An Encore at the C & O Museum - 45 Years Later

The last day of the WV Forestry and Rail project began on a rainy note with water testing on the Greenbrier River at Site no.3, 37.47° N and 80.23 ° W. Of the three test sites on the Greenbrier, it is the furthest downstream. This part of the Greenbrier River has an island and is wider than at the other two sites.

The same tests were conducted as at the other sites with very similar results. As the chart below shows, the water tested to be of fair quality.

                       Water Quality (Q-Value) Calculation

Test	Q-Value	Weight	Weighted Q Value
DO           5.8	3	.32	.96
Temp      24.9	25.4	.19	4.83
TDS       87.9	80.	.13.	10.40
Turbidity  125.2	61	.15	9.15
pH               7.3	95	.21	19.95
	Overall	Quality	45.29

                       Water Quality Scale

91-100	Excellent
71-90	Good
51-70	Medium
26-50	Fair
0-25	Poor

                                                    

The last official event of the trip was a stop at the C & O Museum in Clifton Forge, VA http://www.cohs.org/ This museum was established to preserve the history of the C & O railroad in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. This railroad was crucial to the Appalachian region for transportation, employment, and communication. The museum documents the people, facilities, and machines that fulfilled those roles.

The pictures above show one of the last steam locomotives used by the railroad. It has been maintained with the idea of running excursions from the east coast to the Greenbrier Resort, and is named the Greenbrier. The resort was once owned by the C & O Railroad. This locomotive weighs 462,000 pounds and could hold 26,000 gallons of water. As it travelled and depleted its water supply, firetrucks from local communities would refill it because water towers were no longer part of the railroad infrastructure. 

  

Until 1967 trains included dining cars like the Gatsby Tavern, shown in the photos above, that offered passengers food without interrupting their journeys. This dining car is still fully functional and is used for special events like rehearsal dinners, birthdays, and other special occasions. We had lunch served in the car during our visit to the museum. It was a special encore visit for me since I had eaten in the dining car while it was still in regular service on the George Washington in 1967. This happened when I was sixteen years old and travelling to Washington DC with my high school band to march in the Cherry Blossom Festival. 

  

Our visit to the C & O Museum continued with a visit to the Exhibit Hall that contained memorabilia from the various communities that the railroad served and the services that it offered. This included the kitten icon used by the railroad to advertise its Pullman Car service and the motto, “Sleep like a kitten”. This icon was painted on all its cars and was familiar to everyone who had waited at a railroad crossing for the train to pass. Our visit ended with a fun ride on the museum’s model railroad that people could sit on and travel around the museum grounds.