The Cass Scenic Railroad 

I concur, I’ve been to cass many times in the past on good weather days they sometimes give more in depth tours of all exhibits.

I have ridden the Cass railroad 4 times. I especially enjoyed riding behind their Heisler locomotive. I hope to take my younger children there some day soon. I agree that it is as significant as the Durango and Silverton (which I have ridden twice), but more accessible than excursions like the N&W 611 or Pere Marquette 1225.

Oh I love the place shay 4 is my fav

Went there in the early 80s! It was great, my mother-in-law wanted to go so we took her! A definite must do if you love steam locos!

That's what these fascinating locomotives are designed for.

Wait to you see a rack railway

The Shay shaft driven locomotive was designed to pull steep grades hauling lumber and coal among other things. Trains are truly fascinating to me.

Geared steam engines pull rather like diesel-electrics or electrics in that regard, they can start trains they can't pull at speed. Every axle is powered, and the application of power is effectively constant (unlike in a direct drive steam locomotive where power comes in pulses and usually less than all axles are powered), plus the factor of adhesion is similar to that of diesels.

Wonder aloud, “does the train go faster when *she’s* running it?” In fiction, women get three extra notches, for a total of *eleven,* when they are driving the trains…

Not a new line. A reopening of the old C&O branch which was washed out by the remains of a Hurricane. Operations at Cass have change from the times that dad and I went there. Back on our first trip, the old shop at Cass was still smoking from the shop fire. Shay #6 from WM wasn't even there yet. Operations up the mountains were Whitaker run first, Bald Knob run second, second run to Whitaker third. On the trip back down from Whitaker, run 1 met run 2 on the switchbacks. If you rode run 1 to Whitaker, you could walk part way back down the switchback and film the Bald Knob run on the way up. Or if you had bought tickets to Bald Knob, change trains at Whitaker and ride on up to Bald Knob. On the return of the Bald Knob run to Whitaker, the third run would be waiting there. Third run would head down about 15 minutes before the second one from Bald Knob. WM #6 when it arrived was found to be too hard on the old track up the mountain. So it ended up being used on a run from Cass to Durbin. Heisler #6 often pulled the Whitaker run and was also used on the runs to Durbin as it could run at higher speeds safely. Due to the washed out Cass to Durbin track isolating Cass, they relaid the track to Spruce and Bald Knob with ballast even. Something not seen on the hills before that. That now allows WM #6 to safely operate to Bald Knob.

Thanks so much for watching!

Yw god bless.

I’m pretty sure it is lol

There are several switchbacks along the route, so it alternates from shoving to pulling....

Back in the revenue logging days, the locomotive would push empties up the mountain so that the engineer and fireman could focus on running the locomotive while the conductor and brakeman watched the track. On the way down, the focus of the conductor and brakeman was to control the speed of the train via brakes while it was the engineer and fireman’s turn to watch the tracks.

Number 5 is a cass original and the oldest operating locomotive in the usa

Not the #5. It has spent it's whole life at Cass

You’re thinking of Shay 11

That would be Shay 11. Shay 5 is actually original to the line, and has plodded up this mountain for over 110 years!

I totally agree!

Some of the curves on that line are so tight, they’d derail.

5hrs

6 hours for the newly restored line to Durbin.

You have not been paying attention.

@@kingwiththeax6880 hail satan

Not really. That private corporation has re-opened a long-abandoned stretch of track and has restored many new locomotives since taking over. The actually done a lot of good.