Share Morgantown & Kingwood Railroad

In the late 1800s, the Fairmont, Morgantown & Pittsburgh Railroad was constructed, linking the Grafton-Wheeling line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Fairmont with the Cumberland, Maryland-Pittsburgh line of the B&O at Connellsville, Pennsylvania. A few years later, businessmen in the Morgantown area chartered the Morgantown & Kingwood (M&K) Railroad to build southeast from Morgantown to tap coal mines in the area, but the line progressed only a few miles before financial support gave out.

Stephen B. Elkins, U.S. senator and industrialist, purchased the railroad a few years later and extended it to the B&O main line at M&K Junction near Rowlesburg. The line was completed in 1907 and until the late 1940s served about 15 coal mines. It also operated as a secondary through route between M&K Junction and the Fairmont, Morgantown & Pittsburgh Railroad at Morgantown.

The B&O leased the Morgantown & Kingwood in 1920 and totally absorbed the line in 1922. After the B&O takeover it was known as the M&K branch. In the early 1970s, the line was severed between Kingwood and Reedsville. Then trains out of M&K Junction or Morgantown had to serve the two disconnected segments of the branch railroad. Two coal mines continued to ship coal until 2000.

This Article was written by Robert L. Frey

Last Revised on July 21, 2023

Cite This Article

Frey, Robert L. "Morgantown & Kingwood Railroad." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 21 July 2023. Web. 27 November 2024.