Just got back from vacation last weekend and thought you might like to enjoy these pictures taken at the Durbin & Greenbriar RR and at the Cass State Railroad Museum in West Virginia…my thanks to tstage for letting me in on these fantastic railroads and… West Virginia?..what a beautiful state!
scrap2-8-0
WM shay # 6 pulling it’s load up the mountain
that’s me at the top of the mountain by the shay
log skidder
Here is a picture of the D&GB RR climax locomotive…I got to see inside the boiler in this engine the night before. The train mechanics were “punching” the tubes in the locomotive within a small engine house and I chatted with them for about an hour. They lit the boiler off about 11 P.M. and then by 8 AM the next morning the train went off on it’s run into the mountains which i got this picture of. My wife and I left after the climax left the depot and then went to ride the shay at Cass which was about 20 miles south of the D&GB railroad.
Its been years since I went to Cass, when I was there the Durbin & Green Brier RR didn’t exsist. I’m assuming they must have rebuilt some of the ROW that washed out? As far as West Virgina goes, I’ve only been there a couple times, but I love it, I love the going through the mountains. Thats why I model that!
I now know why this are of the U.S. is modeled so much. Everything is very condensed. My wife and I drove thru the valleys that were perfect for modeling mountain scenery. A mountain, then buildings aside the mountains, a road, a creek, and then tracks can all be modeled in about 12" to 18" of space. I took lots of pictures of this area to get better modeling ideas!..chuck