My wife and I traveled to West Virginia and rode the CASS railway as part of our anniversary celebration. (Patient and agreeable woman!) The roads were good and price of gas in W. VA. is low (compared with PA)! Gas in W. Va. was $0.65 per gallon LESS than in PA. We stayed in Elkins and drove the 55 miles to Cass on the morning of the ride. At Elkins we saw EMD BL2 #82 with a WM fireball, one of two BL2's that have survived. There is an Isaac Jackson Inn and a Holiday Inn Express in Elkins, and possibly others. We stayed at the Jackson and were pleased with the room and the price. The free breakfast was a little disappointment though.
This was our first visit to Cass, and I have a new appreciation for the Lima Shay! There were four Shays in service, including Nos. 2,4,5,and 11. Our train to the top of Bald Knob had seven cars and therefore was double headed with #2 and helper #4. No. 2 is a Pacific Coast Shay. (Actually, the trains are pushed to the top in the interest of safety.) We were in the car closest to the engines, and the sound was spectacular. And so was the performance. At one point, the two Shays started the 350 ton 7 car train on a 9 percent grade without slipping. I calculated that the required drawbar pull (er, drawbar "push") was close to 70,000 lb! There is a short stretch of grade that is 12 percent, and the engines were down to about 2 mph but did not slip! Each engine burned about 4-1/2 tons of coal and used about 3000 gal. of water. There were two switchbacks used; I have never been on a train using a switchback previous to this trip. Helper #4 ran downhill to a switchback ahead of the train, and #2 brought the train downhill on the return trip. The grade is so severe that handbrakes are set up on each car and the engine has to pull the train downhill!
I have never had much interest in small steam, but I believe that this operation is one of the best and most interesting in the country, and I highly recommend it.
