Cass Scenic Railroad

The Cass Scenic Railroad originates in 1901 when the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company built the standard‑gauge line to serve the company town of Cass and its spruce‑lumber mill, then the world’s largest double‑band sawmill. In June 1942 the operation was sold to Mower Lumber Company, which ran the railroad until it shut down on 1 July 1960 as timber supplies vanished. After the 1960 closure the line, land and equipment passed to the Don Mower Lumber Company and then to the Midwest Raleigh Corporation, which began scrapping the railroad until a coalition led by Russell Baum persuaded the state legislature to designate the route a state park; the park’s official inception occurs in 1961. The first tourist excursion left Cass for Whittaker Station on 4 miles north in 1963, and the railroad was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on 12 July 1974; two years later, in 1977, the state park acquired the entire company town and the old hardwood mill. In 2015 the West Virginia State Rail Authority transferred day‑to‑day operation to the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad under a lease agreement, while the Division of Natural Resources retained ownership of the right‑of‑way and park facilities.