Steam & Excursion > Ronceverte, W. Va. 1971?

I am attaching a segment of some memories I had e-mailed to Keith..
Recollections of a wonderful summer of trips --- from "long ago and far away..."

So enjoy....


[ original correspondence from a couple of weeks ago....]Hi Wes! Wow, great recollections of that operation. Very little has ever been told of those excursions. I went to Cass for the first time in 1972 and was sorry we had missed the opportunity to see that operation. I was curious whether the wye was used at Durbin. I rode to Durbin from Cass behind the WM #6 back in the early '80s before the line was washed out. I was just to Cass and Durbin on my way back from Roanoke. I did go through Marlinton to see the "recreated" station. They did rebuild it. I'll send photos. I also stopped by the water tank. Meanwhile, yes, you should post your recollections on Train Orders. I'm sure there are others that would enjoy hearing about that operation. Maybe someone will post some photos. Meanwhile, Howard Pincus I believe may have a list of the HICO trips. I'll have to see if I have his contact info. I know he posts on RYPN. Thanks to sending along your recollections. Really brings the experience to life! 
Take care,Keith 

 On Friday, July 24, 2015 2:46 PM, "wcamp91543@aol.com" <wcamp91543@aol.com> wrote: Hi,Keith! HICO VP, John Willever has good documentation (on paper), but I thought I'd see what folks on T.O. might have.. YES! Those Greenbrier RR trips were wonderful!There was a wide wye at the north end, at Durbin, WV....where the C&O Greenbrier Subd. Joined the WM tracks, about 10 miles north of Cass.  During the trips, we stopped at Cass where our excursion folks had the option of riding the 'short' Cass Trip (same ticket), or they could ride with the whole train to the wye at Durbin [ home of the fictional Suburban Durbin Interurban].  

At Durbin folks could get off, or ride around the wye.  The trip was about 120 miles, one way --- from Ronceverte, WV to Durbin & ret. We would wye the train and return to Cass, pick up those folks, --- then, the next was stop at Marlinton, WV--- with a 25,000 gal wooden water tank, a C&O Poage water penstock--- where we filled up the up the 2102's tender.    The Marlinton station burned down several years ago, but the tank and the penstock still stand.  

The track was torn up in the 1980s ---- now a bike trail. At Ronceverte ( French word for " brier-green " ) we had no turning facilities, but we used a C&O 100 ton ( FM concrete) coaling tower to coal-up 2102.  The electric hoist was fed by power lines of overhead wires across the tracks from the concrete structure.... Was 3-phase, 220 v. AC.John Kiloran, of Charlrston, arranged for the state to commit an Army 3 phase diesel generator to us.  A local electrician wired it up, and, voila', we had a working coaling facility. The C&O spotted a coal hopper, we opened the hopper bay door, dumped the coal into a square funnel, the skip hoist car, when at the bottom, opened the trap door, the car filled with coal.After a 2 minute time-delay, the motor hoisted the car to the top --- where it tilted and dumped the coal into the tower.  After a 2 minute time-delay, the skip car was lowered to the bottom for another load.  It used to take about 70 trips to unload a 70-ton hopper. We'd set it going--- unloading the hopper, filling the coaling tower--- & go to lunch, come back, the car would be empty--- we'd shut down the generator, move the loco, and coal her up!

 There was no wye at Ronceverte, but there were ways to turn the engine on C&O facilities closer-by;  but, C&O mgmnt didn't want Benson on their mainline.  SOOO, we had to turn both the 2102 & the observation/bedroom, office car [  "Quickstep" ] at the wye at Durbin!  So, on the Wednesdays before the Big Trips, we backed the engine and 'Quickstep' all the way up the Greenbrier River, around the wye, grab a lunch at Cass, water at Marlinton, and, later, top-off the coal at Ronceverte. When ran 6 or 8 Excursion trips,that summer and into the Fall.ALL of them sell-outs, during that wonderful summer.

 Al Phillips and I stayed there, in an apartment I had rented, Doyle came down several weekends,so did Andy Adams & Russell.  That was a terrific summer, we had such a BALL that summer.I miss those days, terribly.... We had our own live-steam, "Lionel RR",  with operational accessories!! The two operational Alco PAs....And SHAYS, to boot! 
Wes.

