This might be something that should be posted in the railfanning section, if so, please move.

I have not been to Cass in over 30 years, but would like to go this year. I am really not interested in staying in the company houses and am interested in other options. If you have visited Cass recently, where did you stay, how far away from Cass was it, and how was your experience? I'm an old guy and prefer a comfortable place to stay!

Bear Creek Lodge, literally, across the river from Cass. Walking distance. Great little place.

Depends on your budget as well. One place that I do NOT recommend is the Inn at Snowshoe, about a 20 minute drive away. There's no wonder that it's an inexpensive (read: cheap) place to stay.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Revie ... ml#REVIEWS

When I visited in 2015 I stayed at the Hampton Inn in Elkins, about an hour away from Cass. It was definitely comfortable, and I actually enjoyed the extra drive to and from Cass. (Passing through Durbin I even got to catch a glimpse of D&GV Climax No. 3, but couldn't stop because I had a train to catch in Cass.) Elkins appears to have the largest concentration of hotel rooms in the area so you should certainly consider it as an option despite the distance.

-Philip Marshall

I stay over in Staunton, VA. Its a fun ride to Cass from there, about an hour or so each way. I need civilization when I am there to include cell coverage, wifi and a bar.

http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/ ... otos-tours

Modern houses are available for rent in the area. A friend of mine rents a real nice place each year which is not far from Cass, although no cell coverage.

The best place to stay when visiting Cass is in Cass itself. The park has several company houses which they rent.

Stan

Wow, the Inn wasn't that bad the last time I was there.... but I do remember darn near starving to death when I arrived at 8PM and there wasn't any food...anywhere..not even a convenience store open!

Unfortunately that local area holds my 'all time record' for my worst lifetime motel experience many years ago, and considering the annual number of overnights I do, it takes something truly extraordinary to win that prize. I won't identify the motel, but they are still in business, and if you hit the Trip Advisor review "Dead Flies and Deliverance", you've found it - and it sounds pretty much the same.

So yeah, you want to check, ask, and check again.

We have been visiting Cass annually for quite a few years. When our grandkids were younger, we rented a company house in Cass. Living room, kitchen, bathroom, 3 bedrooms fully furnished and equipped with cooking utensils, etc. Now it's just my wife and I we stayed one year at Bear Creek Lodge--right across river from Cass Depot, not fancy but comfortable. Unfortunately, both the company houses and Bear Creek Lodge require climbing stairs and my arthritic knees don't like that any more. The past couple of years, we have been staying in Elkins and driving the hour or so to Cass, which also takes you through Durbin and the Durbin Rocket operation there. There is a motel in Elkins, the Iron Horse Inn, a railroad-themed motel which had an open room when everywhere else in Elkins was full. It was nice and a steak house is across the parking lot. A Super 8 is across the road from the Iron Horse Inn and other motels are found further on in downtown Elkins. Lastly, I have seen the ads for a couple of years for a bed and breakfast on the other side of Snowshoe Resort called the Morning Glory Inn. Maybe my wife and I will give that a try this year.

http://www.morninggloryinn.com/

I think renting one of the company houses would be a bit much for two old people. Besides, I don't want to cook, etc.

Years ago we stayed at the Inn at Snowshoe. There were maybe only 3 parties there. We had a great time, the kitchen and wait staff were totally happy to have something to do and we had great food and great service......but that was long ago and In June, if I recollect properly.

We've also rented the Company houses and thought they were great. We packed a few coolers of pre-made lasagna and casseroles and etc and just heated/baked them when we got there, also did burgers and dogs on the grill with a campfire.

We really enjoyed walking around the town, shops and old mill in the evening and had the place to ourselves......listening to the ghosts of loggers, millwrights and train crews.....

Once we stayed at the Inn at Snowshoe --seemed clean and comfortable enough.
The other time we spent the night before at Elkins Holiday Inn, then two beautiful nights in the caboose ontop Bald Knob!!

The first time I went I stayed at the Boyer Motel. I'm not even sure if it exists anymore, but it was ummm..."Rustic". The second time I went I stayed at the Inn at Snowshoe, not entirely without charm, but think "Econolodge". The last time I was there I went to the Snowshoe Mountain Resort. If you've never been there, it is quite the place. Maybe not the most affordable place in West Virginia, but it sure beats "roughing it" at the other places.

The Boyer Station complex--motel with 20 units, restaurant, and campground--still exists.

http://www.boyerstation.com/Welcome/

The thing to remember is that Cass is extraordinarily isolated, even for those used to sites like the Cumbres & Toltec or East Broad Top. It's not "25 miles from the nearest pavement as the crow flies" like a lot of Arizona sites I've explored, but......

The best anecdote I have about the area was that back in around 1995 when I was returning from a Carl Franz charter there, I pulled into a combined gas station and general store (really) somewhere up one of the roads from Cass to top up the car before heading around/over the mountains to Maryland. As I was fueling the car, a car with New Jersey plates pulled up opposite me, and a matronly, middle-aged woman with a worried, almost panicked look on her face got out of the car, clutching a map, and asked me "Excuse me, but can you tell us how to get back to civilization?"

It was as if it was right out of a New Yorker cartoon. I am not making this up. It took incredible self-restraint on my part not to denigrate her or her fellow riders. And this was long before the omnipresence of cell phones and GPS/satnav.

In doing a quick check for alternatives for you, I found that a few of the other lodging options nearby, as well as some of the other businesses down that way, refused to accept the message from the White House that our national economy has rebounded from those horrible war years, and have closed for good. On the other hand, there's a WalMart in Elkins, and apparently a Dollar General half-way in between there and Cass.........

Stay in "civilization" or "rough it"? That's a personal call. But when the charters were running it was imperative to be trackside at the crack of dawn if possible. It's not that bad during a regular operating day, but there's still much to be said for watching the locos as they're stoked up and put through their paces on a cool, misty morning......

When I lived in Durbin in 2015, the Boyer Motel was open one weekend for the entire year, and that was for a BMW motorcycle rally. There are a couple of rooms to rent in Durbin upstairs at the "Station 2" restaurant (also the only place between Elkins and God-knows-where that is open after 600pm). Also in Durbin is/was the Greenbrier Suites, a couple of nice suites of rooms. They gave you vouchers to eat at Station 2.

There are a couple of gas stations with lunch counters in the area. Closest to Cass is one in Green Bank, across the street from the "Green Bank Walmart" (Dollar General). they have pretty good food, I ate there a lot when I was working in Cass. As of 2015 there were no places to eat in Cass after about 530-600pm when the restaurant next to the Cass Company Store closes, and I don't remember what time they opened in the morning.

There are several choices for both lodging and food over the hill at Snowshoe.

My wife and I visited Cass shortly after getting married in 1971. We stayed at the Boyer Motel and it was nice. Going forward to 2012, we decided to try staying there overnight again. My wife said our room looked like it still had the same curtains & drapes & furnishings that it had 41 years ago. Besides a musty smell, our room had a spongy spot in the floor which I tried to avoid stepping on since the first time I had walked over it I was afraid I was going to fall through. Needless to say, I was told in no uncertain terms that we were NOT staying there ever again.