A 15-mile stretch of railroad lost to raging floodwaters 37 years ago finally has been restored and within months is expected to be carrying tourist trains through a wilderness section of the Greenbrier River Valley between Durbin and Cass.
The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad recently announced the completion of a multi-year restoration project that allowed the rail link to reopen, as well as the first complete train trip over the route since 1985.
Shay No. 5, a 118-year-old steam locomotive, pulled a caboose full of crew members from Cass to Durbin last week to bring the Heisler No. 6 steam locomotive, which has been powering trips on the Durbin Rocket excursion line, back to Cass for repairs.
Widespread flooding in 1985 killed 47 West Virginians, destroyed more than 4,000 homes and caused $1.2 billion in damage to the state’s infrastructure, including the 15-mile stretch of state-owned track in Pocahontas County.
The flood washed out eight miles of railbed, triggered landslides that covered the tracks at numerous other sites and twisted hundreds of yards of steel rail into pretzel-like reminders of the power of raging water.
Immediately before the flood, the Cass Scenic Railroad operated excursion trains on the route, which the state purchased in 1977 soon after the Chessie System abandoned that portion of the line. The rail segment was once part of the C & O Railway’s Greenbrier Division, which opened in the late 1890s and stretched from Ronceverte to just north of Durbin.
The flood halted rail activity between Durbin and Cass until 1996, when the state issued a license to railfan and former long-haul trucker John Smith and his wife, Kathy, to operate Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad excursion trains on a 2.2-mile section of track south of Durbin that escaped destruction in 1985.
Between 1996 and 1998, the Smiths, assisted by volunteers, rebuilt three miles of track to add to their existing mileage and began operating their Durbin Rocket excursion train between Durbin and the site of the former lumber town of Hosterman.
Stories you might like
- Charleston police seek help identifying body found on Greenbrier Street
- WV House approves coal severance tax exemption bill estimated to cost $70 million annually
- New research finds increased death risk for miners from lung diseases beyond black lung
- Bill to provide severance tax exemption for rare earth elements, critical minerals sent to governor
By the end of 2019, the Durbin & Greenbrier Railroad had rehabilitated the railbed from Hosterman south to the Trout Run Bridge, halfway between Durbin and Cass, and one of 2,027 bridges destroyed in the 1985 flood. From the washed-out bridge south to Cass, the railroad right-of-way had also been restored by that time, and the railroad had installed nearly 19,000 new crossties.
At the start of 2020, the missing bridge was the only obstacle to reopening the railroad segment.
After a bid for building a replacement bridge came in well above estimates, the state Division of Highways and Rail Authority and the operators of the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad, which also runs the state-owned Cass Scenic Railroad, began working together to build a new bridge.
State road crews taking part in the project are part of the Division of Highways’ Cenforce, a group of workers with specialized skills enabling them to tackle projects requiring special skills. While the Cenforce crew built the foundation for the new bridge, railroad crews installed crossties and laid track to bring concrete, construction materials and heavy equipment to the bridge site, which lacks road access.
It took 30-minute commutes by rail truck to reach the work site, where winter working conditions can involve some of the state’s heaviest snows and coldest temperatures. Crews would sometimes have to plow their way to the worksite using snowplow-mounted rail trucks, according to a Department of Transportation news release.
Starting this spring, the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad will begin using the restored track and new bridge to operate a new Greenbrier Express excursion train route between Cass and Durbin, the railroad announced on its Facebook page.
The 15-mile route passes through a roadless section of the Monongahela National Forest and hugs the shoreline of the Greenbrier River for the length of the trip.
