3rd rail
Sure, it was a rough time for the R.R.'s , but it was the last bastion for the "Low traffic, under-maintained, money-losing branch lines. After Conrail and De-Regulation, They all disappeared. Now just a faint trace on the landscape. I remember those lines, Do you? Let's talk about it.
I was a young teenager, living in Frostburg,MD. close to the Western Maryland's Connellsville Subdivision. The "New Line" not built until 1912, made a large horseshoe around the north side of town. This main line of the WM still saw up to 15 or so trains/day then, with a fleet of hotshots running on the "Alphabet Route", along with coal,grain, and ore extras, and local freights. There were also numerous helper movements as the line westbound from Cumberland, MD. had a 1.75% grade for 22 miles.
Through the 1970s, Chessie System gradually made the lines of the Western Maryland a memory. The end for the Connellsville Sub. came in early 1976, as the last through train was switched over to the B&O.
18 miles of the main was kept in place, serving a coal loader at Borden Tunnel, and 2 brick yards at Zihlman and MT. Savage on the former Cumberland & Pennsylvania (C&PA) trackage.
Today, this line is the Western MD. Scenic, which uses 14 miles of the former WM main, along with 2 miles of the next line I'll mention.
By 1972, the 2-mile stub of the former C&PA into Frostburg was about to die. This line had been cut 1/4 mile south of the Frostburg tunnel in 1954, and there were only 3 customers left by the 1970s. The cement plant closed, the lumber yard stopped rail service, and the WM converted a siding down the hill at the mainline station site so the city could get its road salt/sand.
The tracks were taken up and for over 15 years, the roadbed slept. Then in 1988 the tracks were relaid, a turntable was installed at the north end of the Frostburg Tunnel, and in 1989, the Allegany Central started hauling tourists and rail enthusiasts to the restored 1892 C&PA depot in Frostburg. Today, the WMSR uses these tracks which were originally laid in 1852.
While this partial rebirth of these hometown lines is gratifying, I feel 2 opportunities were lost:
1. Retention of the C&PA switchback line down to MT. Savage, this old shop town has been virtually ignored. The rails were removed in 1983, and parts have moldered back to nature since.
2. Reinstallation of the main line up to the east portal of Savage Tunnel. The view looking east from this point is awe-inspiring, but look out for the rattlesnakes.
Users of the GAP Rail-trail can experience the Connellsville Sub for its entire length, and for the first 14 miles share the roadbed with WMSR trains. There is even a connecting trail at Frostburg to go 500ft. up the hill and check out the C&PA depot. 
The westernmost counties in Maryland are crisscrossed by empty roadbeds of the B&O, WM, PRR, C&PA, and at least 6 other shortlines. When the coal mining died here, so did the shortlines, and the other roads' coal branches.