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July 7, 2005
Cass Scenic Railroad State Park Features Whittaker Station Logging Camp
by David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
Cass, WV (HNN) –When you travel to Cass Scenic Railroad State Park you have a wide variety of choices, but any decision should include either a trip to Whittaker Station – about halfway up the mountain – or the long trip to Bald Knob – at 4,842 square feet above sea level – the second highest point in the Mountain State.
The Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association has recreated a logging camp of the 1940's at Whittaker Station which shows both the living quarters and the equipment used by the loggers. The centerpiece of Camp One is a Lidgerwood tower skidder, one of only two examples left in the world. These huge railcar–mounted machines carried logs out of the woods on aerial cables high in the air and for distances up to 3,000 feet.
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First time visitors often comment on the dilapidated state of some of the buildings in the town of Cass. The big store, the depot, the houses, etc., are all in excellent condition, but ruins abound. When the park was created in 1962 – the first train trips began the next year – the goal was not to create another totally restored Colonial Williamburg attraction. It was to provide a travel/educational experience to show the importance of railroads and timbering in West Virginia. Northern Pocahontas County – where Cass, Durbin and Green Bank are located – was the last part of the state to get railroads and they were important in the economic development of the state.
It's almost impossible to describe the experience of a train trip to Whittaker Station or Bald Knob. The speeds are not great, but the eerie whistles at the crossings, and the ever present clackety–clack of the rails will indeed make you feel as if you have been transported back in time. The train soon passes through the first switchback, reverses up a steep grade, and ascends to the second switchback where the process is repeated, and then finally into open fields and Whittaker Station. The switchback process allows the train to gain quick altitude, and in this instance, the train is traversing a grade of up to 11 percent, or 11 feet in altitude for each 100 feet of track. A 2 percent grade on conventional railroads is considered steep!
If you haven't been to Cass, by all means go this year. It's one of West Virginia's – and the nation's – treasures.
