Heading to ride 611! Need some trip info!

[NW Mailing List]

If you plan to ride the Cass railroad, please check their schedules prior to the side trip. 877 686-7245

A long ride if they are closed for the day. It would still be a neat visit to Cass, the shops and town.

You should try for the Bald Knob 22 mile trip. Awesome views, great friendly crew and the Shays are something else.
The views from Bald Knob include the large radio astronomy dishes at Green Bank. That is another great place to visit.

Hope you can make the trip to one of the neat places in West Virginia. We have been going to Cass railroad since it was first opened. Hope to again visit this summer.
Be sure to take a sweater as it is always cooler on top of Bald Knob mountain.

Howard Leedy
Bluefield, WV

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2016 9:20 AM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: Heading to ride 611! Need some trip info!

On Wed, Apr 6, 2016 at 11:49 PM, Ray wrote:

After dinner we want to head for Cass! This is where we are at a bit of a loss!! Google maps gives us 3 choices all within 20 miles and 10 minutes.
If anyone has driven down this way what are the best roads to take?

At times I wonder about what algorithms that Google uses to map some of its routes. The results I got weren't necessarily _wrong_ but they weren't the best routes either. The "shortest" route (and the others) has you meandering all over the place with a lot of driving on two-lane country roads in West Virginia. Scenic but you aren't going to make great time. The more direct way is to come further south on I-81 before heading west. The closest mountain crossing to Cass (and you can't avoid that) is via U.S. 250 west out of Staunton. You can get off at exit 225 and take VA 262 west around Staunton to reach U.S. 250 or pick up 250 directly at exit 222 and go right through the middle of town (not a bad place to visit if you have the time). Once on U.S. 250, follow it into West Virginia to the tiny burg of Bartow. Take WV 28/WV 92 south for about 12 miles, then turn right onto WV 66, which will take you right into downtown Cass.

To get from Cass to Roanoke, you can reverse your route back to I-81 to head south. You can also go back out to WV28/WV 92 and turn right to take that road south for 15 miles. Turn right on WV 39, which will take you west to Marlington, where you pick up U.S. 219 south. Follow that road until the junction with I-64. Take the interstate east, either all the way to I-81 or as far as Clifton Forge, where you can take U.S. 220 south to Roanoke.

Lots of roads, lots of countryside, lots of mountains, but there is a lot to see. Have a good trip.

Bruce in Blacksburg, railfan and road geek

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