State park

Cass Scenic Railroad: June 11, 2015

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• published: 01 Jul 2015
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On June 11, 2015, Georgian Rail Video Productions ventured 300 feet from the end of the world, to the mountain town of Cass, West Virginia. The town of Cass was founded in 1900 by the West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company. Organized by William Luke & Sons, who had purchased 70,000 acres of timber in the area for the Luke, Maryland and Covington, Virginia mills. Hungarian, Italian and Austrian Immigrants built the railroad to bring the timber to the band-saw mill in Cass where there was a connection with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway line that ran along the banks of the Greenbriar River. Samuel Slaymaker and Emory Shaffer supervised the building of the railroad, mill and town for the workers. The town was named for Joseph Cass, who was the vice president of the WVP&P;, and a predominant company investor. The railroad and town were sold to the Mower Lumber Company in 1942, and they operated it until 1960. In 1961 the railroad was sold to the state of West Virginia, and the town in 1976, to become a state park. Today, the town is still owned by the state, but the railroad is owned and operated by parent company, West Virginia Central Railroad, who also operates the popular Durbin and Greenbriar Valley tourist trains out of Elkins and Durbin, West Virginia. This video shows two locomotives in operation, ex. Mower Lumber Company #4 operating on the Whittaker Station run, and ex. Western Maryland #6, operating on the Bald Knob run. We go for a ride on #6, which just happens to be the last shay ever built, and the largest production shay ever built. The locomotive combines the grace, lines and speed of a Pacific Coast Shay, with sheer mass, weighing in at a whopping 162 tons. So enjoy the ride up Cheat Mountain, including an encounter with the WVC's "Cheat Mountain Salamander" at Old Spruce. Don't forget to crank the speakers up to enjoy the whistle artistry of #6's engineer, Danny Seldomridge.