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Ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad
10 - 11 May 2002
The Good Ole' Days Right
Now
by Matt Schaefer
Note: Here's a gallery to accompany
the following article!
CASS SCENIC RR - We have been hearing so much chest pounding and baloney on logging railroads that Mitch Brown and I decided to take a sabbatical to Cass, WV. Today the Cass track does not look like the rickety track we would model for a logging RR. With the FRA
(Federal Railroad Administration) and with track for the Big Six, a 150 toner, the track is smooth and well ballasted. The 70# rail has been replaced with 110# stuff. The grade averages 6% with a max of 11% as you approach the top of Bald Knob. I was told
by Zane Hickman, the track foreman, that the super-elevations were up to 2.5": but it looked to me like 1 to 1.5" was the norm.
CASS PHOTO SPECIAL - I can not praise Carl Franz's Cass Photo Special May 11 - 12 enough. I have ridden 100s of steam specials, SRR, NS and the Chessie Steam Specials that ran from 8 AM to 8 PM if they were on time and it was like getting into a nice long vacation and you don't want it to stop. I got the same feeling on Carl's Photo Special and then when I looked at all my pictures and again realized what a wonderful 19 hours of railroading it was, 8 to 6 Saturday and 8 to 5 Sunday. This ain't a boring 2 hour scenic tourist ride. (See photos).
We bunked up at the Snowshow Inn and had discussions and slide shows Friday on logging and the other scenic railroads. This was Carl's 62 conducted trip on the Cass RR so he does have the experience. Carl rents the whole RR, the tourist train and an extra working log train and limits the weekend to 80 adults. In that way he can frequently and easily unload the passengers, have runbys under various situations and reload. Operations include a log loading demonstration and a meet with the Salamander doodlebug at Spruce where there used to be a logging town. . While Carl keeps busy running the trains by we strolled in woods and fields of wildflowers and through spruce forests carpeted with plush moss. The kids can all get a turn in the cab and blow the whistle.
Carl has an open top car placed in front of the pusher shay where everyone can ride right at the cowcatcher, face to face with the hot smoke box door and feel every puff and stroke of the engine. Carl sees that everyone gets a turn there and for as ling as they like. Your outfit could get poka-dots real fast from sticky wet black soot blown out the funnel stack if the conditions and wind are right as #5 had no superheater to dry the exhaust steam. Shay #11 did have a superheater. Each Shays burns about 4 tons of coal on the 20 mile round trip. For part of the trip he places a flat car between the pusher and the open car to give a clear photo view of the pusher engine running at full load.. It is wonderful to see an organization operated at it's peak performance and appreciate what the operation Carl Franz put on for us. You just had to be there
Number 5 was brought to Cass new in 1904, 98 good years ago and it is kept in like new condition now by Artie, the hogger and chief of it's maintenance. Artie has been at Cass all his life, probably 60 years and gave us a talk from his heart about his life at Cass and the lives of the engines. Artie told us flatlanders about all the miracles when moving the Climax they just got from Oregon. That Climax is now all torn down and will take years to get running. Then with the Dublin Rocket they will have 2 Climax engines, the only two running in the east and there is one in Oregon. As we were coming down the mountain Sunday with the 2 engines and 9 cars we dumped the air went into an emergency stop. Artie explained that the problem was both engines were providing air to the train and were fighting for control. That sounds like a problem we had with Digitrax boosters!
The Cass museum has a 40' x 8' HO diorama of Cass and the RR with a slide show on Cass history. They said the lumber camps had 1200 "wood hicks" that would cut 10 acres of timber a day and Cass interchanged 44 loads out and 44 empties in every day to the C&O RR. The town of Cass is basically in tact and there are plans to restore the interiors of the doctor's home and a worker's house. Cass has revenue income of $1.4 million annually which pays for 68% of their budget. Ninety thousand is spent annually for coal and $60k for repairs. The have 2 welders and 2 machinists and 29 full time employees. With the addition of the WV Central RR I estimate there is over 50 miles of usable track and over 15 tourist train running each Saturday and each Sunday in the Cass area.
These are the good ole' days right now. There is talk that the East Broad Top cannot sustain operations for very long and the buildings and shops will not last long either. Carl says the WM out of Cumberland has lost it's appeal because they added a bike trail and chain link fence all along it's ROW (right of way). Take advantage of this summer and see these magnificent operating machines nearby (including Amtrak) while you can. And when Carl schedules another Cass Photo special go enjoy a once in a lifetime experience. The Cass RR is becoming the standard RR of the world for logging and for shays and it is right here about 5 hours from Chantilly. If he schedules one day this fall it will be about $100 which compares with the price of any other all day tour or an Amtrak trip.
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