Steamscape: The Helmstetter Farm. One of the most iconic railfan photo spots in the eastern United States has to be this location right here. Spotted in the center of a big, sweeping, horseshoe curve, is the farm that was for decades owned by the Helmstetter Family, for which this curve is officially named. The property has recently changed hands, but it is still a working farm, complete with cattle and poultry, which roam the grounds. This location is famous for scenes featuring big, Western Maryland 4-6-6-4 Challenger Locomotives hauling coal drags up the Connellsville Subdivision along what used to be a double-track line. Interestingly, the fill you see which supports the railroad was originally built as wooden trestle, which was filled in with the rock and soil excavated to bore the Brush Tunnel, just one mile west of here. Although eventually abandoned by the Western Maryland as a freight line in 1975, this trackage is still used today as a tourist line, by what's now called the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. In this scene, we see that line's recently-restored C&O Locomotive #1309, a 2-6-6-2 compound articulated Mallet engine, hauling a photo freight for a February, 2022 Lerro Photography Charter. Although not nearly as large as the big Challengers that used to ply this line, it is a fitting tribute to the history of this place and the part it played in the building of American industry.
