Page 12 - May June 2009

Cass Scenic Railroad State Park Pocahontas County, West Virginia
The operating season for the Cass Scenic Railroad, in keeping with other railroad museums in the United States, usually starts on Memorial Day weekend at the end of May and runs daily until Labor Day, which is at the beginning of September.
Following Labor Day almost all railway museums change their schedule and only run trains at weekends, or in some states perhaps daily during October for the ‘Fall Colors’.
This was the situation I found myself in when I visited Cass on weekdays 17–19 September last year. However, all was not lost as four locos were in steam in the yard being prepared for the weekend trips. Unfortunately, the biggest Shay built, Western Maryland No 6, was in the shops undergoing repairs.
Providing you first obtain a visitor’s badge from the head office there is no problem wandering around the yard and workshops.
History
Cass, West Virginia, was built as a company town in 1901 by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company to serve the needs of the men who worked the nearby mountains cutting spruce and hemlock. This operation was sold to Mower Lumber Company in the 1940s, who continued cutting timber off Cheat Mountain until Mower closed down the railway and timber mill in 1960. Sadly, the closed mill was destroyed by fire.
Fortunately, a Pennsylvania railfan by the name of Russell Baum convinced the West Virginia state legislature to make the Cass Railroad a State Park, and the first tourist train ran in 1963 from Cass to Whittaker (four miles). Today the railroad runs not only to Whittaker station but on through the ghost town of Spruce
continued from p. 11
Motors (seen) are connected to switches by rods passing underneath Railway Avenue etc.
The red pickup truck might contain barrels of lubricating oil or even beer. Take your pick!
For the technically minded, grain cars are only loaded up to a “Load Limit” for each type of grain (wheat, rye, barley etc) so as not to exceed the line’s axle­weight limit or to rock and roll too far on uneven track when a spring thaw causes a severe “frost heave”. At times even major highways are closed for several weeks at that time of the year, and traffic on the very last day before closure resembles the chuck wagon races at the Calgary Stampede. Cars that roll over too far may eventually derail and cause a serious accident. So that is why Canadian car builders developed the cylindrical shape (or teardrop), which gives a lower centre of gravity whereas the conventional designs with a heavy centre sill have to have either a higher centre of gravity or shallower discharge slopes for a given capacity. The Bachmann model demonstrates one of the dodges that were adopted to gain a bit more capacity, and it is a robust model able to stand a bit of rough handling, which the more intricate Intermountain variety doesn’t like very much.
A complete history of grain cars would take up another dozen articles, but for those who want more information a reference section is appended.
Oh, yes, a track gang just managed to squeeze into the picture, to remind us that no trains at all could run without their vital maintenance services!
References
Railmodel Journal, November 1991 has:
Scale plans in HO and N scales of National Steel Car Co­built N 3800 cu ft capacity covered hopper cars with list of CN, CP and private firms’ cars. Also pictures and notes re Bachmann and Model Power cars and some 4550 cu ft cars.
Kenneth Williamson
(once the coldest and highest town east of the Rockies) to Bald Knob mountain, travelling a total of 11 miles on steep grades through the Back Allegheny Mountains. The round trip takes four and a half hours.
Locos
On the day I visited the Cass Scenic Railroad they had four locomotives in steam, three Shays and a Heisler. Two other Shays were in the shops. There is also a Climax that is currently being restored by the Mountain State Railroad and Logging Historical Association.
The Shay locomotive has been credited to Ephraim Shay (1839– 1916), who amongst other things was a logger. He built his own railroad and in 1877 invented the Shay locomotive so that he could haul timber off the mountain and to the mill in a quicker and more economical way.
The first Shay sat on a flat car with a boiler, gears and trucks that could pivot and had two cylinders which operated through a series of gears over the inside portion of the rear truck.
The Lima Locomotive Works in Ohio, only after being influenced by John Carnes, expanded the idea, which resulted in the classic Shay design that we still see running.
The Lima Locomotive Works built nearly every Shay, including the last and largest Shay, Western Maryland No 6, which is still in operation at Cass.
In addition to the railroad restoration the original company store has also been restored and now includes a restaurant. The company houses that once housed the workers have also been restored and are for rent throughout the year. There are 20 houses of varying sizes available.
Also the unique CN “Rainbow” cars painted on one side in coloured stripes for transport of Hexyl 1:6 Di­Isocyanate. A former Chief Chemist (and Mayor of Trafford) told me what it was, but he didn’t know what it was used for.
Model Railroader, February 1994 has:
Scale plans in S scale for cylindrical covered hopper car variously described as 4350 (on CNR) 4500 and 4550 cu ft capacity. It shows the slanted ends, which date from about 1976 (as seen on Intermountain models).
It shows a wide variety of paint schemes including the 1996 era aluminium cars used on the CNR Hudson Bay branch (and seen on the April 2009 cover, sitting behind the red “Canada” car). Also seen are multicoloured roof hatch covers, again as seen on the April 2009 front cover).
About the only thing missing is the 2007 Saskatchewan green­ and­tiger lilies paint job!
Canadian Rail Car Pictorial, Volume 7: Canadian Pacific Covered Hopper Cars, by Richard Yaremko; lSBN 0­9681186­9­0; published by Prairie Rail Publishing, 3801 16th Street SE, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 4W5; fax (403)­265­3171. This out­of­print work is a mine of information on (American and) Canadian cars including the latest CP SOO 5300 cu ft capacity ACF­style curved­side cars of the 1990s, with beaver shield.
Morning Sun colour books devoted to CNR and CPR freight cars give some pictures and notes, but not as extensively as the above­listed sources.
This ends our brief review of a big story. The last section has cleared yard limits, and guests at the trackside Palace Hotel may go back to sleep until the next train comes rumbling over the bridge and blasts off a loud warning for the grade crossing just outside their bedroom windows.
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