Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad

I was disappointed with this scenic railroad trip. Not much was scenic — an occasional high point or point of interest, but for the most part we saw TRAILER PARKS AND THE SIDES OF HILLS. The waterfall at the end was a nice destination, but spending the best part of a day and $ 75 per person to see a waterfall wasn’t worth it. We paid for the ‘premium’ car, but there was nothing premium about it. The cars overall are in sad shape with worn chairs, tables, and carpets and cheap/​dated décor (not historic… I’m talking 1970).
The lunch was also disappointing, consisting of lunchmeat sandwiches (choice of roast beef or pastrami, which is an odd limited combination), a bag of potato chips, and a dessert. The deli cheese while kept on ice sat out way too long (it was on display, uncovered, when we boarded the train in the morning). By lunchtime, the edges were dried out and hard. Ick. We had our choice between strawberry shortcake or cheesecake for dessert. The strawberry shortcake was NOT strawberry shortcake — it was a store-​bought slice of POUND CAKE with mushy frozen strawberries on top. Just bad. The cheesecake was better, but that’s not saying much… it was still a sad flavorless store-​bought product.
The «tour guide» was pretty worthless in comparison to experiences I’ve had elsewhere. Her commentary was minimal, and often came AFTER we passed the point of interest. «Oh, back there we passed the site of…» She also wasn’t the least bit polished and seemed unprepared. She was prepared, though, for her big musical number during the second half of the trip («Nobody Here But Us Chickens»). I have to say this was the highlight of our day, but because it was so bad and so silly that it was comical. I heard another passenger say, «I think we’re on candid camera.»
If this trip was $ 20 I wouldn’t complain, but $ 75 per person is outrageous for the quality of the available scenery, the cars, and the lunch. I do not recommend this railroad.

The Cheat Mountain Salamander
I recently visited Elkins and was super excited after a previous AMAZING experience on the Cass Scenic Railroad (before it was owned by DGVR) and after learning that there was a back mountain-​train ride that was a 9hr. trip I was stoked to be able to hopefully get to hear about some more local history about the WM Railroad and the logging operations in Spruce. We arrived at the station and 7094 was the lead engine pulling the train that day. We boarded the train and pulled out of the station shortly after 8:50am. And after hearing the train horn i though, Man… 7094’s horn is hideous sounding! At first I though a container ship was pulling out of the station as it sounded more like a boat than a train horn. It wasn’t til later on the return trip that the other engine had a waayy better sounding horn. Anyway, the first hour of the train ride was super informational and then it all when down hill from here, like the staff no longer cared. They briefly talked about the Kelly Mountain Tunnel as we were going through it and gave some cool facts and history about it and then touched on the town of Bemis and how it had become more of a camping town with all of the trailers and RV’s that had taken over the town and then for the last 8hrs of the trip NOTHING was ever said again about the other towns, track sidings, local history or even Spruce. It then became a SUPER BORING ride. I mean C’mon DVGR how do you expect to run tourist railroad and turn a profit if you don’t talk about some history to keep people’s minds engaged in local history and want to talk and invite friends to ride again. The train did stop at the town of Spruce long enough to swap the engines over to the other end of the train and allow a brief self guided walking tour of Spruce and then it was back on the train again. We did stop at Cheat Falls and it was cool to be able to see the falls in such a remote location. I briefly commented under my breath upon leaving the train,“I wonder who’s going to be the first one to fall into the water?” No sooner than I said it an older gentleman need up wiping out a falling over into the river at the falls. LoL
It wasn’t until after the train ride on the Salamander that I got home and found a lot of info on the internet and Topo maps about the area. I didn’t even know about a former mine ran by Enviro Energy off the mainline and that there was a coal washing plant at Cheat Bridge. It’s random things like this that could be talked about on the long 9hr. trip that would be interesting to learn about other than radio silence.
**Overall I was SUPER bummed about the non informative 9hr. ride out to Spruce and back. I won’t be returning again sadly and won’t recommend it to others I know.

Bought a couple tickets on the Tygart Flyer for my Dad and I for fathers day. We drove about 4 hours on a Sunday morning and arrived in Elkins, WV. The train station was easy to find, and modern and clean. The train itself was a lot of fun to observe, and really takes you back. The ride itself was up the mountain and stopped at the High Falls of Cheat, on the Cheat River. The falls were cool, and we stayed up there about 45 minutes walking around and observing the falls and surrounding area. We also had a buffet style lunch on the way up that consisted of picnic style sandwiches, chips, salad, etc. It was nothing special. The seating was at tables, and the chairs were not that comfortable. Sit on the right side of the train when you get on for the best views. The neat factor + views made up for the basic and underwhelming experience of the train itself.

On our latest family vacation we went on two trains from this line, the New Tygart Flyer and the Durbin Rocket. We wanted to do the dinner train which is $ 75−85/person and they wanted to charge us for our 5mos old (who doesn’t eat from a menu) and our 20mos old who would eat off of our plates. I found this to be a bit ridiculous since even DisneyWorld doesn’t charge for small children and they have way more to offer!
Nevertheless we still took two train rides. The first was on the Durbin Rocket which leaves from the small town of Durbin. Cost is $ 22/​person, they don’t charge for kids under 3, and total mileage is around 11 miles. The train goes about 5−6mph (rocket speed eh?) backwards up a track, stops and lets you get out by the river for 30min, then goes back to the depot. The Rocket is an antique Climax steam train which was neat. Total time is about 2 hours. Bathroom facilities at the station are horrible (only 1 for everyone) and a the picnic location they are outhouses. The cars are open air and one is covered… so be warned if it rains. Overall I would skip this train due to the high price, short trip, poor facilities, and remote location… the ride wasn’t that scenic as well. If you are a train junky I would just stop by and take a look at the train between it’s 10am and 2:30pm runs. The steam engine is the only thing worth seeing.
The second train we took was the New Tygart Flyer lunch train out of Elkins. It leaves at 11am, goes about 46 miles round trip, and has a layover at the High Falls of the Cheat River. There are no open air cars and a buffet style lunch and dessert are served on this train. Cars are air conditioned and have adequate bathrooms. Cost was $ 45/​person and they did not charge for small children. This is the train I would take again. The High Falls are beautiful and the train covers a bit of distance and the history of each area is narrated by a worker. I would get there early so you can be first in line to get a table in your car, we had to split up our family of 4 and sit on two different tables. Staff was friendly and courteous and everything was clean. The 4 hour ride is relaxing and a nice quiet way to spend most of the day with your family or friends.