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The 1963 West Virginia Centennial Special

No part of West Virginia's Centennial celebration reached more of the state than the West Virginia Centennial Special.

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The West Virginia Centennial Special was a collaboration between the state's Centennial Commission and the major railroads in the state - Baltimore & Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, Norfolk & Western, Western Maryland, Pennsylvania Railroad, and the New York Central.

Nine former railroad baggage cars were converted into a traveling exhibit train that toured the length and breadth of the state in the summer of 1963.

The exhibits covered West Virginia history & heritage, arts and crafts and folklore, education, natural resources, industry, agriculture, and tourism & recreation.

Beginning in Washington, DC of May 31 the train toured every part of West Virginia that rails would allow. By closing day on September 2 in South Charleston the train had visited well over 50 communities across the state. Single-day attendance hit a record of some 6000 in Huntington.

The train wasn't alone. The showboat Rhododendron was outfitted to carry the celebration to the waterways of West Virginia.

Even the President of the United States got involved. On June 20, John F. Kennedy gave a Centennial keynote speech in Charleston.

By the time the Centennial celebration was over, more than 300.000 people had visited the West Virginia Centennial Special.

But the train cars weren't finished. The very next year they were part of the Montana Centennial Train, touring not only Montana, but 23 states on a circular tour between there, Washington, DC (where the West Virginia Centennial Special had started), and New York City - only to quickly freshen up and leave Montana again for a return to New York and a two year engagement at the World's Fair.

Incredibly, most of the train cars used for the West Virginia Centennial Special still exist - preserved in various conditions across Montana. But that's another story...