Featuring North America’s Leading Travel Destinations
Great American Railroads 2015
The Texas State Railroad
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Texas & Pacific 316. Engine 316 celebrates her 114th birthday this year. Photo courtesy Texas State Railroad. Byways • 21
Engine 300 is one of two surviving United States Army “Pershing” engines. This type of engine was named after General “Blackjack” Pershing and built for service in Europe during World War I.
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he Texas State Railroad is located approximately 2 ½ hours from Dallas and 3 hours from Houston. Both of its depots are located on US Hwy 84 between the cities of Palestine, Texas and Rusk, Texas. This historic railroad features the only steam engines currently functioning in the state of Texas with engines #316 and #300 pulling Piney Woods Excursions simultaneously from the Palestine and Rusk depots. These trains pass each other at the halfway point, to the delight of passengers of all ages. Mother Nature’s beauty is on display as the route winds through the cool shade of the forests and the warm sunny vistas of hay meadows dotted with cattle and horses. Sometimes attentive passengers will see deer, wild hogs, beavers, eagles and other wildlife. Passengers in autumn sigh at the sight of red, yellow, orange and every color in between that paints the landscape in late October and early November. 22 • Byways
Several dinner trains are offered throughout the year. The Texas state prison system established the railroad in 1881. Inmates built the line, which was used to transport hardwood which was used as fuel for the furnaces at the prison-operated iron smelter at the Rusk Penitentiary. The furnace supplied the State of Texas with iron prodThe Palestine Depot. Photos courtesy Texas State Railroad.
ucts, including the columns and dome structure for the capitol building in Austin. The original construction was a narrow gauge line but was later built in standard gauge in order to join into the main line. In 1906 prison crews extended the rail line to Maydelle and in 1909 reached their final destination of Palestine. Once the train line was completed into Palestine the line was easily accessible to the main lines and commerce in and around the area flourished. In 1921 the regular rail service was discontinued and the line was leased to the Texas & New Orleans (Southern Pacific Railroad). The Texas Southeastern Railroad leased the line in the early 1960s and continued operation of the line until 1969. The railroad was conveyed to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1972 and state inmates were again brought in to help with the creation of the state historical park. The park and railroad were opened to the public on July 4th, 1976, as part of the nation’s Bicentennial Celebration. In 1981, the Texas State Railroad acquired a turntable and installed it in Maydelle. This vintage piece of equipment is used to turn the engines around to go in a differ-
ent direction. In 2003 the of Legislature of Texas designated the Texas State Railroad as the Official Railroad of Texas. The state's parks and wildlife department successfully ran the railroad until the management was privatized in 2007. In 2012 the railroad was sold to Iowa Pacific Holdings. In addition to continuing passenger operations, Iowa Pacific Holdings has opened the track to the main line in Palestine offering freight services.
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Engine 400 was utilized in the 1962 epic MGM movie How the West Was Won. It was shipped by rail to Texas and underwent extensive repair and refurbishing. It went back into service in 1978. Photo courtesy Texas State Railroad. Today, roundtrip excursions with one of the historic engines depart from the Palestine and Rusk depots at 11:00am and return at 3:30pm. The trip is 1 ½ hours each way with 1 ½ hours lunch layover at the opposite depot for a total 4 ½ hour experience. Box lunches are available for pre-order, or you may bring your own lunch. Beverages and snacks are available for purchase in the concession car. For additional information, visit:
https://www.texasstaterr.com
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T & P engine 610 is the sole surviving example of super-power steam locomotives. The engine was built in 1927 at the Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, Ohio. Photo courtesy Texas State Railroad.
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Scranton’s Steamtown National Historic Site Grand Trunk Western #6039, assisted by NKP #514, moves from the turntable to Roundhouse for storage and display. Photo courtesy National Park Service.
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The line from Scranton to Moscow is built with a 1.8% grade. This may not sound steep, but to a train it is a tough grade. The steam engines need alot of power to get the train started up this hill, which begins in the Steamtown Yard. Photo courtesy National Park Service.
