A look inside the Big Cut on the former Western Maryland Railway as viewed from the air. At an elevation of 4,066 ft, this was the highest railroad grade of a major railroad East of the Mississippi. It was excavated out by the Greenbrier, Cheat & Elk River Railroad and completed in 1914 with the use of Shay locomotives and Marion Steam shovel. The West Virginia Central freight train traveled through the Big Cut as part of Cass Railfan Weekend. A big thanks goes to the WVC for their assistance capturing this photograph. To my knowledge, this is the first aerial photograph of a train inside the Big Cut.
