Cass Scenic Railroad

Today I attended a photo charter at the Cass Scenic Railroad. ; Cass has the largest collection of geared logging locomotives in the world and currently has 6 that are operational. ; Along with the help of the dedicated volunteers of the Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association, they are currently working on rebuilding a 7th steam engine. ;

Here's the first runby of the morning:



... more to come

 

Thanks Poly.

The second runby of the day was the 3 train race. ; Think drag racing only with geared steam locomotives. ; Although a drag racing shay is sort of an oxymoron[nb]The top speed for a Shay locomotive is a whopping 12mph. ; [/nb]

 

Thanks Dennis!

You got that right! ; And when Big Six rolls by, the ground shakes

 

Continuing up the line, former Western Maryland Shay #6, aka "Big Six"[nb]Big Six was built in 1945 for the Western Maryland railroad. ; After being used for only 4 years, #6 was then stored and eventually donated to the Baltimore & Ohio Museum in Baltimore, MD, where it remained until 1981 when it was acquired by Cass in a trade for Cass Shay #1 and an 0-4-0 porter. ; Big six was the last Shay ever built and the largest still in operation, weighing in at 162 tons.[/nb] approaches the Back Mountain Road grade crossing:



Further up the line, #6 pushes a flatcar into the first switchback:

 

thanks craig!

 

Great shots!! ; Have thought about going to Cass in the past, just never made it up there. ; Maybe I need to keep that one on the list of places to visit.

 

thanks guys! ;

Here's a couple more. ;

Before the first runbys of the morning, we were allowed to walk around the yard and watch them get the shay's ready. ; Here's fireman Amy shining the number plate on #11:



To save time, they coupled the two trains together on one of the long runs between photo locations. ; This one was taken from the end of an open "cinder" car while we were backing down the hill:

 

Beautiful shots Michael. I too like the race shot. You made these look like there were alive.

 

Thanks guys! ; I'll try to post a couple more this week.

Actually I can't take credit for the idea. ; I saw a similar shot that someone else took on another photo charter and tried it myself, so there's at least one other one out there. ; Anyway, its not that hard to do... you just have to hold real still for 1/10s ;

 

Here's a couple more...

Big Six running in reverse shoving the log train uphill past Gum Field toward the second switchback:



Big Six somewhere farther up the line (note to self... take better notes next time...):

 

great shots

 

Thanks guys!