Railways around Spruce

West Virginia

The Cass Scenic Railroad and the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad meet at Spruce

This picture was taken at Spruce by Frank Wiechers during a railfan weekend in 2000.

In the foreground is the British Leyland railbus, used on the Cheat Mountain Salamander service of the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad until 2000.

In the background is a train of the Cass Scenic Railroad, headed by Shay #6, its vertical cylinders on the side away from us, facing the photographers on the embankment. The spark arresting smokestack of another Shay can be seen, just behind the railbus. On the middle track is a tank car filled with water, used to replenish the steam locomotives.

Even when this picture was taken, it was an unusual event for both railways to be present at Spruce at the same time, because although both the Cheat Mountain Salamander and the Cass Scenic Railroad served Spruce, in normal operation they ran there on different days. Today the meet would be impossible as the railroad north of Spruce has been closed to passenger traffic since the fall of 2010, and neither service has been able to access the location. Reopening is anticipated around 2013-14.

• History of the lines
• Decline and revival
• The lines today
• The railbus
• Shay, Heisler, Climax
• The Cheat Mountain Salamander

© 2007-2011 Glyn Williams
Photo image © 2000 Frank Wiechers
West Virginia flag image from Wikipedia
Pocahontas County emblem from the Pocahontas County website
Special thanks to the Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association
for providing much of the information and several of the photos used on these pages
Thanks also to SPV for their excellent Railroad Atlases