"Switchback" to Cass, WVa

The day after we arrived in WVa, we visited Cass Scenic Railroad. Cass was a logging town that had the Greenbrier River running right through it, and used it as a way of transporting the logs. When the the railroad was built, the town of Cass no longer needed to have life or death moments on the river unclogging jams and jumping from log to log to escape getting caught in a jam. These logs would float down river early spring when it was was at its highest from the melting snow. As you can see in the pictures, it has been a while since that river has been used for log transportation, but on occasion it will flood.

You can ride the train to a mock logging town mid-mountain or continue to ride to the top, which we have done before, and see the breathtaking view. But with the littles ones in tow (mainly Lucy) we decided to keep it close. It was a good decision considering a bumble bee decided to claim my foot leaving me with a slight limp and looking for tobacco.

The Shea engine. It pushes rather than pulls - more leverage.

We had a smiliar picture 9 years ago when we came to WVa for our honeymoon and visited Cass. I never thought I would see myself a few cars down, 9 years later, with 3 children. Epilogue.
So beautiful with the many shades of green. It almost looks like a prop backdrop against the mountains in the background.
Check out the rods on that engine! (Did I sound "guy" enough?)
Brings literal meaning to "She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes." I guess this is an example of where they got the line, but what was the reason behind pointing out the obvious?
The Greenbrier River. No longer for logs, just fish and fam.

" Our cute whittle wucy" - Ella.
The children had a great time and we actually had to force Ella off the train. Thank you Mom and Dad for such a wonderful trip to Cass. We can't wait to go back when the kids are older and see the whole tour. I'll wear closed toe shoes next time.