Jason Rose Wrote:
=======================================================
> Earl Wrote:
> ==================================================
> =====
>
> > D&GV has an extensive operation based out of
> > Elkins, WV and interchanges with Cass at Old
> > Spruce on the CSRR line to Bald Knob. We also
> > operate a short excursion line out of Durbin on
> > the former C&O line that goes/went to Cass.
> Plans
> > are afoot to restore the washed out portions of
> > the line between Durbin and Cass this spring.
>
> Earl, please forgive all these questions. I'm
> trying to understand the spaghetti bowl of
> railroads out there in WV and I'm starting from
> scratch and using Google Earth as my tool. Looks
> like Durbin is isolated today, but once had a
> connection to Bemis (and Cass, of course). Unless
> I'm seeing things on the satellite maps, it looks
> like there is still some rail in places between
> Durbin and Bemis.
>
> How extensive is the washout between Cass and
> Durbin? Once the railroads are reconnected, will
> excursions be offered between the two points? Any
> opportunity for freight into Durbin?
>
> Does the D&GV operate the line between Elkins and
> Spruce Jct? If so, what is the principal industry?
> Lumber? Warm bodies?
>
> What is the line that runs east from Spruce Jct? I
> recognize the junction from Cass photos. How far
> east does the Cass operate on this line? I
> followed it past Slaty Fork where it turns north
> and fades away. Didn't see any equipment and it
> looks unused and overgrown.
>
> Can you recommend a good web-based resource or a
> book on the area?
>
> Thank you, sir. Congratulations on the new gig.
Well.... you’re not the only one confused. I am too, and I am staring at it........
Yes the WM came into Durbin from the north from Bemis. It was a rather spectacular (for WV anyway) line with serious grades over the mountain and down the river to Durbin. That was torn up in the late 1970's and is now the "West Fork Rail Trail". Its interchange with the line to Spruce south of Bemis was a very interesting stretched out wye crossing the Spruce line like at Mears Jct. I can't comment on whether there is any rail in place.
Durbin is indeed isolated now. There is about 1 1/2 total miles of washed out track between Durbin and Cass. It is our hope that it will be back in service this year. Yes, the intent is to operate excursions between the Cass and Durbin using "conventional" steam power (IOW - not geared). The big dream is to rebuild the WM to Bemis and have a loop from Elkins to Spruce to Cass to Durbin and back to Elkins.
I assume you really meant "west" from Spruce... The line is in service a few miles west of Spruce through "Big Cut" on the ridge between the Cheat River and Slatey Fork. It is out of service, but intact, for miles beyond Big Cut through Bemis and Bergoo to a place I can't recall. This line was active until the early 1980’s hauling coal. The summit at Big Cut is the highest point reached by a common carrier railroad in the eastern USA. All this - including the line north out of Spruce to Bemis was built by the West Virginia Pulp & Paper Co. (who also built the Cass line) to cut lumber. They had over 60 miles of mainline plus who knows how many miles of logging spurs back there in the early 1920's. It was a huge big-time operation. The discovery of coal on the Slatey Fork side of the hill made WVP&P reconsider it’s position as a common carrier as it had set up its rail operations as the “Greenbrier, Cheat & Elk Railroad” for tax purposes. The coal owners wanted GC&E to haul the coal to the WM in Bemis. The WM wanted the coal biz, but the GC&E just wanted to haul logs. They finally reached a deal to sell the GC&E to the WM, keep trackage rights over the whole line, and keep the line from Spruce to Cass for themselves. It took several years for the WM to upgrade the “logging mainline” to their standards (mostly curve straightening), but the WM never could get rid of one 33 degree curve on the mainline north of Spruce. This limited the line to big 2-8-0’s with blind center drivers and 12 wheel tenders. Before that came to be the GC&E bought a pair of 4-truck 150 ton Shays from the C&O to add to their roster of a pair of 100 tonners and one 150 tonner to handle the coal and lumber traffic. The grades out of Slatey Fork were over 3.5% and I’ve seen a pic of GC&E 12 (150 tonner) with 13 cars of logs behind it (all that would fit in the tail tracks of the switchbacks out of Cass) followed by one of the x-C&O 4-truckers, followed by 20 cars of coal, all grinding their way up the hill at 5mph.
WVP&P finished cutting over on the Elk and Cheat Rivers by WWII. With all the spruce for pulp wood cut out, they sold the rest of the RR and Cass Mill to Mower Lumber Co.
Mower finished up cutting saw logs for the Cass Mill over on the Cheat River by the end of the 1940’s, then built a new line up off the original mainline to Spruce up to the summit of Bald Knob. They logged that until 1960 until they ran out of timber and shut down. The State bought it as a tourist attraction on 1962.
