Quite the spectacular line! I've never tried the sweet-talk and beer method to get a cab ride, though I think it would work on me!
Cass also features some frightening grades on the line to Bald Knob. I think they may have a stretch of 11% too. Diana and I went out there one year and took the ride to the top. We were dressed for warm temperatures. It was not warm at the top! During the layover, we huddled up next to the firebox of the Shay. Two Shays had shoved us up there and one had already departed down the mountain, running lite. The engineer took pity on us and invited us to ride down the mountain in the cab. It was quite an interesting ride! I don't believe they turned up retainers, but brakemen would snug up the handbrakes on certain stretches. At one point, there was a rather heated exchange between the engineer and the relatively new fireman about water level. The engineer was not too happy that fireboy hadn't gotten the water a little higher in the glass before they tipped over onto a real steep stretch. I guess the water in the front of the boiler was barely covering the tubes!
