Tour Railroads of West Virginia
Who doesn’t enjoy a fall foliage road trip? This two-bus Croswell trip included trains as well! Even better. We headed east on Route 32. Our lunch stop was in Athens, Ohio, at a Bob Evans. Since this trip focused on trains, I did some research and found a movie that I thought everyone would like. We watched the 1976 comedy/action film, Silver Streak, starring Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh and Richard Pryor. By the end of the movie, we were in West Virginia, and I played the John Denver’s YouTube song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express, Elkins, WV. Our dinner theater, the Gandy Dancer Theater, was only a few minutes’ drive away. Because of covid, there were not many walk-in customers and they were so happy to have our group of approximately 50 people. We were served a delicious southern cooking style meal, and this was followed by great entertainment, a Tribute to Musical Legends.
The next morning, we drove the short distance to the train depot of the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad. We could have walked, but the weather was giving us a misty rain for the morning. Even so, we were able to get a group photo beside the train. Our Croswell group was the only passengers on the New Tygert Flyer for our trip south through the mountain wilderness. Our narrator explained points of interest. Some of the fall foliage had fallen, but the views were still pretty. The West Virginia flower is the rhododendron and it was plentiful along the sides of the river. Our train had to go through a very narrow tunnel. Lights stayed on inside the train, otherwise we would have been in total darkness for three minutes! We could see the stone walls only a few inches from the windows. When we reached the end of the first half of our trip, we were able to depart the train for a 20 minute break. There was a sightseeing area where we could take photos of waterfalls, or walk down a path to get better pictures. Our narrator told us that when it was time to leave, the train whistle would blow two times. We were to starting loading at the sound of the first whistle. If we heard the second whistle and were not on board, she said “see you next week!” Thankfully, everyone was paying attention! We enjoyed a nice boxed lunch as we began our way back to Elkins.
Our evening event was back to the Gandy Dancer Theater for a second time for dinner and entertainment. Our greeter who stepped on board to welcome us back said if we liked last night’s show, tonight’s show would get “gooder and gooder.” She was right. It was a two-hour Branson-style show with a variety of music from the 50’s to today. Their last song was John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” There was an unexpected addition to this show. We found out that our driver liked to sing karaoke. One of our passengers went to management and asked if our driver could sing a song. Michele agreed and sang a beautiful version of Amazing Grace at the beginning of the show!
We asked how the theater got the name of The Gandy Dancers. The story is: “Gandy Dancers” was a nickname for railroad workers known as section gangs, who laid and maintained tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. The term “gandy dancers” may have come from the odd gait of the tracklayers who walked in straight lines like a gaggle of ganders (male geese) as they carried the rails to their place on the ties. They choreographed their movements to ensure maximum leverage and minimum muscle stress, moving in unison to calls like “up” and “down” like dancers.
Our last day included a second train ride that morning and this time we headed north. Lots of our people seemed to want to socialize with each other, some even playing cards. Our narrator spoke about a few historical facts and she took time to walk around to each table and share some interesting photos. One photo was of the front of the train as it came out of the narrow tunnel. Several of us took a photo of that photo. Someone sent this photo to a family member, and they responded “do you have snow?” Well, there was snow in the picture.
The following morning, as I was opening my tip envelopes, one envelope contained a small two-inch square orange sticky note, and it was signed by the passenger with a note of thanks. I almost tossed it away, but as I turned it over, attached to the back was an even smaller note with a little prayer. This was from a lady who will be 90 years old next year. It said:
“Dear Letter, go upon your way
O’er mountain, plain or sea.
God bless all who speed your flight
To where I wish you to be.
And bless all those beneath the roof
Where I would bid you rest.
But bless even more the one
To whom this letter is addressed.”
From the Escort Seat of Maxine Harris