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In the fast approaching darkness of the first evening of the time change, several photographers and local residents gathered in the heart of Goshen to watch the 611-pulled excursion train return from Staunton for the final time this first season.
On the north side of the tracks, a man asked one of the photographers, was the train coming this way? Then he got his wife and an excited young boy, who had not seen the train before, out of the car to come watch as the train’s whistle could be heard in the distance.
On the other side of the tracks, a photographer from Blacksburg with multiple lenses and a tripod got ready to shoot the train as it passed the old Goshen depot. He took time out, though, to show a really good photo he had taken of the 611 pulling the North Mountain grade north of Craigsville two weeks before, complete with voluminous black smoke pouring from the stack amid brightly colored fall trees.
Most of the colored leaves were gone now, and so was the sun for the day.
Then you heard the train coming around the bend, and the red and black diesels of the Buckingham Branch pulled the excursion train past the depot. Passengers, particularly the children, waved from inside the long line of lighted coaches. Then the 611 brought up the rear, in reverse. The train went down the tracks past Goshen, where in a few minutes, the diesels would unhook from the train and the 611 would then pull the train forward down to Victoria Station.
At Victoria Station, two members of the Goshen Volunteer Fire Department were busy setting up two spotlights near where the passengers of the center cars would disembark. Large lights were already in place on either end of the station.
Minutes later, the single headlight of the 611 steam engine could be seen in the distance, slowly, very slowly, making its way along the plain south of the old Stillwater plant along the spur track and then the siding to the graveled area with tents that serve as Victoria Station.
Eventually, the engine came to a halt near the end of the siding, its light shining on the trees in front of it. As volunteers began disembarking the passengers, crew members began tackling a host of chores necessary to shut down the historic steam engine for the night, including removing the ashes from the coal that had been burned.
Many of the passengers made their way to the front of the train to take photos of the 611 and its crew in action, even though it was completely dark, except for the floodlights and then the headlights of a Goshen Volunteer Fire Department truck brought over to shine more light on the crew’s work.
Will Harris, the man most responsible for this fall’s Goshen-based excursions, and his wife, Janie, also made their way to the front of the train. Some of his family members gave him a hug.
Among the others who could be seen in the dim light was Scott Lindsay, the chief mechanical officer for the 611 who has been with the steam engine since 1982 when it was brought back to life for the first time for main-line excursions in the 1980s. He and others led the effort to have the engine restored again in 2014, which led to several seasons of excursions in Virginia, then to the Strasburg Railroad for three years and then here to Goshen.
Twenty or so minutes after the 611 had pulled into the station, at about 6:10 or 6:11, dozens of people still stood around the engine taking photos, and taking it all in.
A crew member made several long pulls on the whistle, much longer than usual, similar to the grand finale at a Fourth of July fireworks show, and the small crowd knew what that meant.
As the last sounds ceased, many in the crowd applauded. -The next day, Monday, in an interview with News-Gazette reporter Joseph Haney (which you will read about in a wrap-up story next week), Harris said arrangements had been made for the 611 and several of the historic passenger cars to head back to the Virginia Museum of Transportation the next day.
He said, though, he was pretty certain that the 611 and the passenger cars would be back in Goshen next year for more excursions.
