A portion of the Greenbrier, Cheat and Elk Railroad Company

 In 1928, the Western Maryland Railway Company purchased a portion of the Greenbrier, Cheat and Elk Railroad Company, which extended south along Shavers Fork to Spruce, where it turned west, crossing through the mountain passes between the headwaters of Tygart, Cheat, and Elk Rivers, and then down Big Spring Fork of Elk to Slaty Fork. From this point, it extended northwestward down the main Elk, passing into Randolph County at the mouth of Douglas Fork, and entering Webster County at the Whitaker Falls, and thence proceeding down the south side of the river to Bergoo at the mouth of Leatherwood Creek

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. The section to Spruce (8 miles) featured very stiff grades, requiring the use of Shay geared steam locomotives

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. Spruce was once a ghost town that hosted a logging camp and a railroad maintenance facility

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. The Western Maryland Railway was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation

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