Qualla: Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad

Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit James St. John, CC BY 2.0. The locomotives that pull the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad's excursion trains are not ordinary steam engines. They are Shays, Climaxes, and Heislers - geared logging locomotives designed for steep grades and tight curves, the workhorses that once hauled timber down the West Virginia mountains when the great spruce forests were being cut. Most of those engines were scrapped after the lumber boom ended. A few survived in tourist operations. Today, on the same tracks the loggers laid, the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad runs five different excursion trains using preserved Shays, Heislers, and Climaxes - one of the largest concentrations of geared steam locomotives still operating in the world.

Image: James St. John | CC BY 2.0

Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad: Tracks Built for Timber

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jarek Tuszyński, CC BY-SA 4.0. The railroad operates two state-owned routes - the Durbin Railroad and the West Virginia Central Railroad - that were originally laid by the lumber companies that worked the central West Virginia high country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. When the lumber operations w...

Image: Jarek Tuszyński | CC BY-SA 4.0

Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad: Five Trains, Five Experiences

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MountainRail, CC BY-SA 3.0. The DGVR operates five distinct excursion trains in West Virginia. The New Tygart Flyer runs out of Elkins, the largest town in the area, and uses diesel power for a mid-day mountain-valley sightseeing trip. The Durbin Rocket runs out of Durbin, the small town a few miles east, p...

Image: MountainRail | CC BY-SA 3.0

Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad: The Geared Logging Locomotive

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit James St. John, CC BY 2.0. Shays, Heislers, and Climaxes are technically wonderful machines. Ordinary steam locomotives use direct rod drive from the pistons to the wheels, which limits them to grades of about three percent before the rod stresses become unmanageable. Logging railroads needed to climb moun...

Image: James St. John | CC BY 2.0

Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad: Why a Country Railroad Still Matters

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit jpmueller99 from Shenandoah Valley of VA, USA, CC BY 2.0. There are not many places in the United States where you can still ride a geared steam logging locomotive up a real mountain over real timber-era tracks. Cass Scenic Railroad State Park is probably the most famous, but the entire DGVR system offers a similar experience extended a...

Image: jpmueller99 from Shenandoah Valley of VA, USA | CC BY 2.0