The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad in cooperation with Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association will sponsor a ride on the Durbin Rocket after the Cass Railfan Weekend on Sunday May 18, 2008. The ride will consists of switching cars in the yard and photo run-bys during the trip. The train will proceed downriver as far as the railfans wish and time permits.  It probably will not go the full 5 miles to the end of the line.

The cost of the trip is $20.00. The train departs at 3:30 PM to give the folks leaving Cass ample time to drive to Durbin.  The trip should last about 2 - 2.5 hours.

No reservations are needed for this trip.  The Sunday Railfan Weekend train gets back to Cass to about 2 PM, so there will be plenty of time to make the 20-mile drive from Cass to Durbin to ride the Durbin Rocket.

The Durbin Rocket is powered by Climax locomotive No. 3, a 55-ton standard gauge Class B Climax built in 1910 for The Moore-Keppel Company in Ellamore, Randolph County, West Virginia.  It was apparently used into the 1050's and then ended up at a museum in Connecticut before coming to Durbin in 2001.  The ride leaves Durbin and runs south (downstream) along the Greenbrier River on a 5-mile section of the former C&O line that ran from Cass to Durbin.  Most of that line was destroyed by a major flood in 1985.

For more information on the Durbin Rocket (and the Durbin & Greenbrier Railroad) go to www.mountainrail.com.