Beginning in 1982 the C&OHS has acquired through purchase or donation several pieces of former C&O railroad equipment. The initial aim was to restore the equipment both aesthetically to a selected period and mechanically so as to be operable on excursion trains. Since that time the excursion train business has essentially evaporated.

The second thought was to move the equipment to specific locations to use it for historic interpretation at festivals, fairs, and events. This effort had gotten off to a fairly good start, with some pieces of C&OHS rolling stock having been used at several locations including Lynchburg, VA, St. Louis, MO, Gaithersburg, MD, Alderson, WV, Huntington, WV, Fredericksburg, VA, Hinton, WV, as well as Clifton Forge, VA. The increasing reluctance of railroads to move the equipment, rising cost of movement by freight train, and the increasing lack of available sidings in appropriate locales has essentially ended this process.

The present intent is to continue restoration of the equipment cosmetically with minimal concern about road-worthiness, so as to establish a museum/interpretive site/park at Clifton Forge, with the rolling stock and the freight station building as centerpieces.