Today we drove about 50 miles south to Cass, WV to ride the vintage Cass Scenic Railroad. Some of you heard us talk about whether to take the Cass RR, or the Tygart Flyer out of Elkins. The Tygart Flyer is pulled by diesel locomotives and you ride in an enclosed pullman car with buffet lunch and drinks. Or you can ride on the Cass Scenic Train, which is pulled by a steam engine. You ride in a coverted, open air, lumber flat car and are served a sandwich. Both are 4 hours.
Dan wanted Cass, Lynn wanted Tygart. Well, as you can tell, Dan won! We obtained seats in the last car, furthest from the loco, and we brought cushions to make the ride more comfortable. Hey, you sometimes need a little compromise, although having a sweetie for a wife helps. Why did Dan want the Cass Scenic RR? Where else can you ride a steam powered train and to top it off, the engine is a Shay.
The Shay was invented in Michigan specifically for logging. We first learned of the Shay in Cadillac where one is located in the city park. It has a relatively short wheelbase to handle sharp curves and has a lots of power for moving log cars. Its design incorperates 3 vertical cylinders, with the crank turning a drive shaft that drives all wheels. Other locos had 2 horizontal pistons and often some gearing. The Shay had smaller wheels giving it a lot of pulling power, but top speed was about 12 mph. It averaged 5 to 6 mph during the trip and handled a section with a 9% grade.
The three vertical cylinders are visible in this picture. The 22 mile journey took us to Bald Knob, elevation 4700 feet, third highest point in West Virginia. Views from their observation deck were very pretty.
It did not take long to see why steam was replaced by diesel. This thing was noisey and bellowed smoke that lingered for quite sometime.
During our journey we stopped for water. It uses 2000 gallons per trip.
Logging was big in West Virginia and rail, along with the Shay, played a big role. They have the largest collection of working Shay engines, including the largest ever built weighing in at 162 tons.
Cass was a lumber and wood pulp mill town. But just like we found last year, new technology took over and the lumber and wood pulp business dried up in the 60s. Cass has reinvented itself as a historic tourist attraction. The Cass Scenic Railroad is now a state park.
It was interesting to step back nearly 100 years in time to experience this.
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