STAUNTON, Va. — Hauling freight isn’t the Buckingham Branch Railroad’s only forte, as the Virginia short line’s newly launched tourist train has shown. The Virginia Scenic Railway has sold out all of its seats through Thanksgiving after launching its tourist operation a month ago.
The Staunton-based railroad recently shared on social media that both of its 3-hour, four-day-a-week excursion trains have sold out for the remainder of the 2022 season. That means the railroad sold about 4,000 seats in a four-week period.
The railroad started its tourist business on Thursday, Aug. 4, offering two trains Thursday through Sunday. Its offerings are the Alleghany Special, a 66-mile, round-trip excursion between Staunton and Goshen, Va., passing through the state’s Shenandoah Valley, and the Blue Ridge Flyer, a 62-mile round-trip excursion between Staunton and Blue Ridge Tunnel near Ivy, Va. Both trains operate on the railroad’s ex-Chesapeake & Ohio North Mountain Subdivision, which hosts a mix of CSX and Buckingham Branch freight trains, as well as Amtrak’s triweekly Cardinal.
“The initial feedback has been extremely positive. People are excited to have regularly scheduled passenger excursions in Virginia for the first time in over 30 years,” Steve Powell, president of the Buckingham Branch Railroad, wrote in a note to Trains News Wire.
Powell says the railroad started out with only one passenger car, offering 34 seats per train in a configuration with tables. The railroad’s initial schedule included 16 weeks, starting on Aug. 4, and ending the week before Thanksgiving.
“We are finalizing plans for 2022. We plan to offer shorter Christmas themed rides during the month of December,” says Powell. “We also plan to have a second car available for these Christmas rides as well as all future trips,” he says, mentioning that additional railcars are planned after 2022.
Powell says the railroad is in its early stages of planning for 2023. The Virginia Scenic Railway will likely have a reduced schedule in the winter but will offer a full lineup of weekly excursions in spring, summer, and fall. He says the railroad’s winter 2023 schedule will likely be available in December.
“We have had great feedback on the train cars, routes, scenery, and food. Overall, people have truly enjoyed the overall experience. Both the lunch trains and dinner trains have been equally popular,” says Powell. “The biggest disappointment that people have shared is that we do not have enough cars.
“We thought that there would be a great interest in these rides, but the response has definitely exceeded our expectations.”
Those interested in more information on the Virginia Scenic Railway can visit the railroad’s website.
Glad to read that things are going well!
I would still like to see a Blue Ridge Tunnel shuttle put into place. Hike through the old tunnel, ride back through the new.