Steam & Excursion > Cass

There was a special event at Cass and there were many Shays.

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These are what I found recently and assume taken in the same trip east (for a California resident anything east of Nevada is "east") as the one to Strasburg.  If you have any ideas when these were taken I would  appreciate your guesses.

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Thanks for the photos of the beautiful Shays.  Trains Newswire today shows a photo of two diesels (inc BL2)  and passenger coaches being moved down the switch-backs into Cass for Elf Train service on the former C&O track to the north that was flooded in 1985.  New service and new rare mileage and new income to D&GVRR.
Wow!  Thank you John Smith.  And they had no incidents getting around the sharp curves with the coaches.  And one Shay will be in steam to mid December. 

So how is the new private operator doing with Cass in 2016?  If I understood correctly, the State of WV awarded a contract to an outside operator in place of a direct State operation.

Who knows about the oil in the motor of the BL2 or GP9 on an 8.5% grade?  This must be the first time in history that any diesel has been on any grade over 5% in this country. Look like they ran the 567 motors on the way down the Cass grade which is steepest between the Switch-backs.  Will they be able to keep oil pressure up on the return back up the grade or should they use the Shay locomotives to drag the outfit back to Whittaker, several cars at a time?   It’s going to be an interesting use of power to return that train back out of Cass and get it back to Elkins. The D&GBV could sell the tickets for that move with a high price as the event will be the rarest move ever in the history of railroading.  Folks who have not ridden any Cass RR train are really missing the greatest of trains in extreme on very sharp curve and steep grades.
 

PlyWoody Wrote:
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> Who knows about the oil in the motor of the BL2 or
> GP9 on an 8.5% grade?  This must be the first
> time in history that any diesel has been on any
> grade over 5% in this country. Look like they ran
> the 567 motors on the way down the Cass grade
> which is steepest between the Switch-backs.  Will
> they be able to keep oil pressure up on the return
> back up the grade or should they use the Shay
> locomotives to drag the outfit back to Whittaker,
> several cars at a time?   It’s going to be an
> interesting use of power to return that train back
> out of Cass and get it back to Elkins. The D&GBV
> could sell the tickets for that move with a high
> price as the event will be the rarest move ever in
> the history of railroading.  Folks who have not
> ridden any Cass RR train are really missing the
> greatest of trains in extreme on very sharp curve
> and steep grades.

You, of all people, being the "expert", should know that if there was ANY oil in the motor/motors, then there would be some serious flash-overs and ground relay action! Now,,,,,,if you are talking about the LUBRICATING oil in the diesel engine, remember that the EMD engines are essentially a "dry sump" design, with a separate scavenging oil pump which keeps the lube oil filter & cooled, plus provides a constant supply of cooled & clean oil in the "ice cream freezer". Thus, the main lube oil pressure pump always has a constant supply of cooled, clean lube oil. 

Back to the pics...  They were taken some time ago when #2 was still in operation (although it is back running again), #4 had that goofy stripe job on it and the Mt. Emily Shay was still there (Cass #3).