Cass Scenic Railroad State Park

 

I admit that I have been to West Virginia countless times in my past. And that I am a railroad enthusiast - a railfan for short. But for all of these years, I never made the drive to Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, opting to go hike at Dolly Sods or take in the morning at Cranberry Glades.

 

For this year, I received an invitation to attend the 2011 Cass Railfan Weekend, managed by the Mountain State Railroad and Logging Historical Association. It was to be my first true railfanning event, and I was prepared – and took my father along for the ride who wanted to see what Cass was all about. My bag was packed with a Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 telephoto, a wide-angle Nikon 20 f/2.8, and a versatile Nikon 35-110 f/4-5.6. It was time to drive.

 

The route east was uneventful and familiar. Interstate 64 to Interstate 79 to U.S. Route 19, all freeways and expressways and just a blur as I sped past the flora at 70 miles-per-hour. It was not until we got off the main route that the scenery and lonesome nature of the state began. We drove by the tiny community of Birch River and through the sleepy county seat of Webster County, Webster Springs. Going east along West Virginia State Route 15 was a challenge – steep grades and numerous curves along Point Mountain, providing a driving excitement that heightened as the sun began to set. We made it to Snowshoe at nightfall and after unpacking, decided to trek to Cass to see what the town was all about.

 

It was good timing. We arrived at Cass just as they were approximately half way into a night photograph shoot of several Shay locomotives.

 

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After photographing for about half an hour, we headed out for our hotel room near Snowshoe for a brief sleep. After all, the next day’s activities began promptly before 8 AM, and when I arrived, the Shay No. 11 was resting at the Cass depot waiting to take those at Railfan Weekend to Bald Knob.

 

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At 8 AM, the multiple Shay locomotives departed from the Cass depot, passed the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad water tower, and began climbing Leatherbark Creek. This is my first time on a logging railroad, and was pleasantly surprised at how effortlessly the Shay locomotives took towards the 5% to 8.7% grades en route to Whittaker Station. We opted to sit in the open-air “cinder car” which was surprisingly empty – and we later learned why some opt not to sit there. Being exposed to the sun for much of the climb and being “cindered” upon was really quite the experience!

 

Alas, the train made it to Whittaker where passengers departed for the restroom facilities and to set up for photograph opportunities.

 

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Whittaker Station was once a construction camp that debuted during the building of the logging railroad. It is now home to the Mountain State Railroad and Logging Historical Association’s Whittaker Camp, where the organization’s volunteers constructed 1,100 feet of track on three sidings in 1993. It now includes a display area home to three portable shanties that are patterned after the remains of the actual shanties, a replica cook and dining call and a log loader built by the Meadow River Lumber Company of Rainelle.

 

After boarding the train, the collection of Shay locomotives moved up the grade. The grade climbs past Whittaker Station, averaging around 5% to 6% as the rail line passes by Austin Meadows, Gobblers Knob and a panoramic overlook of Leatherbark Creek valley. A little under three miles from Whittaker is Old Spruce, a logging camp that was built in 1901 when the Cass rails were extended. The logging camp centered on Shavers Fork.

 

5 The Shay No. 5 climbing towards Old Spruce.

 

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Old Spruce had a few houses and a dock that was used to transfer coal to the camps, along with an 800-foot siding. In 1903, the main line was extended northward 1.25 miles along Shavers Fork to Spruce, where another logging camp was established. The extension was used for two years and then removed. The line was rebuilt in 1945, lasting until the second cut was exhausted in 1950. In 1991, the track between Old Spruce and Spruce was rebuilt on a higher alignment.

 

 

7 The Shay No. 11 and No. 5 on the 1991-built track between Old Spruce and Spruce.

 

8 The Shay No. 5 at Oats Creek.

 

After visiting Spruce, the Shay locomotives made their way to the Bald Knob line, which splits from Old Spruce and heads eastward to Bald Knob. The 4.5 mile track was known as the Cabin Fork branch that once stretched for 12 miles, and was constructed from 1950 to 1958. The final segment to Bald Knob was the last active logging track, used up until the mill’s closure in 1960.

 

Not far from Old Spruce is the Oats Run water tank. The locomotives used have a steam syphon capable of lifting water into the tender from the tank. The tank is fashioned from the shells of antiquated boilers.

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10 The Shay No. 11 passes by the Oats Creek water tank on an 8% grade.

