Cass Railroad and Shay No. 11

The Cabell County Forestry and Rail trip continued today as we left Elkins after spending three days learning about the timber industry in West Virginia. The road to Cass Mountain Railroad goes past the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Greenbank, WV, https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/gbt/ so an unscheduled visit was made to see the Greenbank Telescope.

On arriving at Cass Mountain Railroad Station located on the Greenbrier River, each team of teachers prepared to test the water by calibrating our test sensors. The river was tested for dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, temperature, and pH. This is Site # 2, the middle site of three on the Greenbrier River and the results are listed below.  

Water Quality (Q-Value) Calculations

Test	Q-Value	Weight	Weighted Q Value
DO               7.0	6.67	.32	22.08
Temp           25.6		.19	4.90
TDS             28.9	85	.13	11.05
Turbidity      44.2	46	.15	6.90
pH                7.5	95	.21	19.95
	Overall	Quality	44.8

Water Quality Scale

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

The two remaining sites, located above and below Site # 2 will be tested tomorrow. Why is dissolved oxygen weighted more heavily than the other indicators of stream health?

The Cass Scenic Railroad http://www.cassrailroad.com/ is an eleven mile-long former logging railroad that runs to the summit of Bald Knob some 4,842 feet above sea level. The railroad uses several Shay and Climax locomotives to carry sightseers to the summit where they can see Virginia, the eastern continental divide, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Greenbank, WV. The Shay is a geared locomotive that enabled loggers to transport logs from higher elevations that were inaccessible prior to its advent. Only locomotives like the Shay and the Climax, both with gears, could climb to the top of Bald Knob as they still do today.