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| Betsy and George at Cass, West VA --enjoying the steam train to Bald Knob |
In order to celebrate our Anniversary this year, George and I took a trip to the glorious state of West Virginia --which we LOVE. Even though we did ALOT of different things while we were there, the main reason we chose that area this year was to take a ride on a train at the Cass Scenic Railroad in Cass, West Virginia. We took the old steam engine (Shay Locomotive) train with open-air cars/seating WAY UP to Bald Knob (elevation 4,842 feet). The 11 mile trip up that mountain and back down takes a total of 4.5 hours --with 4 stops along the way. The elevation at Cass is 2688 feet ---so if you do the math, you'll see that we climbed a total of 2,154 feet. One can feel the temperature getting colder the farther UP we go. They say to bring a jacket even in SUMMER...
The Bald Knob area has a climate similar to Canada and is abundant in
plants typical to the Canadian wilderness. I enjoyed seeing all of the Red Spruce trees at the higher elevations. The spectacular view from
atop the overlook at Bald Knob provided a view into two states, West Virginia and Virginia (Skyline Drive area).
George and I had been on this train once before --but the day we were there, it was very very very cold... We about froze to death on that open-air train. SO---we said back then that we hoped to return and take the train ride again. This time the weather was excellent.
As many of you know, I LOVE trains, especially the old steam engines. My Dad worked for the railroad for about 50 years --and when I was young, he would take me to work with him--so that I could take a ride in one of the steam engines... SUCH great memories!!!! SO---anytime I get a chance to ride one of these old trains, I take it --and love every second of it.
Before reading the rest of this blog post, please take a minute and watch this short video. The video will tell you more about the ride we took than anything I can say or show you through photos. I promise---it won't take long but you will enjoy this little video (just to get to hear the whistle and bell if nothing else). You can opt out of the commercial after the first few seconds. Click
HERE to see that video. You will love it I'm sure!!
The photo above is a picture of us taken with our tripod at the Whittaker Station (elevation about 3100 feet), on the way up to Bald Knob. Whittaker is one of four stops along the way. Besides the other main stop, Bald Knob, the train has to stop along the way both going and coming to take on water for the engine...
Here is another great video (click
HERE) giving much more detail about the Shay Locomotives and how they all work/operate... This video is done by a father (found the video online and do not know him) talking to his children as they go up the mountain. He does an excellent job I think --and his children learned alot. (He reminds me of my youngest son, who always taught his children everything as they 'explored' the world around them..) Like most families with young children, they opted to take the shorter ride which only goes up to the Whittaker Station, a total ride of about 2 hours. We personally like the longer ride to Bald Knob.
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| We got to Cass early so that we could watch the other train (to Whittaker Station) leave the station. |
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| My husband had to take his turn as Engineer (he wished).... ha |
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| I, on the other hand, preferred the Caboose!!! |
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| Here comes our train into the station!!! ALL ABOARD!!! |
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| We love the LAST car on the train and chose it so that we could get good pictures of the engine when it goes around curves--heading up or down that mountain. Sometimes, the engine would PUSH us and sometimes it would PULL us!!! (There were some switchbacks along the way. We even passed the Whittaker Train on our way up--as it headed back down.) |
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| The engine is working HARD pushing us up that mountain! |
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| This is where the train stopped to take on WATER both going up and down the mountain. |
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| The views from the train were fantastic!!! |
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| I loved seeing the gorgeous woods ALL around us--as we headed up the mountain. |
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| Looking the other direction at the tracks |
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| Our Train at Bald Knob |
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| The overlook at Bald Knob... At 4,842 feet in elevation --and a little chilly up there; But--the views were GREAT. |
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| This caboose at Bald Knob is for rent. A person can ride the train up --and stay up there for the night and until the train comes back the next day...Then they ride back down the mountain on that train... IF you love nature, you would be up on the mountain with no electricity nor water!!! It will be just YOU and NATURE (and the critters)...Sound like fun????? |
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| Headed back down the mountain; Most of us are still standing up taking photos!! |
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| After getting back to Cass, we watched our No. 5 Train head out to its "home" for the night! We waved goodbye after a fantastic day! |
I have another post ready to publish on Monday --telling you what we saw and did while on that special train ride... SO--you'll just have to wait!! If you want more information about the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, click
HERE. If we lived closer, we'd be taking this train ride more often. Wouldn't it be fantastic in Autumn when the leaves change? OR--wouldn't it be fun to take one of their Night Rides --during a Full Moon???? WOW!!!!
Have a fantastic weekend and I'll see you Monday!
Hugs,