 

Further east is the wye, which led to a branch with another camp that had five skidder sets. The wye featured the sharpest curve at Cass, with a 36-degree turn that could not accommodate the hulking Western Maryland Shay No. 6. It formerly had to travel along the stub track of the branch that extended for several hundred feet and back track until the curve was rebuilt in 2007 with a softened curve – all completed with volunteer labor.

 

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The next hotspot was the DP Switch, located just short of milepost 10. A spur diverted north to several skidder sets but that line has been abandoned.

 

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From DP Switch to Bald Knob, the Cabin Fork line crosses Big Run at a 9% grade before ending at an observation platform. The track originally looped at the peak to provide a turnaround, but that segment has since been removed from service.

 

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16 Dereck poses for a photo aboard the Shay No. 11.

 

17 Amy tenders to the coals on the Shay No. 11.

 

That night, we were given a treat of the Shay No. 4 and No. 5 on display at the Cass depot. Despite some tough lighting and framing conditions, vehicles parking behind the depot in view of the locomotives, and non-historic lights, the Shays had never looked better. If only rail travel could step back a few decades…

 

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It was fairly late by the time I finished photographing the Shay locomotives, and the events began again the next morning at 8 AM. We departed for the hotel and for the next morning we were greeted with the sights of the Shay No. 6 passing by both the No. 4 and No. 11 on the former C&O Greenbrier branch. We also watched the Shay No. 11 at the water tank being refilled for the journey up the hill.

 

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Unfortunately, rain was in the forecast, so I left with one last photograph of the Shy No. 4 along the C&O Greenbrier branch composed during a downpour. We opted not to take the train up to the top of Bald Knob due to the deteriorating weather conditions, and headed over to the restored general store instead. I purchased a great Cass Scenic Railroad t-shirt and a Western Maryland hat, and visited a side store that had many historic prints for sale. What a deal!

 

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And so that was my first railfanning experience. Despite the hot and then rainy weather, and the steep cost, it was worth the drive and sunburn – and the cinders. The money went to a good cause: the Mountain State Railroad and Logging Historical Association uses the funding to maintain some of the current operations and to complete volunteer-driven efforts to improve the rails at Cass. I look forward to returning to the 2012 Cass Railfan Weekend.

 

Cass

 

25 Company housing has become rental cottages in the town of Cass.

 

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31 The mill ruins.

 

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Be sure to check out the new Cass Scenic Railroad State Park article for even more background on this great park and for even more photographs. Enjoy!

 

Relevant pages:

a. Cass Scenic Railroad State Park: http://www.americanbyways.com/museums/cass-scenic-railroad-state-park/

 

Relevant blog entries:

b. Cass Scenic Railroad State Park: http://www.americanbyways.com/2011/09/06/cass-railroad-state-park/

Excellent photos. With the continuous firing required by the steep grades the Shays normally smoke quite a lot, but it looks like they put out an extra-spectacular plume for photographs The climate really changes on ascent to Bald Knob; a warm day at the depot can be downright chilly atop the mountain, and on my visit I saw many people ignore the admonitions of the ticket agents to put on long pants and take along a jacket. In their shorts and t-shirts they huddled around the engine's boiler trying to warm up at Whittaker and Bald Knob.

 

I think Railfan Weekend is the only occasion when the Shays pull the trains. In normal logging operations, the descending trains were the heavy ones, and the locomotives always pushed the empties up the mountain and then backed down with the loaded cars following, so that the engines' tractive power and brakes could assist the cars' hand brakes controlling speed. With day-to-day passenger operations they follow the same practice, probably for safety reasons; if a car or cars were to become detached for any reason on one of the steepest parts of the line, it might be difficult or impossible to control them with hand brakes and a serious wreck could happen.

 

Like the mill, the original shops and depot were destroyed by arson and replaced. The depot is an authentic-looking replica of the original, but the new shop building made pragmatic concessions to energy efficiency, comfort, and safety, as well as cost of construction. It's fortunate that the company store building didn't fall prey to the firebug, as it's quite a large structure that would have been difficult or impossible to replace with an authentic replica.

 

Edit: Cass stands an an excellent example of the high quality maintained by West Virginia's state parks. Everything is kept impeccably clean and in good repair, and the employees are unfailingly friendly and courteous. West Virginia knows the value of tourism, and does a good job of encouraging it.

 

 

I just noticed I have never completed the actual article of Cass itself. I need to write out about the arson of the 1970s and 1980s, and add some post-fire and pre-fire photos.

Beautiful photos.