611 excursions this fall in Virginia

News report on these excursions here:

https://www.wdbj7.com/2023/08/...#lku7emugfgo1k47wo7l

I will definitely be riding!

It appears the run is Goshen to Staunton....Must be a reason for the diesels on the return- weight  or grade?  They must be leasing a number of vintage passenger cars from various sources:

The excursions will operate twice daily as the Shenandoah Valley Limited. Passengers will board the train in Goshen, travel east through the fall foliage of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests and into the Shenandoah Valley. There, without disembarking, the train will be joined by a pair of diesel locomotives for the return trip to Goshen.

@hokie71 posted:

It appears the run is Goshen to Staunton....Must be a reason for the diesels on the return- weight  or grade?

Neither. There is no way to turn the train consist nor #611. Thus, the diesels on the rear, pull the train consist back to the starting point.

  They must be leasing a number of vintage passenger cars from various sources:

Yes. Thus cars will be transported in.

The excursions will operate twice daily as the Shenandoah Valley Limited. Passengers will board the train in Goshen, travel east through the fall foliage of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests and into the Shenandoah Valley. There, without disembarking, the train will be joined by a pair of diesel locomotives for the return trip to Goshen.

Just booked my excursion; seats were going quick.

Maybe the Virginia Scenic should consider building wye tracks, so that the 611 can turn. At Strasburg they ran 611 backwards toward Leaman Place and ran around the train and ran forward on the return to East Strasburg. On most NS 611 excursions (2015-2017) they had wyes to turn the entire train on.

We rode the morning # 611 excursion this past Sunday, 8 Oct.

This is "Victoria Station" in Goshen where we board.  The train has pulled into a spur, # 611 is at the left end.  The # 611 backs the train out of the spur to switch onto the main line and then travels to Staunton.  There are no diesels on this leg.

It was hard to get pictures without people standing in the way.

There were about 10 passenger cars behind the locomotive / tender / canteen / Va Museum of Transportation car (spare parts and tools?) / Virginia Scenic Railway car (head end power?).

We rode in this car, the Powhatan Arrow.

We passed by the old Goshen station.

Main Street, Goshen Va.

The # 611 pulled the train to the Amtrak station in Staunton.  Then a pair of Buckingham Branch diesels were attached to what was the rear of the train and pulls it back to Goshen.  Just outside Goshen the diesels uncouple, pass around the train headed toward Staunton, and the # 611 pulls the train into "Victoria Station".

Subjectively, the train felt like it was going faster with the # 611 pulling it to Staunton than when the diesels were pulling it back to Goshen.

Hello - I'm riding in a couple Sundays from now, the last trip of the weekend. Which time of day was your trip?  (Edit - never mind, I missed the part about morning trip.) I'm curious if there was a meet with Amtrak's Cardinal. Of course, it depends on whether the Cardinal is on time. (Add - I guess the meet, if any, would be on the afternoon run.)

Was parking at "Victoria Station," or elsewhere?

Thanks, and hope you enjoyed it. David

@NKP Muncie posted:

Hello - I'm riding in a couple Sundays from now, the last trip of the weekend. Which time of day was your trip?  (Edit - never mind, I missed the part about morning trip.) I'm curious if there was a meet with Amtrak's Cardinal. Of course, it depends on whether the Cardinal is on time. (Add - I guess the meet, if any, would be on the afternoon run.)

Was parking at "Victoria Station," or elsewhere?

Thanks, and hope you enjoyed it. David

Yes, the morning run.  It departed Goshen at 9:00 AM and was back in Goshen to end the trip around 1:00 PM.  I'm glad we took the morning run- as we were finishing up and exiting the crowds for the afternoon run were arriving and it was a bit crowded.

The person sharing our seating area, 2 seats facing 2 other seats, was tracking the progress of both Cardinals.  He was hoping to see one or both, I think he was planning to do that in Goshen.

Parking is in a big gravel lot at "Victoria Station".  It's a short walk to the entrance tent.

We stayed in Staunton, a 45 minute drive from Goshen.

@BZ posted:

Yes, the morning run.  It departed Goshen at 9:00 AM and was back in Goshen to end the trip around 1:00 PM.  I'm glad we took the morning run- as we were finishing up and exiting the crowds for the afternoon run were arriving and it was a bit crowded.

The person sharing our seating area, 2 seats facing 2 other seats, was tracking the progress of both Cardinals.  He was hoping to see one or both, I think he was planning to do that in Goshen.

Parking is in a big gravel lot at "Victoria Station".  It's a short walk to the entrance tent.

