Crab Orchard Coal Co. 0-4-0T No. Unknown
Macomber, WV, United States 		Location: Cool Springs Park
Status: Display
Posted: Aug 23, 2007 @ 22:08:58 by Matt Wilson
I followed the tracks once, too, and they go a little ways up past the garage and make a loop.  Reportedly (I have been told different versions of this same story by fellow rail enthusiasts and WV historians over the years), the old man that created Cool Springs Park was a rail buff, and collected rail equipment with hopes of eventually operating a tourist railroad (or, at least, a "tourist trap").  In the 1960s, he purchased several hundred acres of land surrounding today's park, and intended to build a short 1-2 mile rail line around the property, and operate all of the equipment you see today (there was talk that a Shay locomotive was also to be purchased and used, but that never materialized).  According to members of my family who owned a camp at Silver Lake and frequented the area on many weekends, the rail equipment was never put into service of any kind while at Cool Springs (although the OLD Cool Springs facility was equipped with a small restoration shop...hence the bridge across the creek toward the building).  Unfortunately, the original Cool Springs concessions/repair building burned to the ground ca. late 1960s, and all finances had to be geared to reconstructing the building in order to stay in business.  Someone else purchased the property @ the 1980s, and the old rail equipment has fallen into total disrepair ever since (every decade or so, someone will paint this locomotive to make it look good).
Posted: Mar 23, 2007 @ 22:03:09 by Stephen Willis
Folks, this equipment was sitting there in 1970! It didn't run then either. From the photos, it seems to me there was a couple more locomotives back then. The last time past there, (2006), I didn't have time to stop and look it over.
Posted: Apr 23, 2005 @ 19:04:01 by Matthew Harris

Stopped by on 4-23-05, Equipment is going fast to the elements. A friend and I walked around and followed the old narrow gauge tracks up into the overgrown valley as far as we could. Most of the tracks were under a creek but kept going. Followed the tracks the other direction past the old coal train cars and the tacks ended in a swamp. It looks like at some time they kept going. Lots of old track stored and stacked everywhere. It seems the tracks have been there a long long time. Maybe an old coal mine or something? There are a few track switches in the yard. Found a date stamp on the running gear of the coal cars "1914". This might help with some research somewhere. Walked inside the store and asked the employee about the equipment. She said the man who owned the property collected old equipment and used to give kiddie rides. She said the tracks ended at the garage. "which they didnt" The employe's inside dont know the history of the equipment so dont ask.

If you visit watch out for the donkeys. They follow you around and bite and kick. There the "gaurd dogs" of the old equipment. Just growl at them, show teeth and they run away.

Posted: Sep 21, 2003 @ 15:09:59 by Matt Wilson
I saw this locomotive at Cool Springs Park during a recent trip to Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis, WV over Labor Day Weekend.  The locomotive is in very poor condition (as is all the rail equipment at Cool Springs) and in bad need of a paint job.  I hadn't stopped at Cool Springs for years, and the equipment is poorly maintained and is deteriorating progressively.