One very remote rail connection. Meadow River Lumber Company Heisler #6 continues her slow, steady trek south from Durbin, WV, toward Cass, some 8 miles distant, hauling a string of freight loads for interchange. This stretch of track is very remote, running along the Greenbrier River, deep in the wilderness of Southeastern West Virginia. Here, the train is pictured passing a tiny hamlet, called Hosterman, at roughly Milepost 88.2, which is nothing more than a collection of perhaps 4 homes and the barn/silo combination you see in the field across the way. It is reachable only by rail, and by a tiny dirt road that comes from God knows where. There's no cell service here, no radio stations and no television, unless you have a satellite dish. When these old C&O tracks washed out in a series of storms back in 1985, it's no wonder no one was in a hurry to rebuild them. Fortunately, this line may have a future as a tourist attraction. The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad has been slowly restoring these tracks over the past several years and in late 2021, hopes to finally reunite Cass and Durbin by rail. It will be interesting to see what sort of excursions they will ultimately offer, and whether such trips will be popular. This will be about the most remote tourist railroad excursion east of the Mississippi.
Scenes depicting steam operations on the old C&O Greenbrier Division between Cass and Durbin, WV, featuring Moore-Keppel Climax #3 and Meadow River Heisler #6.
