Exhibiting scars from years of service on Cass Hill, Cass Scenic Shay No. 5 has been called a “dented, sway-backed carcass” with “not a straight line on her.” The 80-ton Shay was delivered to the Greenbrier & Elk River – the railroad owed by West Virginia Spruce Lumber Company – in November 1905 and was used on the hill as a road engine until 1912, when the railroad purchased larger power. Numerous modifications were made over the years. Number 5’s cab – originally wood – was replaced with one from a scrapped C&O Shay in the late 1920s. Its original cylinders froze and cracked in 1958-59, and were replaced in the 1960s with newly cast cylinders for service on the Cass Scenic. Modifications made by the lumber companies it worked for, like the installation of a power reverse, have been removed to make it more as it was when new. Today No. 5 is the sentimental favorite of the Cass faithful, and after a major shopping that was completed in the early 2000s, it will continue to do battle with Cass Hill for many more years to come.
A collection of engines, cabooses, cars, etc., great and small that are past their prime, but represent a spirit of railroading that will never pass away!!
An attempt to put the best picture of engines that represent each of America's railroads. When a better picture of an engine/type is found, it will be added.
