Page 13 - NMRA Roundhouse March-April 2020

This is one of the few structures still standing from the old mill. Large fires in 1978 and 1982 have left the complex
a ruin of rusting, twisted steel, masonry, and concrete.
to build a massive sawmill in Cass that at one time was the largest double band sawmill in the world. Sadly, due to fires and the ravages of time only the ruins of the mill complex exist today.
My family and I first visited Cass in 2014, and we immediately fell in love with the unique steamers.
Like all steam locomotives they seem to be a living breathing creature. However, the Shays are very different in that they have no drive rods but rather are geared. The advantage is that every wheel is a drive wheel, and they have a lot of low- end torque, but the trade-off is that they are very slow. Due to this arrangement, Shay locomotives sound very different than their rodded cousins. Instead of a sharp chuff chuff as a rod locomotive makes, the Shay locomotives have a
loud steady roar with a slight three-part inflection.
An old flat car sits forgotten on an un- used spur as nature begins to reclaim it.
Cass has a large number of operating geared locomotives with five Shays,
and also two other types of geared steam locomotives, a Climax and a Heisler. They have a full machine shop that can take care of every need the old locomotives may have including a com- plete rebuild.
Near the locomotive shops sits the Cass water tower that they use to fill the locomotives before they begin the climb up the mountain.
Most of the time in Cass you can choose between two different trains up the mountain.The shorter trip stops at Whittaker station, which was once a logging camp.There you can see sev- eral exhibits that show how life was
in logging camps, and some historic logging equipment.The longer trip takes passengers all the way to the 4,843 foot high Bald Knob peak. Both runs really show off the beauty of this remote part of West Virginia. Along the way the loco- motive must make stops for water in a very unique way.
The smoke from old #5 swirls madly through the spark arrestor as she works hard pushing us up the mountain. Listening to the roar of the Shay you would think they are going very fast, but in reality, they top out at about 12 mph
Due to the fact that they were often working on temporary tracks, and places where there were no water towers, many geared locomotives have a unique ability. They can be equipped with a steam siphon to draw water from creeks, ponds, or reservoirs. Here our locomotive was paused on the mountain getting a drink from a holding tank.
On our 2014 visit we took a special train ride up to Bald Knob, the third highest peak in West Virginia.This was a special moonlight train intended for us to be able to see the full moon in the lovely dark skies where there is very little light pollution.Though the clouds rolled in and obscured our view, we had a blast anyway as the evening ride up the moun- tain in the dark was very special.
ROUNDHOUSE -- Marrch//Aprriill 2020
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