This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
page and it’s nicely printed on heavy, matte- finish paper. Both color and b&w photo re- production is very good. There are also two indices, one organized by locomotive and the other by location.


Even though Burt Mall may not be a household name in the world of rail photog- raphy (yet), this big, handsome volume pro- vides a fascinating record of unvarnished, workaday American steam power in its last years of service. — WALT LANKENAU


Cass Scenic Railroad By Tim Hensley and Bob Withers with Ken Miller. Published by Pocahontas Productions, 1706 Chestnut St., Kenova, WV 25530. Order from Collis P. Huntington Chapter NRHS, Dept. NRT, P.O. Box 393, Huntington, WV 25708; www.newrivertrain.com. Hard cover, 238 pages 81/2”x11”, color and b&w. $59.95 plus $6.00 shipping ($10.00 two or more copies). WV residents add sales tax. Subtitled Fifty Years a State Park — A Cen- tury of Steam on Bald Knob, this fine vol- ume tells the story of Cass, W.Va., and its railroad beginning when the Greenbrier, Cheat & Elk was es- tablished in 1900 to move red spruce logs


to a sawmill in the newly-built town of Cass, where large logs would be milled into lum- ber and the smaller ones would be sent to nearby paper mills. Mower Lumber bought the railroad from West Virginia Paper & Pulp in 1942 and cut hardwoods on Cheat


Mountain until 1960 when the Cass mill closed down and destroyed the town’s eco- nomic prospects. The railroad and its equip- ment was to have been sold for scrap. But then Pennsylvania railfan Russell Baum rallied a few influential locals who were able to convince the state to buy the property and convert it into a tourist railroad, giving the region’s renaissance as a tourist destination its initial impetus. This book is packed with very well-print- ed b&w and color images that tell the Cass story from the very beginning, and the lively writing style makes it an entertaining read. The foreword is particularly well told, color- fully and with a wry smile, and the rest of the book follows that style. It’s hard to imag- ine that the authors have missed a single small detail, let alone an important episode in the story of this mountain town and its railroad. The finer points of the logging in- dustry are covered as thoroughly as are the railroad subjects. For example, you’ll find a description of how a log skidder works, com- plete with a rigging diagram and list of 32 whistle signals used in its operation. Of necessity, the bulk of the early historic


photos are in b&w, but a fine selection of col- or images document the town’s and the rail- road’s latter days, and several fine, full-color paintings are also included. Endpaper maps show how Cass fits in with its surroundings and connecting railroads.


Anyone with an interest in Cass as a work- ing lumber town or as a railfan destination, or in logging, logging locomotives, and equip- ment in general, will devour this book. If you can add only one book on Cass to your library, make it this one. — WALT LANKENAU


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          


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