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After five weekends, 30 excursions, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 visitors from across the United States and Canada, the town of Goshen is quiet once again as the Norfolk and Western 611 steam engine, along with several of the cars it’s pulled over the past few weeks, departed for its home in the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke.
“I think it went better than I expected it to, to be truthful,” said Will Harris, president of the museum’s board of directors. “I wasn’t sure we were going to sell out, [but] we sold out sooner than I would have thought that would’ve happened. Everything ran smoothly.
“It’s still kind of surreal to me that we actually got it all done and it all worked out as well as it did,” he added. “I just feel very fortunate. This has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. I just feel blessed and thankful that it went well and we got so much [positive] response.”
The 611 pulled all but two of the excursions over the past five weeks, with the two excursions on Saturday, Oct. 28, being pulled by a pair of diesel engines that had been pulling the train back to Goshen most weekends.
The issue was one of the more than 4,400 staybolts in the engine breaking as the train pulled into Victoria Station on that Friday night. The initial announcement about the issue indicated that the engine would be out of service for the remainder of the weekend, as it needed to cool before the bolt could be replaced. But rather than taking days to cool as anticipated, the engine only cooled overnight before reaching a temperature where the work could be performed. The broken staybolt was replaced and the 611 was running again for the remaining excursions.
Even though passengers that day were disappointed that the 611 wasn’t the engine they’d be riding behind, most people were understanding.
“It was a minute amount of complaints on anything.” Harris said. “Even on the day the engine broke down, a lot of people said, ‘We’re sorry the engine broke down. We’re sorry you’re having that trouble. We understand.’ There was nothing really negative during the whole event. Everyone’s been really positive.” Goshen town officials are very pleased with how the weekends went, especially for the businesses in town, which Vice Mayor Steve Bickley said saw “much higher foot traffic” during the weekends the excursions were happening.
“BG’s [restaurant] was basically swamped for all three days for all five weeks,” he said. “They actually had a waiting line for the first time in their lives.”
Both Bickley and Goshen Mayor Tom McCraw told The News-Gazette that they felt the excursions were “good for the town” and said they’d had a chance to meet some of the people who came to town for the excursions. Bickley ran into couple from New York at the town’s fall festival on Oct. 28 who “just went on and on about how they loved the town.”
“It reminded them the way their town was 30 years ago and it was wonderful and they were looking forward to coming back,” he said.
McCraw said he talked to some people who, after visiting Goshen, were “considering trying to find a place somewhere around here, maybe not just in Goshen, but somewhere in this area to live or move to.”
“A lot of the comments were, ‘Hope [you] can do it again next year,’ which would be good for the town again,” he said.
Harris said that there is talk about possibly doing excursions next spring, but nothing has been decided about that. More excursions next fall, though, are “a very strong possibility.”
Since Victoria Station sits just outside of the town limits in Rockbridge County, the county is collecting, among other revenues, a 3 percent admissions tax from each ticket sold. The town has asked for the county to split that with them, with twothirds of the revenues going to the county and one-third going to the town. No official decision has been made, but the county has asked that the town put together a formal request to share that revenue which would include a breakdown of how the town’s portion would be allocated.
“I feel like the fact that they reached back and asked for more information is positive for us,” Bickley said.
With the possibility of more excursions coming next year, the town is already thinking about ways to encourage even more of the passengers to stay in town. Bickley said that town officials plan to meet with the Regional Tourism Board to discuss “what we did right, what we did wrong and what we need to do way better to be in a better position to capitalize on all these people coming to town.”
Harris offered thanks to many people and organizations for making the excursions possible, including Buckingham Branch Railroad and Virginia Scenic Railway; Del. Terry Austin for helping secure the state’s purchase of the track and allowing private excursions to be run on the line; Goshen’s fire department and rescue squad as well as the county Emergency Medical Services; Jimmy Glass, who did a lot of work with grading the station, and his family.
“I feel very fortunate to have the support,” he said.
McCraw added thanks to Harris on behalf of the town, and both Harris and McCraw thanked the many volunteers who came together to help make the excursions possible.
Nearly everyone – from the engineers to the porters – were volunteers, with about 40 working each excursion.
“I was very concerned about having enough help, [but] it all came together,” Harris said. “It’s just hard for me to believe that people were that committed to this kind of project that they’re willing to volunteer their time. I really appreciate that.”
