Ravenswood, Spencer & Glenville Railway

The Ravenswood, Spencer & Glenville Railway operated between Ravenswood and Spencer, West Virginia.

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The Ravenswood, Spencer & Glenville Railway (RS&G), later known as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Ravenswood-Spencer Branch, operated between Ravenswood and Spencer, West Virginia.

The RS&G was incorporated on April 10, 1886, with $100,000 in capital. ² The initial plan called for construction between Ravenswood and Spencer, with further extensions into Calhoun and Gilmer counties to reach Glenville, and eventually to Weston in Lewis County. By 1892, the line between Ravenswood and Spencer was completed, but additional extensions were never built due to insufficient financing.

The line benefited from the oil and gas boom in the Burning Springs oil field, which began in the late 1850s and peaked in the 1920s. ³

In 1912, the RS&G came under the control of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) through its subsidiary, the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad. ² The line supported two daily trains (Nos. 67 and 68), each carrying a passenger coach and freight cars. By the 1950s, these services were renumbered as Nos. 457 and 458.

Steam locomotives last operated on the branch on December 16, 1953, when they were replaced with a Baldwin diesel locomotive. ² To cut costs, the B&O announced in 1954 that service would be reduced to six days per week and a layover at Spencer would be eliminated.

Operations on the Ripley branch ended in 1963 due to deteriorating trestles and undersized bridges that could not handle heavier locomotives and cars. ² Hopes for continued operation briefly rose in 1964 when the West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company proposed building a paper mill in Spencer, which would have generated new freight traffic. However, in January 1964, the B&O filed to abandon 32.77 miles of the branch, ¹ with the track removed in 1968. ²

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Further Reading

• RS&G–B&O Ravenswood to Spencer Branch at WVNC Rails

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Sources

1. “Ravenswood, Spencer & Glenville Railroad.” Abandoned Rails.
2. Robie, Dan. “RS&G–B&O Ravenswood to Spencer Branch.” WVNC Rails,
3. Matchen, David, and Bernard L. Allen. “Natural Gas and Petroleum.” e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 15 May 2025.