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Cass Scenic Railroad by Tim Hensley & Bob Withers with Ken Miller Hard Cover
Cass Scenic Railroad by Tim Hensley & Bob Withers with Ken Miller
Fifty years a state park
A century of steam on Bald Knob
Hard Cover
238 pages
Copyright 2013
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements V
Dedication VII
Foreword:My First Trip To Cass by Tim Hensley IX
Introduction: Bob Withers XVII
Chapter 1: The GC&E Years (1900-1942) 1
Chapter 2: The Mower Years (1942-1960) 33
Chapter 3: West Virginia: A Geared-Locomotive Mecca61
Chapter 4: From Timber To Tourism (1960-1963) 85
Chapter 5: The Opening Years (1963-1968) 111
Chapter 6: The Developing Years (1968-present) 125
Chapter 7: The State Buys A Town 143
Chapter 8: Special Movements 159
Chapter 9: Bringing Home The 'Big Six' 175
Chapter 10:Annual Railfan Weekends 185
Chapter 11:Railroad and Recreational Neighbors 193
Chapter 12:A Day In The Life of Cass 199
Chapter 13:'Sandhouse' has it 207
Chapter 14:Future Plans 219
Appendix A: For Further Reading 222
Appendix B: A Cass Chronology223
A Cass Color Gallery 224
INTRODUCTION
1899, when John Guthrie Luke of Brooklyn, N.Y. paid $585,000 to purchase 67,619 acres of red spruce in the mountains of eastern West Virginia to supply his paper mill in nearby Covington,Va., little did he know that the enterprise would develop into one of the most expansive railroad logging operations in the country.
Nor could he have known that the property would be reincarnated into a top-rate tourist operation that would extend its life to well over a century and attract fans from all over the world, to ride converted logging flatcars on trains powered by geared steam locomotives through some of the most scenic areas of not only the Mountain State, but the eastern part of the nation.
At the height of the West Virginia Pulp & Paper Co.'s development in the 1920s, it consisted of 101 miles of railroad. In addition, dozens of logging branch lines were constantly being taken up and relaid in new locations, as virgin and second-growth areas were logged out.
At one time or q another, 91 lumber mills - big and small - operated in Pocahontas County. Several tanneries, fueled by the conversion of hemlock bark into industrial liquors, also prospered.
Starting about the time of the 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent economic onslaught of the Great Depression, the local wood industry, however, slipped into decline - its zenith only lasted about 40 years. Cass, by far the largest, was the last of the great timber operations, closing down under the auspices of the Mower Lumber Co. in 1960.
But like Phoenix from the ashes, its folksy, side-winding railroad arose to survive. Today, it is the cornerstone of an estimated $66 million, local tourist-based economy that also includes a thriving ski industry. The biting whine of the band saw has been more than adequately replaced by the exuberant wh0000sh of white powder.
Thankfully, and as a constant reminder of that glorious past, steam whistles still ring off the Greenbrier Valley hills. "What West Virginia Pulp & Paper did in the very late 1890s has blessed us all the way up through today," historian Bill Mc-Neel surmised.
This, then, is the definitive story of the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, which - at 11.4 miles in length and 50 feet in width - is the longest and narrowest state park in West Virginia, and certainly one of such parameters in the United States. Now that this national treasure is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2013, thumb through these pages and read about the railroad's history as a hauler of saw logs and pulpwood, its conversion into a rare living museum that has contributed significantly to West Virginia's reputation as a prime player in the East Coast's tourism industry, and plans for its future development. - Bob Withers
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