https://www.losttracksoftime.com/p47324941

Two weekends ago I ventured to Cass, WV to witness the railroad’s Parade of Steam, which was part of West Virginia Day. Free to the public on Saturday; morning viewing of the trains was from the parking lot adjacent to the depot and company store. Five 3-truck geared locomotives were steamed up and running - Shays #2, 4, 5, 11 and Climax #9.

The day before was a private photo-freight charter featuring Moore Keppel #9, with a night photo session afterwards.

Follow the link above to my gallery of images from both days.

Enjoy,
Matthew

Thank you for sharing this. I think I would of been confused about dying and going to Heaven. Wonderful day that must of been? Regards, John.

is it back to full boiler pressure?
Wonder how it's performance compares to the shays and heisler

At normal pressure, t.e. is just about the same as a 70-3 class Shay, 30,000 lbs and change. That is a paper spec and sometimes you will find that some locomotives do better (or worse) than expected.

Hillcrest Lbr. Co. 3T Climax 10 is another 70-3 class engine. But I will tell you from experience going back to when she was in regular service, that hard riding machine is an exceptional puller.

Very interesting.
I'm guessing not as efficient as a super heater/piston valve locomotive.
Wonder if they will reserve it for special occasions or use it on the mountain

Truly is a thing of beauty.

I never imagined that rust bucket would ever run again. Surely it was bound for scrap was my first thought after sitting for years rusting away.

Bravo to all who turned a wrench on Moore Keppel #9.

Robert

The real unsung heroes in this engine's rise from the ashes is the Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association (MSR&LHA). When the state of West Virginia didn't have the money or resources, they took a worn-out, burnt, rusty hulk of an engine, built a shop for Cass with their own money & began restoration (again, with their money). This continued into Dec 2015 when WV awarded operating rights on the Cass Scenic to the Durbin & Greenbrier River Railroad (D&GVRR). The engine was approximately 80% complete at that time. The MSR&LHA organization was promptly shown the door & the D&GVRR took over the work from there. If you are interested, the MSR&LHA web site has a fairly detailed coverage of their work in the 80% they accomplished before being booted.

http://www.msrlha.org/