6:00 AM Route 17 Hampstead, NC
Our group stopped in Chase, VA right at Noon for Lunch. Chase is a sleepy town and our plan was to eat at a local Mom & Pop, but they close on Saturdays and Sundays. Luckily there was a Subway open!
We made Waynesboro in relatively good time. No "roadside seminars", just a little water around 2-3pm in one of our radiators during the heat of the day. The next day we took off around 8am and arrived in Elkins, WV just before Noon. Route 250 through the mountains was a challenge, sometimes we thought we could see our own tail lights in those hairpin turns! The following image is the parking lot for the Host Hotel.
Later that evening we attended the Welcome Dinner. Sorry this selfie didn't turn out too well. (I'm an amateur).
The next day we all went on a two hour drive to the Cass Scenic Railroad Line.
Again the roads were windy and hilly. One stretch was a climb of about 9 miles! But what do expect -- it is West Virginia!
The following are all of the pictures I took at Cass.
We all took the Cass Steam Locomotive up the mountain. This entailed two switchbacks to climb the mountain.
At the Top of the Mountain we spent about 30 minutes relaxing. It was a beautiful day!
Our Group taking it easy and enjoying the sun.
A few close up pictures of the Steam Engine.
Cass Scenic Railroad uses a type of Geared Steam Engine called a Shay. Cass Scenic Railroad has the largest collection of this type of Locomotive designed for logging and mountain climbing. Below are a few close ups of the gearing.
The steam pistons turn (via a connecting rod) a drive shaft on one side of the Locomotive and the drive shaft drives a right angle gear set to turn the drive wheels. Below are a few movies of the Steam Engine in action.
Going up the mountain.
This next one has the train whistle
This one going down the mountain
One more picture going down the mountain.
And when we got back a lot of the Model A's from the earlier train ride had left the parking lot. I counted over 100 Model A Ford's parked in various places at Cass.
Unfortunately one of our Model A's experienced an overheating episode on the way back. After working on it for several hours, we had to have the car towed back to Elkins. The next morning the repair tent went into action and brought the car back to life. A new manifold gasket, points and condenser and fresh water brought her back. We think also the overnight rest and a complete cool down might have freed up a stuck valve too. But that is just a thought. Our trip home the next day went very well and we all chose to drive home in one day. That's about 450 miles! All of our Model A's performed well. (Of course it was all downhill to the coast:))
No comments:
Post a Comment