Greenbrier Plans Casinos, Luxury Train

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Sep 24th 2009 at 10:01PM

I came across an intriguing update on the Greenbrier hotel. The luxury hotel in West Virginia has had quite a tumultuous year but new owner Jim Justice some big plans for the resort. During an interview on "Decision Makers," a public affairs program on West Virginia Media television stations, he said that he wants to offer luxury train trips from Washington, D.C., to the Greenbrier. This is no quick jaunt, the trip takes five hours and 15 minutes but it would pass through some incredibly beautiful mountainous terrain and could heighten that feeling of stepping into another world that occurs when arriving at the Greenbrier.

Justice's plan is to create the "Greenbrier Express" which would be a a 210-passenger train with the luxuriously old-fashioned style of the resort. Passengers would board at Union Station in D.C. and once they arrived in Greenbrier County, they would be taken via horse-drawn carriage to the resort. Justice would like to use a passenger train which has the last steam engine manufactured in America and can hold up to 210 passengers.

He hopes to have the train up and running by next summer. He is also working on plans for a $25 million, 75,000-square-foot casino. The smaller Tavern Casino will open on October 1,and will offer table games, including blackjack, roulette and three card poker as well as slot machines. The Casino at The Greenbrier will open next April and have a Monte Carlo-style casino, as well as retail and dining areas in an underground complex. Champagne will be passed nightly at 8:00 p.m., offering a toast of luck to all guests.

Tags: greenbrier, hotel, resort, west virginia, WestVirginia