Spruce Hill, Pennsylvania

Spruce Hill is located at the summit of the Mainline Subdivision on the Moose Valley.  This small community, bisected by the railroad and state highway Rt. 74, sits at the juncture of Summit grade, and New Windsor grade.  The signals located here are just north of the point of maximum elevation which is 575 feet.  The Rt. 74 grade crossing is protected by automatic gates, and flashers.  Here we see Chessie System run through train BOBU-2, Greenspring to Buffalo, with Western Maryland GP-9 6412 in the lead.  This northbound train is about to knock down the approach signal at CP Summit.  These signals are at the highest point on the Moose Valley, and are located at the south end of Spruce Hill.  The elevation here is almost 600 feet above sea level. The Moose Valley maintains run through agreements with the Chessie System, Penn Central, and Millway Western.  Run through trains like BOBU-2 utilize Moose Valley crews from Greenspring all the way to Millersburg.  Trains delivered to the Penn Central then use PC crews to take the train to Buffalo.  The Moose Valley also holds maintenance contracts with all it's partners, so units in need of servicing can be handled at Berkley Springs without delay.  The Gates at Spruce hill's route 74 grade crossing go down only moments before trains arrive due to the fact that they are usually crawling having just reached the pinnacle of New Windsor grade.

Here we see TV-21 Climbing out of Summit Tunnel on Spruce Hill grade.

History Happenings...

The House by the tracks in Spruce Hill is one of the oldest structures along the line, dating back to the beginning of the railroad in 1927.  The Railroads first president, M. Leon Agne lived here, and would often feed and house track workers himself during the lines construction.

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