Locust Heights & Western: Climax in the Autumn Woods
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- čas přidán 30. 10. 2019
- America's most unique steam locomotive operates largely unnoticed by the railfan world at the small Locust Heights & Western Railroad in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Home-built by Keith Mason in 1974, the LH&W number 1 is a replica of an early Class A Climax from the 1890s and to my knowledge is the only currently operating vertical boiler locomotive in North America. For over 40 years it has been delighting the public with rides from the backyards of the Locust Heights neighborhood into the West Virginia woods. With three quarters of a mile of hand-laid track, link and pin couplers, and grades over 4 percent the LH&W really captures the feel of an early logging railroad. The railroad is open to the public every Wednesday evening in the summer and fall, and rides are completely free of charge. For the past three years, local rail photographers Matt Wilson and Walter Scriptunas II have been organizing an annual photo charter as a fundraiser to help keep the Climax in operation. This year the event was held just before the peak of fall colors and featured four excursions from noon to night with the Climax on both the uphill and downhill ends of the train, as well as runbys with the LH&W's Vulcan gasoline engine. The volunteers wore period costumes and a vintage truck was even brought in to enhance the scene. Participants were also treated to a fantastic barbecue dinner. Everyone involved really outdid themselves putting on a great event, and I greatly look forward to my next visit to this hidden gem.
Huge thanks to the Mason family, the LH&W's volunteer crew, and the charter organizers for a great day on a great little railroad. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
I would love to live in that house with the railroad yard right across the road from me!
I've never seen a video from this line, and now I REALLY want to go down for one of their future photo charter events! Well done!!
Thanks Big Jim! I highly recommend a visit, LH&W is a real hidden gem of an operation. The charter announcements are made on the Casshews facebook page.
What a charming little loco!
I saw this in Railfan Magazine. Man I would love to film this railroad!!
Those were used here in PA, but I have never seen one run. You have one beautiful replica, sirs.
52. Now I got to add that to my bucket list. Fantastic video
Thanks! Definitely worth a trip, at least during a charter.
Wonderful work! This sure looks like a great place to visit.
Thanks! LH&W is certainly a great operation for its size.
Thank You for introducing us to such a unique railroad. I'm going to have to slap this on my bucket list.
No problem, this place is a really special operation and almost no one seems to have heard of it.
Excellent work...easily the best video ever made at LH&W! Thanks for coming! :D
Thank you, I had a blast! I hope I can make it if you do this again.
Welcome to 1890!
This is a fantastic unknown gem!
The track really does have the look of an early logging line. I visited Cass in the mid 1960's, right after it opened, and the track was similarly primitive.
Looks like either 3 foot or 42 inch gage?
It is a great little operation. The railroad is 3 foot gauge.
Dynamo productions will have to make a video about this line
Wonderful job capturing a unique little engine! Maybe we'll have to make our way down here someday.
Thank you! LH&W is definitely worth a visit.
Great video! Happy you could made it.
Thanks, I had a great time.
All i can say is wow! Thats such an interesting and unique engine. I didnt think there was any vertical boiler engines that ran in the US. Great video
Thanks! She's the only operating vertical engine that I know of outside of Europe. I wish there were more because I love quirky little engines like this.
That's a very unique locomotive. I never heard of it before.
It seems almost no one's heard about it, I guess because they normally only run Wednesdays and are effectively in a backyard. It definitely deserves more attention.
@@SmokyMtnSteam I agree with you. There's a lot of steam locomotives that we don't know about.
Awesome video, Smoky! I wish i had a whistle like that. :/
Thanks! The whistle sounds really nice echoing through the forest.
Nice video! It looks almost like Tom Thumb!
I think this is the longest video of the LH&W I've seen! If it weren't for the Wednesday-only schedule, I'd love to make a trip up there someday.
Yeah, the inconvenient schedule is the only reason I didn't visit sooner. If you want to visit on a weekend, keep an eye on the "Casshews" facebook page for news about the next photo charter.
3 chim steam whistle
Climax? The rod set up looks more like a shay. But pretty cool little engine.
Class A Climaxes used vertical "marine-style" engines just like this one, even the ones with horizontal boilers. It wasn't until the Class B that the iconic angled cylinders were introduced.
Oh ok! Thanks for the information!
11:11 I can almost smell the soft coal smoke.
Were you there?
I'm trying to find the blueprints they built their replica to. any suggestions?
Your best bet would be to contact the LH&W directly, their contact info can be found on their Facebook page.
@@SmokyMtnSteam I did, the plans died with the father who built it. :(