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Parkhead was most popularly known back in WM days as the location of the eastern most hotbox detector on the West Sub. The other being near Paw Paw, WV. between the 6th river crossing and the C&O Canal crossing. Parkhead was the first passing siding west of the long double track stretch that ran from Hagerstown to Ernstville. The passing siding was just short of one mile. There were signals 108.9 and 108.8 at the West End of the siding. About 1/4 east into the siding was the first of the two hotbox detectors of the West Sub. At the East End of Parkhead there was also a short side track. This track was perhaps an old station track or used for MofW equipment or camp cars. This was some of WM's straightest and fastest territory as I-70 closely parallels the WM here. The highway is directly on the other side of the pole line. The highway is so close here that a chain length fence was constructed. A friend of mine once told me a story of how he tried to race a WM red/white/and black-GP40 on a westbound train along here. He said he could not keep up with the train even on I-70. So it indeed was the "Fast Freight Line".
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