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Monocacy Valley
by Andrew Harmantas
Oil on Masonite
Original Painting Image size 24" x 36"
Framed size 30" x 42"
The debate rages on about just which part of the Western Maryland Railway certain locomotive types ranged. Is there
any evidence, for example, that a 1200 Class 4-6-6-4 ventured east of Hagerstown all the way to Port Covington in
Baltimore? I've had conversations over the years with retired Western Maryland railroaders, who, like most railroaders,
would refer to locomotives by their class number, and a few of them told me they saw everything the company rostered
operate at one time or another along the southern route from Hagerstown east through Westminster, and that included
the 1200's. There is a reported photograph showing a 1200 at the York, Pennsylvania, fair, so they did operate east
of Hagerstown, at least once. Armed with that knowledge, I wanted to show a 1200 running through the relatively
straight and flat line between Union Bridge and Thurmont, Maryland. The Monocacy River meanders through the hills on
its way to empty into the Potomac further south, and provides a brief water level route up to the foot of the Blue
Ridge at Thurmont. This is farming country — very picturesque. I've watched trains pass this spot many times,
and so it seemed fitting that I should
place a 1200 there, doing its job, trailed by the obligatory Swift refrigerator car.
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