Steam & Excursion > 611 operating today in VA

I understand 611 made a trial run from Goshen to Staunton VA today.  Anyone with details or photos?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/23 07:56 by LTCerny.

LTCerny Wrote:
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> I understand 611 made a trial run from Gosen to
> Staunton VA today.  Anyone with details or
> photos?

Trains Magazine posted a short video runby on Instagram.

Dave

Trains magazine posted a short video from today's run on Facebook. Looked and sounded great, and moving at a decent pace, pulling its aux tender and I think nine coaches. Seems like a much more fitting place to run that Strasburg!

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LTCerny Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I understand 611 made a trial run from Gosen to
> Staunton VA today.  Anyone with details or
> photos?

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NW611 Wrote:
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> LTCerny Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I understand 611 made a trial run from Gosen to
> > Staunton VA today.  Anyone with details or
> > photos?

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!

By the way, is that a new whistle on 611? Sounds closer to the ones it had in the late 80s and early 90s...

OH NO!   The cars don't match.  It's not running 70 mph.  There's no open vestibules.  ;>)   Other than that pretty impressive.  I hope they do well.

Thursday's run was to get the bugs out. Today's ( Friday 9/29 ) will carry 450 invited guests ( press, state of Va. officials, shippers and employees of the BB RR). Due to leave Goshen at 10 am, arrive Staunton at 11:30 am, leave Staunton at 11:45 am with an arrival back in Goshen at 1:15 pm.   

      Yesterday's run went well but took a good bit longer than desired as it was the 1st. for everyone involved and I'm confident that future runs will do better.

     Tickets for the upcoming 611 trips are selling well and are now about 80% towards being SRO.

     Thanks to Scott Lindsay and his team the 611 performed perfectly and looked and sounded great.

     Congratulations to Steve Powell and his BB team for a job well done. 

     

Hey Folks, running 611 at Strasburg was great even though the train did not go at mainline speed.  To me, and loving the Amish Country and the Strasburg Rail Road, having 611 operating there was a whole lot better than seeing the engine parked in the museum.  This was a good opportunity for many younger folks to actually experience the operation of a large 4-8-4 passenger locomotive and to be able to ride behind it, again much better than seeing it sitting cold in a museum.  I do hope that the group now operating the 611 has much success.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Now that's more like it!    Way to go Scott and gang.

Not operating as pull/push with diesel?

No, not the test runs it would appear.

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CP8888 Wrote:
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> Not operating as pull/push with diesel?

I believe the "pull back" diesel is added in Staunton(?)

OH NO ! - there are no diesels !

Good to see.

Seems like an unlikely partnership, but I think we may see more and more of this as Class 1's are currently not hospitable to steam engines.  There are a slew of regional and shortline railroads that could be hosts for locomotives without their own track to run on.  

DRGWMark Wrote:
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> NW611 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > LTCerny Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I understand 611 made a trial run from Gosen
> to
> > > Staunton VA today.  Anyone with details or
> > > photos?
>
> Very nice! Thanks for sharing!
>
> By the way, is that a new whistle on 611? Sounds
> closer to the ones it had in the late 80s and
> early 90s...

Apparently it's the same whistle as before, but it's been modified via the 611 FB page. It is off a class J as well. I heard 604 or 609, supposedly.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/23 18:39 by MJV1988.

Friday's test run with 450 VIP guests on board went well , The 611 performed flawlessly and the weather was perfect.

   Congratulations to the BB RR team led by Steve Powell and the VMT team led by Will Harris for a job very well done. 

    The newly created Victoria Station complex in Goshen, Va. functioned very well and handled the nearly 500 guests smoothly. 

    Onward  & Upward for mainline steam in Va. !!!

    Ross Rowland

Nice video!