We stayed in Staunton, a 45 minute drive from Goshen.

Thank you, BZ. I'll be in Powhatan Arrow Car No. 537.

David

Here's a couple from last weekend's excursions. I rode the Sunday afternoon trip - we met the westbound Cardinal as 611 was approaching Staunton.

The two diesels were on the other end for both legs on every trip that I saw on the weekend.

David

You stayed in Staunton but drove to Goshen to board? They won't let you board in Staunton even though they have more than one round trip per day? But then you would be taking up a seat for two runs. Are there more hotels in Staunton, is it right off I-81? Isn't Staunton the normal boarding point for the Virginia Scenic diesel trains? And they have a run that goes east of Staunton through a tunnel? I think excursions on freight only trackage without any Amtrak or other service are more interesting because it gives people an opportunity to ride track normally unrideable. Some of the 2011-2017 NS excursions with different steam locomotives and diesels were on freight only lines, some started at Amtrak stations but then turned onto a freight only line like at Manassas, VA.

@NKP Muncie where did you take your pictures? Looking for advice on rail fanning sites. Thanks

@hokie71 posted:

@NKP Muncie where did you take your pictures? Looking for advice on rail fanning sites. Thanks

Hello - the pan side shot was a little south/west of Craigsville, from next to Railroad Avenue. There's room for several cars to park there, off the road. The other one was at Augusta Springs, west of the grade crossing. Another nice one is near Swoope, where the tracks go under Hewitt Road.

And to give you a wider view of Craigsville location:

David

@NKP Muncie posted:

Here's a couple from last weekend's excursions. I rode the Sunday afternoon trip - we met the westbound Cardinal as 611 was approaching Staunton.

The two diesels were on the other end for both legs on every trip that I saw on the weekend.

David

Thanks for mentioning this.  I withdraw my comment about no diesels on the Goshen to Staunton leg.  Just watched a YouTube video of the train last night and its as you said, the pair of diesels were on the back end of the train as the # 611 was leading on the leg to Staunton.

- When we were walking around and subsequently boarding the train in the Victoria Station area, I am pretty sure I looked and did not see any diesels attached to the back end of the train.

- At the end of our trip, we were stopped on the main line, and after a short time a pair of diesels passed by us on a parallel track.  Our train then pulled into the spur for unloading our group and loading the group for the afternoon run.

I wonder why the pair of diesels didn't stay attached to the train going into or out of the spur.

@BZ posted:

I wonder why the pair of diesels didn't stay attached to the train going into or out of the spur.

Sheer, uninformed speculation on my part - perhaps they shuffled which diesels were on the train, and cut them off before the train entered the siding. Or they needed some attention. The day I rode, there was a third diesel on a stub track off the spur where we loaded. As I was leaving after the final trip of the weekend, all three diesels were leaving together.

Thanks for all the help to everyone who provided guidance on locations.  Today was great and here is a video from Craigsville and a picture from Staunton.  See if you can guess which direction the 611 is going.

This is interesting.  Last night I watched a different YouTube video of the # 611 on its 7 Oct run.  The video clearly shows no diesels were on the back end of the train when traveling from Goshen to Staunton.  This was the case for both the morning and afternoon runs.

There was one point where the video showed diesels sitting on a side-track just west of Staunton, the # 611 and train approaching from the west (heading east), entering the Staunton Amtrak station, then showing the rear of the train as it was coming to a halt- no diesels attached.  The next scene showed the diesels attached and starting the run back to Goshen.

@BZ posted:

This is interesting.  Last night I watched a different YouTube video of the # 611 on its 7 Oct run.  The video clearly shows no diesels were on the back end of the train when traveling from Goshen to Staunton.  This was the case for both the morning and afternoon runs.

There was one point where the video showed diesels sitting on a side-track just west of Staunton, the # 611 and train approaching from the west (heading east), entering the Staunton Amtrak station, then showing the rear of the train as it was coming to a halt- no diesels attached.  The next scene showed the diesels attached and starting the run back to Goshen.

There's a discussion on Train Orders:

https://www.trainorders.com/di.../read.php?10,5763434

Some wheel slip on grades from leaves and sometimes rain/wet leaves seems to be the main cause - along with the length of the train.

And I had missed this on 611's Facebook page - due to mechanical issues, they had planned to substitute diesels for 611 on some of last weekend's runs, but 611 was fixed for Sunday:

https://www.facebook.com/norfolkandwestern611

David

Sad to say it was out of service on Saturday. 2 diesels operated the trip.

Drove 8 hrs for the ride. What a Bust!

They repaired it and it was running again for the final trips. It will probably be back next year.