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teamtown National Historic Site occupies about 40 acres of the Scranton railroad yard of the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, one of the earliest rail lines in northeastern Pennsylvania. At the heart of the park is the large collection of standard-gauge steam locomotives and freight and passenger cars that New England seafood processor F. Nelson Blount assembled in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1984, 17 years after Blount's untimely death, the Steamtown Foundation for the Preservation of Steam and Railroad Americana, Inc., brought the collection to Scranton, where it occupied the former Five steam locomotives were posed in the RoundDL&W yard. When Steamtown National house. Photo courtesy National Park Service. Historic Site was created, the yard and the collection became part of the National Park tives range in size from a tiny industrial switcher engine System. The museum is built around a working turntable and a built in 1937 by the H.K. Porter Company for the Bullard roundhouse that are largely replications of the original Company, to a huge Union Pacific “Big Boy” built in 1941 by the American Locomotive Company (Alco). DL&W facilities. The oldest locomotive is a freight engine built by The Steamtown Collection consists of locomotives, American Locomotive Company in 1903 for the freight cars, passenger cars, and maintenance-of-way Chicago Union Transfer Railway Company. equipment from several historic railroads. The locomo-
Downtown Scranton, PA. Photo courtesy Christopher Seliga.
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With a little advance planning, you can make the most Do and Directions. The Park is open year-round except of your trip to Steamtown. Be sure to check out the con- for three major holidays, some tours and all of the train tents of Steamtown's website, especially the Things to rides are seasonal. 30 • Byways
Union Pacific “Big Boy” #4012, on static display at Steamtown NHS, appears ready to depart with some of Amtrak’s modern Superliner II passenger equipment in this Railfest. Photo courtesy National Park Service.
Note that all children 15 and under must be accompanied by an adult while at the Park and aboard train rides and excursions.
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Durbin & Greenbrier RR to Operate Cass Scenic Railroad
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he Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad has taken over operations of the Cass Scenic Railroad, but the West Virginia operation will continue to operate under the Cass Scenic name. The changeover includes a 10-year lease with an option for renewal for another decade. The railroad has been owned and operated by the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. The Durbin & Greenbrier will operate all Cass rail operations including the shops, depot, water tower, rolling stock, locomotives, and facilities at Whittaker and Bald Knob. Schedules of the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley and Cass Scenic will be coordinated to allow patrons to ride two trains with overnight stays at Cass and Elkins. “New events and activities will be added to the current offerings of both organizations to enhance customer experience through coordination of marketing, customer service, and regional partnerships,” Durbin & Greenbrier Valley President John Smith said. “The combined operations will offer numerous trip options of interest to a wider demographic with the goal of increased ridership and customer satisfaction.” Passengers will be able to spend the night in Cass, ride the Cass Scenic to Spruce and a connection with the
The Durbin Rocket. Photo courtesy Durbin & Greenbrier Railroad. Right, Cass Shay Engine #4.
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Cass Shay steam engines. WVC Cheat Mountain Salamander, spend the night in Elkins, and then return by the same route to Cass. The lease agreement is the first step toward creating a 90-mile rail excursion loop using West Virginia Central and Cass Scenic Railroad track. Track will be relaid from Cass to Durbin along the Greenbrier River, and from Durbin to Bemis along the route of the West Fork Rail Trail. West Virginia purchased the former Mower Lumber Company track from scrapper Midwest Raleigh Corp. in 1962, and opened it to the public as the Cass Scenic Railroad in the summer of 1963. Starting with two operable Shay locomotives and 4 miles of track, the railroad has grown to 10 locomotives, eight Shays of which one is a Heisler and another a Climax The Cass Scenic operates on more than 11 miles of track, including extensions to Bald Knob, one of the highest peaks in West Virginia, and Spruce, on the West Virginia Central Shavers Fork line. John Smith founded the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad in 1996 with his wife, Kathy. Operations began with a Whitcomb locomotive, a flat car, and a caboose, known as The Durbin Rocket over 2.2 miles of rehabilitated track along the Greenbrier 34 • Byways
Cass Shay #4 and #11 pull the Bald Knob train up the mountain.
Durbin & Greenbrier Railroad in winter. Photo courtesy Durbin & Greenbrier Railroad.
River south of Durbin. By summer 1998, the Durbin & Greenbrier had extended the track an additional 3 miles toward Cass. That same year, the Smiths submitted the successful bid to operate the 132-mile state-owned West Virginia Central, consisting of former Western Maryland and Baltimore & Ohio trackage. Their initial West Virginia Central route was ElkinsHigh Falls, the Cheat Mountain Salamander, using an experimental Leyland railbus and then a reproduction Edwards railcar. Since then, they’ve purchased a 35-ton Climax geared locomotive for the Durbin Rocket and expanded to now operate diesel-powered excursions over the length of the railroad. The Smiths have marketed freight traffic and operate the Virginia short line Shenandoah Valley Railroad. For additional information and schedules, visit: http://mountainrailwv.com
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