Legend in a Lake

[kwalker]

Was it like a staging yard in there? Or was it just a strip of track they decided to mothball trains on? It's quite strange that they'd pick a swamp to park trains on knowing that the tracks would sink under all that weight. But I guess even swamps in Minnesota get as hard as concrete during your guys' ice box winters []

 

[towhead]

This neck of the woods just has a lot of cedar swamps and just a lot of swamp and small lakes. There must have been good logging back there. There were a couple sawmills back in the woods. Nothing remains of them now. However, when one of the ponds was dug about 20 years ago, I found some pieces of cookware. Usta' mow a large portion of the old logging railroad. Pretty cool back there. But, depending on how much rain you get, sometimes you can't even get back there without going mudbogging! [] -Julie

 

[kwalker]

I could imagine something like Cass been at one time working in your neck of the woods.

"
Founded in 1901 by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company (now MeadWestvaco), Cass was built as a company town to serve the needs of the men who worked in the nearby mountains cutting spruce and hemlock for the West Virginia Spruce Lumber Company, a subsidiary of WVP&P. At one time, the sawmill at Cass was the largest double-band sawmill in the world. It processed an estimated 1.25 billion board feet (104,000,000 cu ft; 2,950,000 m3) of lumber during its lifetime. In 1901 work started on the railroad, which climbs Back Allegheny Mountain. The railroad eventually reached a meadow area, now known as Whitaker Station, where a camp was set up for the immigrants who were building the railroad. The railroad soon reached to the top of Gobblers Knob, and then to a location on top of the mountain known as 'Spruce'. The railroad built a small town at this location, complete with a company store, houses, and a doctors office. Work soon commenced on logging out the Red Spruce trees, which grew in the higher elevations. The WVP&P originally had only been interested in the Red Spruce timber for the purpose of making pulp, which would be turned into paper. It wasn't until a few years later when the company realized that the mountain held a fortune in hardwoods, such as maple, cherry, birch and oak. The company decided that they would build a mill in the town of Cass, which could process these hardwoods. The railroad eventually extended its track to the top of Bald Knob, the third highest mountain peak in West Virginia. This area was logged of its Red Spruce, and the track was torn up in the early 1910s. The track was also extended to a valley near the town of Spruce, at a bend in the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River. The WVP&P set up a new town here, with about 30 company houses, a large company store, a school, and a pulp mill, where the Red Spruce trees could be processed on the spot. This new town was also named Spruce, and the former town received its current name of Old Spruce. In June 1942, WVP&P sold the Cass operation to Mower Lumber Company, which operated the line until July 1, 1960, cutting second-growth timber off Cheat Mountain. The mill and railroad were shut down by Mower in 1960, due to rapid decline of the timber industry in the region. Following the 1960 closure, the rail line, land, and all equipment and rolling stock were sold to a holding company named the Don Mower Lumber Company (no relation to the former Mower Lumber Company), and the railroad was conveyed to the Midwest Raleigh Corporation, which started to scrap the railroad and equipment. However, a group of local businessmen led by Pennsylvania railfan Russell Baum convinced the West Virginia state legislature to make the Cass Railroad a state park. In 1963, the first tourist excursion train left the Cass depot for Whittaker Station (four miles up the line)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Scenic_Railroad

 

[Rockhounder55]

Those are some wild stories. You may be able to get some local railroad preservation societies to help locate them. Can either of you two figure out where the tracks once ran? That might be helpful to get the general idea where the trains sank. Wish I was closer. I'd help you find them. [] ~Mike

 

[kwalker]

With NJ being a huge railroad state there's a few societies that would be intrigued by the story for sure. There's a railroad that is still in tact (though abandoned) near the pit; maybe the track ran off as a spur. I think the pond in the middle may be it...Though I'm not totally sure. It would be worth going to explore the tracks for sure...I may even find some insulators or something. Would be neat to track it down. Too bad there's no Sanborns of the area otherwise it would help out a lot in the search [>:]

 

[towhead]

Yes, I know exactly where the tracks went. Have been out there with my metal detector. -Julie

 

[kwalker]

I wonder how deep a 500 ton locomotive can sink in a cedar swamp...?

 

[towhead]

Good question? But I think it wouldn't weigh must more than 60 tons...-Julie

 

[kwalker]

Probably more along your estimations. I'd imagine it being a logging railroad they used Shay locomotives (The one in the Cass picture) instead of normal locomotives? If so;

2768 Shay locomotives were built by Lima in four classes, from 6 to 160 tons between 1878 and 1945. [ul][*]Class A: two cylinders, two trucks. Weights between 6 and 24 tons.[*]Class B: three cylinders, two trucks. Weights between 10 and 80 tons.[*]Class C: three cylinders, three trucks. Weights between 40 and 160 tons.[*]Class D: three cylinders, four trucks. Weights of 100 and 150 tons.[/ul]

 

[Plumbata]

Sounds pretty interesting. I would try to find all the valuable and interesting fittings ASAP and then scavenge them with unparalleled fervor.History is nice, but holding history is better. []