Summer of 21 - #46 - Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Heritage Center, Clifton Forge, Virginia

August 13th, 2021 - Part 1 of 2

Today we wanted to visit three different locations, our first stop was the C&O Heritage Railway Center in Clifton, Virginia. Here's a LINK to their webpage.

This is copied from their website: "The Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society is proud to offer the C&O Railway Heritage Center/Clifton Forge. This center is a railway heritage museum, interpretive, educational, and visitor's center that tells the story of the C & O Railway: the people, the places, and the technology. The story is the essential American tale of how our nation grew, how we lived and worked, and how were all connected together by twin rails of steel. The purpose of this center is also to honor the memory and contribution of all the railroaders who built the railroads that allowed our nation to prosper, and all those railroaders who continue to keep America moving by rail."

It is a small area with a few engines and carriages that appears to be run mainly by volunteers.  They are working hard on renovating some of the old engines and you are allowed access to most of them.  This place reminded me of a good friend of ours Stuart, who sadly is no longer with us. I'm sure he would have loved it and hopefully he was walking right alongside of us. 

I found a list of the current exhibits on their website which I have copied by the relevant pictures. I haven't got pictures of the ones listed below:

• C&O 10-Roomette & 6-Double Bedroom Pullman sleeping car CITY OF PETOSKEY, built 1950. Used on C&O then sold to B&O and used on its trains for many years. C&O operated 55 of this type sleeping car. (Restored to 1950 appearance.)

• C&O Wooden Caboose No. 90382, built in 1881. Pending full repair/restoration.
• C&O Flat Car No. 80435 built in 1937. Extensively used for military equipment transport in WWII. Fully restored to 1937 appearance.

The first train we looked at was SD40 #7534. 

• "C&O SD40 model GM EMD road freight diesel built in 1971 and in use until 2017 on C&O, C&O/B&O, Chessie System, and CSX. Restored to its original 1971 appearance."

Here's a link to an article about it.  https://www.csx.com/index.cfm/about-us/legacy-locomotives/sd40-7534/. 

Here's an excerpt from the article. "The locomotive passed through the shop many times during its 40 years of active service, making the restoration at Huntington "poetically appropriate", according to the historical society that preserves and celebrates the heritage of the iconic C&O Railway that has become part of the CSX system."

Bryan imagining driving the train 

In the picture below 614 is on the right. 

"C&O 4-8-4 Greenbrier type steam locomotive No. 614, built by Lima Locomotive Works in June, 1948. Used on C&O passenger trains until 1952. Later used in excursion service and currently painted for a special purpose."

"C&O GP7 model diesel road switcher freight type diesel locomotive No. 6858, built by General

Motors Electro-Motive Division in 1952 largely restored to 1952 appearance." 

We didn't see No.6858 but did see No.5828 which is a GP7 shown in the picture above on the left and in the picture below on the right.

I believe the yellow "Chessie System" caboose in the picture above is "C&O Steel Caboose No. 3168, built in 1969 with extended vision cupola, restored to original paint scheme appearance inside and out." but I'm not 100%.

Back to 614 - Here's a LINK telling the story of 614 - The Presidential Express.

614 on the left

Luggage Car

Galley

Carriage

"C&O Dining Car, Gadsby’s Tavern, used on C&O’s George Washington passenger train starting in 1932 (the world’s first long-distance air-conditioned train). Restored to its 1950 exterior and 1932 interior appearance. (Available for use for special events.)"

Sue waiting to be served. I guess there was no service today, ha!!ha!!

In the picture below:

The carriage with the yellow stripe is a "C&O Combination Car No. 458, built 1926 and used in its last 20 years-service on the mixed train Clifton Forge-Hot Springs, Va. (Restored to 1954 appearance.)" 

The red caboose is a "C&O Steel Caboose No. 90219 built in 1929 and typical of cabooses of the era. Painted red and restored to its 1949 appearance inside and out."

Model Chessie Legacy GP30 "00" scale railway that gave rides to children

Old boat but there was no information on it.

After looking at the outside exhibits we were grateful to go into the museum, as it was an extremely hot day and we were both wilting!! The museum had a lot of interesting displays and air conditioning, phew!!!

Painted mural showing the canals and railway

Chessie the railroad kitten was the C&O's corporate symbol. Here is a LINK that tells how this started.

Not sure what this is. Any ideas? Looks like a bicycle that went on the rails??

"This live steam 1-1/2 in scale model was built by Clifton Forge resident and former C&O engineer and machinist Bill Bursey. Each part is handmade and replicates the original as closely as possible."

C&O K-3 N0. 1210 - Live Steam Model

This looked very similar to an old posting machine I (Sue) worked on in the late 60's

"Within the museum is an O-scale operating model railroad that presents the key locations along the line, with descriptions of the reasons towns were built where they were and how they grew with the railroad."

We watched the trains going around.

History of Clifton Forge & the railway

Display on the George Washington

George Washington

History of the C&O + Virginia Central at War

Celebrating Chesapeake & Ohio Lines 150th Anniversary 1785-1935

Railway Heritage Trail

Well that was an interesting visit and the museum took longer than we thought as there was so much interesting information there. However, we have another two stops to make today so stay tuned for the next blog where we will visit a waterfall and a humpback bridge.