Cass Scenic Railroad State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

and

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

located in

Cass Cass may refer to: People and fictional characters * Cass (surname), a list of people * Cass (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Big Cass, ring name of wrestler William Morrissey * Cass, in British band Skunk Anansie * Ca ...

Pocahontas County, West Virginia Pocahontas County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,869. Its county seat is Marlinton. The county was established in 1821. It is named after the daughter of the Powhatan chie ...

. It consists of the Cass Scenic Railroad, an long

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

owned by the West Virginia State Rail Authority and operated by the

Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad The Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad is a heritage and freight railroad in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. It operates the West Virginia State Rail Authority-owned Durbin Railroad and West Virginia Central Railroad , as wel ...

. The park also includes the former

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

of Cass and a portion of the summit of

Bald Knob Bald Knob is the highest summit of Back Allegheny Mountain in Pocahontas County, West Virginia and is part of Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. At an altitude of above sea level, Bald Knob is the third-highest point in West Virginia and the All ...

, the highest point on Back Allegheny Mountain.

History

Founded in 1901 by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company (now WestRock), Cass was built as a

to serve the needs of the men who worked in the nearby mountains cutting

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfam ...

and hemlock for the West Virginia Spruce Lumber Company, a subsidiary of WVP&P. At one time, the

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

at Cass was the largest double-band sawmill in the world. It processed an estimated of

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

during its lifetime. In 1901 work started on the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

, which climbs Back Allegheny Mountain. The railroad eventually reached a meadow area, now known as Whittaker Station, where a

logging camp A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...

was established for the immigrants who were building the railroad. The railroad soon reached to the top of Gobblers Knob, and then a location on top of the mountain known as 'Spruce'. The railroad built a small town at that location, complete with a company store, houses, a hotel, and a doctor's office. Work soon commenced on logging the red spruce trees, which grew in the higher elevations. The WVP&P originally had only been interested in the red spruce for the purpose of making pulp, which would be turned into paper. It was not until several years later that the company realized that the mountain held a fortune in hardwoods, such as maple, cherry, birch and oak. The company decided that it would build a mill in the town of Cass, which could process the hardwoods. The railroad eventually extended its track to the top of Bald Knob, the third-highest mountain peak in West Virginia. The red spruce in that area was logged out, and the track was torn up in the early 1910s. The track was also extended to a valley near the town of Spruce, at a bend in the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River. The WVP&P set up a new town there, with about 30 company houses, a large company store, a school, and a pulp mill, where the red spruce trees could be processed on the spot. The new town was also named Spruce, and the former town received its current name of Old Spruce. In June 1942, WVP&P sold the Cass operation to Mower Lumber Company, which operated the line until July 1, 1960, cutting

second-growth A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

timber off Cheat Mountain. The mill and railroad were shut down by Mower in 1960, due to the rapid decline of the timber industry in the region. Following the 1960 closure, the rail line, land, and all equipment and rolling stock, were sold to a holding company named the Don Mower Lumber Company (no relation to the former Mower Lumber Company), and the railroad was conveyed to the Midwest Raleigh Corporation, which started to scrap the railroad and equipment. However, a group of local businessmen, led by

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

train aficionado Russell Baum, convinced the West Virginia state legislature to make the Cass Railroad a state park. In 1963, the first tourist excursion train left the Cass depot for Whittaker Station, north. In 1977, the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park took possession of the entire

of Cass and the old hardwood mill there. In 2015, the

assumed operation of the railroad under a lease agreement with the State of West Virginia.

Current operations

Today, visitors ride on historic converted log cars (similar to

flatcar A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry ...

s), pushed along by a powerful geared logging locomotive. Traveling on of

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

laid in 1901 by immigrant workers, the line traverses the steep grades of Back Allegheny Mountain. The railroad owns eight

Shay locomotive The Shay locomotive is a geared steam locomotive that originated and was primarily used in North America. The locomotives were built to the patents of Ephraim Shay, who has been credited with the popularization of the concept of a ''geared s ...

s, one

Heisler locomotive The Heisler locomotive is one of the three major types of geared steam locomotives and the last to be patented. Charles L. Heisler received a patent for the design in 1892, following the construction of a prototype in 1891. Somewhat similar to ...

, and one

Climax locomotive A Climax locomotive is a type of geared steam locomotive built by the ''Climax Manufacturing Company'' (later renamed to the ''Climax Locomotive Works''), of Corry, Pennsylvania. These had two steam cylinders attached to a transmission loca ...

, which is being restored by volunteers of the Mountain State Railroad and Logging Historical Association. The Heisler and the Climax, both made in

, were competition to Shay's geared locomotive design. Three trips are available: a two-hour round trip to Whittaker Station, a five-hour round trip to the abandoned site of the ghost town of

Spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfam ...

(once the coldest and highest town east of the Rockies), and a five-hour round trip to

, the third highest point in the state. Former company houses have been refurbished and are available for rent through Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. A small cabin on Bald Knob is also available for rent, and

caboose A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting, keeping a lookout for load shifting, dam ...

s can be reserved for private use as well. Town and shop tours are available daily to visitors who would like to learn more about the town and its lumber industry, and see how the rare geared locomotives are maintained by the Cass shop crew. A tour of a recreated logging camp is available at Whittaker.

2015 transfer of operations

In October 2014, it was announced that the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) was transferring their administrative responsibilities to another state agency, the West Virginia State Rail Authority (WVSRA). Under the new arrangement, the

(D&GV) will assume day-to-day operations of the line as part of their existing contract with the WVSRA. D&GV will control scheduling of trains, staffing train excursions, and maintaining the railroad and its equipment. The takeover began in 2015. The WVDNR will maintain ownership of the right-of-way and equipment, as well as continue staffing and maintaining the non-railroad portions of the park, including the historic company town of Cass, the visitor's center, and the overnight cottage rentals that the park offers. Listed below is a table of locomotives found at Cass and Durbin.

Locomotives

File:BackAlleghenyMountain.jpg, Back Allegheny Mountain from Whittaker Station File:2003-05-16 Cass RR Shay Engine, Cass, WV USA.jpg, Cass Shay #2 at Cass Station File:Cass Scenic Railroad State Park - Shay 4 and Shay 11.jpg, Shay #4 and #11 pull the Bald Knob train up the mountain File:Cass Scenic Railroad State Park - Shay 4.jpg, Cass Shay #4 File:Cass Engine.JPG, Cass Shay #6 prepares to depart Cass in 2004 File:Western Maryland Shay 6 on Cass Scenic Railroad.JPG, Shay #6 at Whittaker Station

References

Citations

Other sources

* * *

External links

*
Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad

Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association web site

WV Railfan website

* {{authority control Heritage railroads in West Virginia State parks of West Virginia Railroad museums in West Virginia Protected areas established in 1961 Logging railroads in the United States Museums in Pocahontas County, West Virginia Protected areas of Pocahontas County, West Virginia Historic American Engineering Record in West Virginia Historic districts in Pocahontas County, West Virginia 1961 establishments in West Virginia IUCN Category III Railways with Zig Zags Railway lines opened in 1961