Cass Scenic Railroad - Greenbrier Express June 2024
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- On Thursday, June 13th, 2024, I chased the Cass Scenic Railroad's newest passenger excursion, the Greenbrier Express. This excursion traverses the 15-miles of former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway line between Cass and Durbin, WV, paralleling the scenic Greenbrier River. The line is very remote and free of urban development, allowing for many scenic views and chances to see wildlife.
This line was originally constructed for the timber and logging industry. In 1978 rail traffic began to decline leading much of the line to become abandoned. Conditions worsened in 1985, when a flood washed out a large portion of the line, resulting in a severed connection between Cass and Durbin.
It wasn’t until the beginning of 2023 that the restoration of this line was completed by the WV State Rail Authority and the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad, allowing passenger travel between Cass and Durbin to resume in May of 2023. The last time that I was down in Cass was 2022, so this excursion and route were brand new to me.
Unlike the excursions that climb the mountain to Whittaker and Bald Knob, the Greenbrier Express uses full-size coaches that are typically pulled instead of pushed by a Shay locomotive. On this day, Shay #4 would do the honors. Built in 1922 for the Birch Valley Lumber Co, Shay #4 was purchased by the Mower Lumber Co. of Cass in 1943, and was actually the locomotive that pulled the final log train off Cass Hill in 1960. Since then it has served on the Cass Scenic Railroad on passenger excursions.
Additionally, this excursion requires the use of the wye within Durbin, which acts as a three-point turn around for a train to reverse its direction of travel. The consist travels into the wye upon arriving in Durbin, and then shoves into the station to unload passengers for about a 1 hour layover. The locomotive is then spun separately, leading it to travel tender first on the return trip.
In the afternoon, I also managed to catch the Greenbrier Express in a meet with Shay #2 on the 2pm Whittaker Excursion. This typically happens on days that multiple train excursions are run out of Cass, WV.
Please enjoy this unique look at the Cass Scenic Railroad along the Greenbrier River!
0:00 Intro
0:43 Description of the excursion
3:52 Shay #4 Runs around the consist
6:59 History of Shay 4
7:43 Departure from Cass, WV at 10 am
10:05 Hosterman
14:23 Nottingham
16:26 Overlook from River Rd.
18:10 Arrival in Durbin on the Wye
21:49 Durbin Station
22:50 Departing Durbin for Cass
24:09 Nottingham
25:33 Shay #2 Arrives in Cass with the Whittaker Excursion
27:23 Shay #4 Arrives in Cass and waits in the Greenbrier
28:40 Shay #2 clears the station track and Shay #4 leads the Greenbrier Express to the depot
33:08 The Greenbrier Express returns to Cass Station
33:43 Outro
Music in this video:
Song: Tropic Fuse
Artist: French Fuse
Licensed to RUclips by: RUclips Audio Library
It's good to see that Cass is finally putting Shay #4 to more regular use again. Unfortunately, since she's the smallest Shay on the roster (only 70 tons), a lot of the modern trains on the mountain are too heavy for her except for specials and sometimes the Whittaker train on lighter days (and as a result, she was often left idling as a backup or helper engine). This Greenbrier line is almost perfect for her, and it's not surprising that #4's been assigned to like 85% of these trains since it reopened.
Glad the line to Durbin is now back in service.Hopefully Cass can paint and letter the coaches properly for this new run soon.
Dang! This brings back memories! I use to ride the rail fan trips put on by the Chesapeake and Allegheny Live Steamers back from 2003 to 2011. Friday was spent at Durbin riding a Climax named the Durbin Rocket up to the point of the wash out. Saturday and Sunday was spent at Cass going all the way to Bald Knob. Western Maryland Shay #6 made an appearance a few times. It's great to hear that the line from Cass to Durbin is back in service. Thanks for putting up this video. Much appreciated!
That sounds like it was an excellent event! I hope to also do one of their railfan weekend events in the future too
@@PANortheasternRailfan I checked their website and the link for the Cass trips was taken down long ago. I hope they bring it back. I really enjoyed those weekends.
Great Video! Ill have to chase the Greenbrier at some point!
Thanks! Yeah it was actually a pretty easy chase all things considered; great scenery!
Great catches awesome chase and nice video collin
Thank you very much!
Good morning collin
I miss when cass used to do double headers everyday
They still do when the trains get big enough
Speaking of which, what happened to Durbin Rocket #3?
Currently it is sitting on the storage line by the shops
Childhood memories come pouring back and I only got to watch the train not ride it.