The Charming Town of Cass

Today we performed water quality tests in the Greenbrier River near Cass.  The GPS coordinates of the place we tested are N 38 39.875’ W 79 91.150’.  We used the same procedure that is explained in my blog post from April 28, 2012 titled Water Quality Testing at Ritter Park.  We performed five tests: dissolved oxygen, temperature, turbidity, pH, and conductivity.  While the pH was pretty good at 6.5, we found the overall water quality to be 40.05, which falls in the middle of the fair category.

Cass Scenic Railroad State Park allows you to relive railroad life from the early 1900’s.  You can ride a train 11 miles up to Bald Knob.  Shay engines pull the train through a series of switchbacks up the mountain.

Shay No. 11 was built in 1923.

Shay engines are steam-powered.  Coal is burned to heat the water which creates the steam.  It is a tough job to run one of these.  The lady working our train today told me she scoops three shovelfuls of coal into the furnace every 30 seconds.  Our 22 mile roundtrip used 3.5 to 4 tons of coal.

The conductors performed routine maintenance at our stops.

We stopped to fill up the water tank.  It took 6,000 gallons of water to make enough steam for the trip and the engine only holds 4,500 gallons.

Notice the large water hose filling the tank.

The top speed of a shay engine is 12 mph.

Work it Out:

*  The engine was running for 4 hours and 45 minutes during our trip.  How many shovel loads of coal did the lady scoop?

*  Approximately how much did each scoop weigh?

*  We stopped at Whittaker Station for 25 minutes and at Bald Knob for 55 minutes.  What was our average speed when the train was moving?

*  The elevation at the train depot in Cass is 2,443 feet.  At Bald Knob the elevation is 4,842 feet.  What is the average slope of the tracks going up the mountain?