr Station..
  13. News: October 4, 1887 . Another Railroad Survey . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-06-29 . Major Boyne and his corps of engineers … commenced surveying a line from Blue Ridge Summit … to Orrtanna … the present terminus of the Tape Worm railroad, a branch of the Western Maryland.

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