West Virginia Trip, 2025, Riding the Rails

That's the old Cass Company Store behind the train.

Ever since we were children, Ward and I have heard about the Cass Scenic Railroad (CSR) and wanted to ride it. We finally made that happen today. A few years ago, we visited the historic town of Cass, but unfortunately, the train was not running at the time.

Cass was founded in 1901 as a company town for the West Virginia Spruce Lumber Company. At the same time, work on the railroad to haul out the lumber began. The company expanded and changed hands numerous times before closing in 1960. The state of West Virginia acquired the area and turned it into a state park, and the first scenic ride took place in 1963.

They converted old lumber cars into passenger cars.

Since the train was built for hauling heavy loads up and down steep grades, and not speed, our trip up the mountain was slow. But that gave us plenty of time to enjoy the scenery around us. I was cold riding in the breezy open cars with the temperatures in the 40s. I made full use of my four layers of clothing. We sat at the back of the train and got to watch in detail what was involved in the two switchbacks we made up and back.

From here, the train climbed a 9% grade to our station stop at Whittier Meadows.
2 % grade is the max for normal trains. That shows how powerful our Shay Engine #5 was.

The train lineman was getting ready for a switchback.

There were six cars on our trip.

At the top, there was an abandoned saw mill with some exhibits.

Comments by Ward:

The coal-powered steam engines used today by CSR are the same as used by the lumber company 100+ years ago. They are named "Shay" locomotives after the inventor, Ephraim Shay. 

Unlike typical locomotives, Shays use a drive shaft and geared wheels (Wikipedia entry). This allowed the Shays to have greater pulling power, albeit less speed. This was a good trade-off for jobs like lumbering on steep hillsides.

This is all really interesting if you are a train nerd.

After our train ride, we hiked a couple of miles along the Greenbrier River Trail. 

The rail trail begins in Cass and goes for 77 miles to North Caldwell, WV.

The trail is paved with crushed limestone and is wheelchair accessible.
It's used for hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and horseback riding.

The scenery along the way did not disappoint.

We went back to our condo and cooked spaghetti for supper,
and Ward worked on another puzzle.

Until next time...