|
|
Explore the West Virginia mountains from an entirely new perspective — aboard any one of four unique trains. The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad offers Mountain Rail Adventures that depart from the historic depots of Durbin and Elkins, West Virginia, April through December. Trips include wilderness rides into the Monongahela National Forest and along the banks of the Greenbrier, Tygart Valley and Shaver's Fork rivers.
The Durbin Rocket Excursion Train departs the Durbin Depot throughout the summer months. Powered by a rare steam locomotive, Old #3 is one of only three operating Climax geared logging locomotives on earth. Ride in an authentic 1920-era coach and vintage wooden cabooses behind #3 as she puffs and whistles her way along the free-flowing Greenbrier River in northern Pocahontas County. Ask about our Castaway Caboose!
The 2012 season brings an expanded menu of specialty and event trains, dinner trains, and the ever-popular holiday train, THE POLAR EXPRESS™ in November and December. NEW this year: The Cottontail Express!! in April. Schedules, event dates, and videos can be found online.
Durbin’s Historic Railroads
In its heyday, Durbin was a bustling town where people strolled the streets and patronized the many shops. Passenger and freight service on the line boomed, and agency stations and flag stops sprouted up all along the line.There were so many stops in the early days the saying was “a train had to backup in order to have whistling distance for the next station.”
By the 1920’s, the logging boom was over, the mills were closing and passenger service on the line was reduced to a crawl. Freight service continued to thrive due to a 1923 agreement between the C&O and Western Maryland Railroad for the interchange of rail cars at Durbin. Traffic passing through Durbin was so steady at one time there were eight employees at the Durbin Depot.
The line experienced another boom during World War II when gas rationing curtailed automobile travel. However, following the war passenger travel declined dramatically. Passenger service on the Greenbrier Branch was terminated on January 8, 1958. Freight service continued for almost 21 more years, and the last freight train rolled the rails on December 28, 1978.
For the next quarter century the train whistles were quiet in Durbin. In1996, the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad incorporated to bring back rail excursion service to Durbin. The new owners, John and Kathy Smith, avid rail devotees, began to make repairs on the line.
Eventually, all was made ready and operations commenced.Today, rail fans both young and old flock to Durbin to ride the trains back into history.
|
CONTACT
|
|
Latitude : 38.54523N Longitude : -79.82294W
|
|
DURBIN ROCKET and CASTAWAY CABOOSES - On US route 250, 36 miles south of Elkins, WV, 70 miles north of Staunton, VA
|
|
|
|