( if you want, you can post this on T.O. -- if you think folks would like it...)
Sent from my iPad 

:
On Jul 24, 2015, at 11:57 AM, Keith Muldowney <cagneynine@yahoo.com> wrote:
 

:
Hi Wes, Saw your post regarding the HICO trips. I'll have to take a look as I seem to recall someone having a list and I thought I might have gotten a copy. Probably before I can find it someone will come forward with it. 42 years ago Wednesday (7-22) was the 759 trip to Scranton from Hoboken. I assume you were involved with the 2102 running on the C&O Greenbrier Line. Any interesting stories to go along with that operation? Was 2102 turned at either end or not? Hope all going okay. I'll see what I can find on the HICO trips. Take care, Keith 

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/15 16:29 by wcamp1472.

All those trips are there any movies or video of them? I kept up with the trips in the magazines. I wet to Cass for the first time in 1972 and my whole family feel in love with the place. I never pushed myself to go on the Greenbrier trips but I sure wanted to. I often wanted to know if there was video  of them must be but never saw or heard to much of the trips till now. We have not been to Cass for a while and I did not know that the station in Marlinton burned down last I knew it was a senior center thanks for the great information.

Roger L. Routzon
Medina, OH

What was the passenger consist of these trips?

I am told that "a bunch of army hospital cars" were used one some of the trips and I know some such cars were indeed stored near Cass, but I doubt the accuracy of the information. (The person has since passed so I cannot gain any additional information).


Any other info on the hospital cars there in general?


Thank you
Michael

Re: Passenger cars used on Greenbrier RR.

We used conventional cars, C&O baggage car, some C&O coaches, some coaches ( I believe) were leased from RRP, Baltimore, about 4 or 5 were leased from the RF&P ( not surprisingly, the RF&P cars were the best, cleanest),  open platform business car,'Quickstep',  brought up the rear.

To start, we ran a couple of wonderful trips out of Mogador, Ohio, on the A,C & Y. RR
Then , a couple of weeks later, we took the whole shebang of coaches down to Ronceverte; less the RF&P coaches ---which came to Ronceverte later.  That train was pulled by two diesels, with the 2102 LIVE.  We got to stretch her legs on the C&O Main, from Ohio,  east to Ronceverte, with the 2102 doing the work.


Once at Ronceverte, the only diesels that we used, were those Bill Benson had leased from the D&H ---- 2 Alco PAs, with the original Alco 16-244 Diesel engines,&  complete with steam-heat boilers.

I also seem to remember that for some of the early trips we had borrowed a couple of N&W 'excursion gondola' cars --- fitted with longitudinal benches.  The gons were perfect for enjoying the beautiful Greenbrier River valley ---- herons and other native birds would fly along side, out over the water. The gons were situated about the middle of the train, IIRC.

On the first trips, the Southern's VP-Law, Jim Bistline, and his family rode the whole trip.  He, and his party,  were astounded at the beauty of the river valley, the wilderness and the superb track condition.  His visit on the trips was a highlight for me.

The Best Trips, for Al and me, (and other engine crew folks)  was backing-up ( towing the Quickstep ---as our rider car)
the whole length of the RR, pausing at Marlinton ( top-off the tender),  Cass, wye-ing at Durbin and then doing it all the way back down to Ronceverte.   The 2102 now facing East, and the Quickstep, open platform on the train's West end.

The 'River flows north to south, and Ronceverte lies a short distance west of the switch diverging from the C&O Main.  On that stretch of the Main, we could get up to track-speed.  
Ed Hall, superb C&O retired loco engineer, used to love to spank her hard, early in the AM. We had borrowed an N&W 'hooter' whistle,----- that would break into a high-pitched scream --- like on Link's records !!!!   That was was wonderful, too!

That whistle would scramble the birds, up and down the river valley ---- the big green trees & those melodious echoes still reverberate in my mind....

Wes C.

.(......Someday, I'm gonna bike down the Greenbrier Bike Trail, that now occupies the roadbed, all the way, Cass to Ronceverte--- it's all down hill! Maybe do a B&B in Marlinton, overnight....)



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/15 15:06 by wcamp1472.