It's not. At least not any official arm of any Virginia agency, despite the name.

This isn't to say that some Commonwealth funding couldn't be involved in this project; it's just that it shouldn't be assumed.

And I looked up Buckingham Branch and it’s apparently family-owned. Interesting! A family owned railroad that Amtrak operates on! Kinda cool.

For some reason I thought VMT had become or was becoming state owned? Can’t remember where I heard that and maybe I’m totally mixing it up with another line. Either way I know Virginia is very supportive of the 611!

The BB property is now owned by the State of Va. having been acquired about a year ago in the mega deal with CSX

The Buckingham Branch RR is the contracted Designated Operator who were also the DO when the line was owned by CSX.

There have been discussions for years of the VMT becoming a state owned agency but that has not yet happened.

Ross Rowland

To add to what Ross said, Will Harris is the President of the Board for VMT and his North Fork Lumber is in Goshen. I suspect he has plenty of local connections that helped facilitate the new siding, etc.

It looks like there could be room for a why at Goshen, is it know where it's turning around?

It doesn’t sound like it will be turning anywhere along the line.

For those interested in part of the consist, video was taken today and posted (on Facebook) of some seven private cars making a deadhead move in Virginia for the excursions. They include three cars (ex IC Ponchartrain Club car, an ex ATSF/Amtrak diner, and an ex PRR coach) owned by Great Scenic Railway Journeys, and then four ex VRE/Metra/CNW galley bilevels, owned by Atlantic Railways. I'm assuming that's not all of the consist, as there's advertised to be "dome class" cars as well.

https://www.facebook.com/10005714950885 ... 506987228/

Word is this excursion won't be happening this year. Reasons given vary from insurance costs to BB track maintenance.

Hopefully they will be able to run next year; there was a lot of investment in the Goshen site for only one season.

As always... you got to see it while you can. While I did miss the 611 on this run, I'm so glad I saw her climb the Andrews Loop in North Carolina (one of the best railfanning moments ever!) and I got to ride behind her, unassisted, out of Roanoke on her home rails doing what she was built to do on the mainline.

To my knowledge as an employee of the BB insurance is not an issue. The Track maintenance I can confirm as we are supposed to a massive rail replacement project starting this fall. Another issue is crews, we have had a big crew shortages since mid February and it is only now just starting to get better. From my understanding upper management would like to have 611 back, but just not this year.

Suffice it to say that the issues causing there to be no repeat this year of the 2023 excursions with the N&W 611 were all on the VMT side of the ledger, not on BB side.

A combination of very few carrying all the work that goes into a production of that scale ( building a new 1500 ft. siding from scratch, access roads into a new 400 car parking facility, provisions for watering and coaling the 611, rounding up cars for a train from all corners of the land, building a volunteer train crew of car hosts, on and on and on) with little or no back up from the majority of the VMT leadership.

In addition there developed leadership issues within the 611 crew which added additional turmoil to the equation.

The small crew who got it done last year said we need at least a year off to catch our breath.

Hopefully 2025 will see a resumption?? Hope springs eternal.

Ross Rowland

Ross… are you jealous the 611 is running and the 614 is rusting away? Or just upset that the 611 sometimes has a lady fireman? :-p

Crescent-Zephyr: Does your existence on this forum contribute to the greater preservation community in any meaningful way or do you simply troll everyone? I'm not sure why you frequent RyPn, because you don't seem to have any grasp of reality nor a demeanor of common decency, so I doubt you're involved in preservation efforts other than in your head.

Ross did mention in the T1 Open House - Altoona thread that a positive announcement will be forthcoming in the next month or two.

Things would get started sooner once your check for a few million dollars clears.

Brian Helfrich

I thoroughly enjoyed being aboard 3 of the 2023 excursions behind the 611 and am looking forward to their resumption in the future.

As mentioned, things are looking positive for the 614 and we should be in the position to make a public announcement in the next several months. Patience is a virtue.

Ross Rowland