C&O Locomotive 614 - Goshen, Virginia 

Saturday I  made a day trip to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Heritage Center in Clifton Forge, Virginia. Clifton Forge is in the mountains of western Virginia, not too far from the West Virginia border. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad has a long history dating from the earliest days of railroads in America, and Clifton Forge was a major maintenance facility for C&O steam locomotives up until the early 1950s when steam was phased out. During it's heyday, the railroad employed nearly 2000 people in Clifton Forge.

During my visit, I learned that C&O steam locomotive 614 was en-route from the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia and was due to arrive later in the day to be displayed at the Railway Heritage Center in time for the Allegheny Railroad Heritage Festival on May 14th. Locomotive 614 is a 4-8-4 J class locomotive that was built for the C&O at the Lima Locomotive Works in 1948. It is believed to be the last 4-8-4 steam locomotive built in America.

As the day wore on, updates on the progress of 614, which was being towed by a diesel locomotive, put the arrival time later and later, so I decided to head back toward home along the train's route hoping to meet up with it along the way. Around 5:00, I arrived in the town of Goshen, Virginia and joined a small group of rail-fans who were waiting for the 614 to pass through. A little after 6:30, we heard the diesel's whistle, the crossing guards went down and the massive steam locomotive swept by on its way to Clifton Forge. It was all over in less than a minute. One of the men standing by the tracks said, "It makes me feel like a kid again." I knew just what he meant.