Cass Scenic Railroad

The Cass Scenic Railroad climbs a logging line of 1901 behind the engines that were built to work it. From the old company town of Cass, in the mountains of eastern West Virginia, a geared Shay steam locomotive pushes a train of open-sided cars 11 miles up Back Allegheny Mountain to Bald Knob, at 4,842 ft the third-highest point in the state — a climb of 2,390 ft through hardwood forest into red spruce.

Cass keeps the largest fleet of Shays anywhere, along with a Heisler and a Climax, and every train from its depot runs on steam. The full trip to Bald Knob takes about five hours with a stop at the summit overlook; a shorter two-hour run goes as far as the logging camp at Whittaker Station. The same operator runs a third steam train from Cass, the Greenbrier Express, along the Greenbrier River to Durbin.

The trains run on selected days from May to October, and the autumn colour, from mid-September, is when they fill first.

Trains leave the old depot at Cass, 2,452 ft up in the valley of the Greenbrier River, and pass the wooden water tower and the locomotive shop before turning up Leatherbark Creek onto the slopes of Cheat Mountain. From here the line climbs almost without a break. The locomotive sits at the downhill end and pushes, and the grades average four to five per cent, far steeper than a main line. Near the bottom the train works up two switchbacks, running forward into a dead end and then reversing up the next leg, the engine pulling and pushing in turn.

Beyond the entrance to Cass Cave the line levels out at Whittaker Station, a meadow with long views over the country below, where the builders of the railroad lived in a logging camp. Volunteers of the Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association have recreated one there. The two-hour Whittaker trains stop for half an hour and return to Cass.

To the top of Bald Knob

The Bald Knob train carries on, 11 miles in all, up Back Allegheny Mountain. The oak, birch and maple give way to red spruce, and the air cools: at this height the plants and animals, snowshoe hares among them, are those of country far to the north. The line ends near the summit of Bald Knob, 4,842 ft, the third-highest point in West Virginia, where a rustic overlook looks down over the valleys and, far below, the white dish of the Green Bank Telescope. A sack lunch is included in the ticket.

The engines and the train

The Shay was designed for exactly this kind of railroad. It has no rods on its wheels: upright cylinders on the right-hand side turn a long shaft, and every axle is driven through its own bevel gear, so every wheel pulls. The boiler sits off-centre to the left to balance them. Cass has five Shays. No. 5, delivered to this line in 1905, is the oldest Shay still at work anywhere and the official steam locomotive of West Virginia; No. 6, built in 1945 for the Western Maryland, was the last Shay ever built. There is also a Heisler of 1929 and a Climax of 1919, back in steam since 2019, so all three kinds of geared logging engine run here.

The passenger cars are converted log cars, roofed but open at the sides, with wooden benches. You book a car and choose your own seat once aboard. Bring a jacket: it is cooler at the top than in Cass, and the train runs rain or shine.

The line was built to bring timber down to the mill at Cass, which closed with the railroad in 1960. The state of West Virginia took it over as a park, and the first passenger train climbed to Whittaker in 1963. Since 2015 it has been run by the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad, which trades as Mountain Rail West Virginia.

The Greenbrier Express

From Cass the same company runs a third steam train on a different line: the Greenbrier Express, which follows the Greenbrier River on the Chesapeake and Ohio's line of 1902 upstream to Durbin, through a remote stretch of the Monongahela National Forest. It takes about five and a half hours there and back, with lunch at Durbin.

All three steam trains run on selected days only from May to October, and every trip is a round trip from the depot at Cass. Special trains, such as the Halloween and Christmas at Cass trains, are sold separately on their own dates.

Good to know:

• Book well ahead in autumn. At the end of September nearly every Bald Knob train in October was already sold out.
• Arrive half an hour early at the Cass depot, 12363 Cass Road, Cass.
• Rain or shine. The cars are roofed but open at the sides, and the top of the mountain is cooler than the valley, so bring a layer. If anyone in your party is sensitive to noise, the operator suggests ear plugs.
• Food: the Bald Knob ticket includes a cold lunch. Nothing is sold on the Whittaker train, so bring a picnic.

Departures as of September 2026, from the operator's booking system, which lists only dates still on sale. Confirm before travelling on mountainrailwv.com (opens in a new tab).

Tickets are sold online for a date and a car, and you choose your seat in that car once aboard. The Bald Knob trip costs $85 for adults and $65 for children aged 4 to 11, lunch included; the Whittaker Station trip costs $65 and $45. Seniors and military veterans pay a little less, and children aged 3 and under ride free but still need a ticket. From 16 September to the end of October every fare rises by $10. Taxes and booking fees are extra.

Cancel more than 48 hours before departure and 90 % of the fare is refunded; after that there is no refund, but you can move to another date in the same season. Fares checked September 2026 at mountainrailwv.com (opens in a new tab); US dollars.

No rail pass covers the Cass trains. They are run by Mountain Rail West Virginia, which sells its own tickets. Amtrak's USA Rail Pass is valid only on Amtrak's own trains and buses, and Interrail and Eurail do not apply anywhere in the United States.

The only reductions are the ones built into the fares: child, senior and military rates, and free travel for children aged 3 and under.

Checked September 2026 against mountainrailwv.com (opens in a new tab) and amtrak.com (opens in a new tab).

Cass lies in Pocahontas County, in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, surrounded by the Monongahela National Forest. The company town is worth an unhurried look before or after the train, and the observatory at Green Bank, the one you see from Bald Knob, is a short drive away.

The obvious place to stay is Cass itself, in one of the houses built for the loggers, which the state park rents out. Up on Cheat Mountain, a nineteenth-century hunting lodge takes one party at a time.

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