We woke up at the Holiday Inn Express in Heber City. I showered and then packed up and we left and headed to McDonald's to go through the drive through then drove down to the old stations and parked across the street from them and had breakfast. After eating, photography took place.
The former Heber City Denver and Rio Grande Western station.
Utah Railway wooden caboose 53 built in 1913. It sat at Martin until the late 1960s or early 1970s, when it was sold to H-E Lowdermilk Co., a construction firm located at Spring Glen, Utah, between Helper and Price; moved to their equipment yard at Spring Glen, Utah. Moved from Spring Glen in about 1973, to Heber for service on the Heber Creeper tourist excursion train. Later removed from service and displayed near the original Denver and Rio Grande Western depot at Heber, which became private property after 1990. Moved in February 2021.
Union Pacific station from Honeyville by way of Corinne. Since Elizabeth's car was in desperate need of cleaning, we visited a car wash then drove the short distance to the Heber Valley Railroad. We picked up our tickets at the station and were told the attendant of the car would tell us where our seats were in the open air car. I went out and took photographs while Elizabeth purchased a few souvenirs.
Boston and Maine GP9 77 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1957 as Boston and Maine 1738.
Steam generator car 448, ex. VIA 15448 1978, nee Canadian National 15448. It was built by Canadian Car and Foundry in 1956 and acquired from the British Columbia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 2019.
Maine Central GP9 52, originally Boston and Maine 1726, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1957, will be the power for our train today.
Maine Central 52 is heading to the front of today's train.
Maine Central 52 is reversing onto the train.
Maine Central 52 on the point of the train.
United States Steel Corporation 0-6-0 300 built by Baldwin in 1925 which became Geneva Steel.
Our Private Shop TourWhile I was getting the car numbers of the train, Mark Nelson, Executive Director, walked out of the station and came up to us. He recognized Elizabeth and asked who I was. We made our introductions and he informed us of the reason they cannot go to Vivian Park at the moment. A slow geological event has occurred and during the fixing of it, a buried fibre optic cable was discovered, whose company had to come out to fix it before work could continue. He then asked us if we wanted a tour of the shops and we both said "yes" in unison, so we headed into the shops.
Heber Valley 2-8-0 618, built by Baldwin in 1907 as Oregon Short Line 1068. It was re-numbered 618 in 1915 and later became Union Pacific 618 before being donated to the City. It is in the shop being restored and has been converted from coal to oil.
Former Southern Pacific 112 "Mount Cascade", built by Pullman in 1930 as Southern Pacific observation-lounge 2914. It was also part of the BC Chapter NRHS acquisition.
Heber Valley 618 wheel sets.
Next we went into this car, also part of the BC Chapter NRHS acquisition.
Coach seating in this car.
There is a private room for groups of passengers also in this car.
Another view of the car. Mark then took us into the new building.
Great Northern dining car "New York" later became Burlington Northern 968467 built by Pullman in 1929.
Former VIA FP9A 6300, ex. VIA 6300 2011, exxx. VIA 6524 1983, nee Canadian National 6524, built by General Motors Division in 1957, part of the BC Chapter NRHS acquisition.
The tender of Heber Valley 2-8-0 618.
Union Pacific NW2 DS 1011, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1940, awaiting restoration.
Heber Valley coach 7510, originally Denver and Rio Grande Western 1010.
Another view of the tender of the 618.
Wheel sets of Great Western 2-8-0 75.
A former blunt-end observation car built for the Atlantic Coast Line. It was converted into an open platform car by a private owner.
The tender of Great Western 2-8-0 75.
Heber Valley Railroad business car 100, built by Pullman in 1912 as Chicago Rock Island & Pacific business car 1858, named "Indiana" then sold to Western Pacific in 1916 and named "Nomad". The Denver and Rio Grande Western purchased the car in 1925 and it was assigned to railway's president. It was retired by D&RGW in October 1965 and displayed at the Forney Museum in Denver. In August 1987 it became New York, Susquehanna & Western 510 "Otto Kuhler" and was sold to Heber Valley Railroad in 2016.
The sign from the Rio Grande station's roof in Salt Lake City was recently acquired by the Heber Valley Railroad.
Canadian National Colonist Car 2908, built by National Steel Company in 1928. It became Canadian National 719 in 1978 and VIA 7169 in 1983. Acquired from the BC Chapter of the NRHS in 2019, Heber Valley is going to convert into a wheelchair lift handicapped car.
Shop view.
Heber Valley Railroad GM5 MW001 built by Davenport in 1950 as Morrison Knudsen 52-5 and later Great Northern.
The front of the new shop building. We thanked Mark for an excellent tour and he went off on his way and we headed to the front of the train for some pictures.
Elizabeth and our train.
Me and our train.
Union Pacific caboose 3950 built by Union Pacific in 1952.
Our Train TripAt 10:45 AM, we boarded our car which was the Grandview, a former Canadian Pacific fourteen section single sleeper. The consist of our train was Maine Central GP9 52, Grand View open car 360, Heber Valley table car 850 (former Atlantic Coast Line coach), former Canadian Pacific coach 802, UP combine 2700, Heber Valley coach 324 (former Lackawanna) and Minerva Scenic Railroad Village of Minevera 3227.
Abbey, who I worked with at last year's NRHS convention in the caboose, remembered me and said we could take any two seats we wanted in the car since we were the only two passengers assigned to this car. So I moved us to a left-handed foursome seat.
Our train tickets which were never punched due to fears of COVID-19 virus.
Elizabeth on the Heber Valley train in Heber City.
Me in the same coach. At 11:03 AM, the train started to move and Elizabeth and I joked about the derailment we lived through at last year's NRHS convention where we only went two-tenths of a mile.
Views as we left Heber.
Views on the outskirts of Heber of the surrounding countryside.
Views before the Deer Creek Reservoir.
The north end of the Deer Creek Reservoir.
Views as we travelled along the Deer Creek Reservoir on a beautiful day.
Elizabeth and the Deer Creek Reservoir.
The rest of the trip along the Deer Creek Reservoir.
The Deer Creek Reservoir dam. Here we dropped off some wild river rafters. Now the train will back up to the runaround tracks about a mile-and-a-half back toward Heber City.
The back up move to the runaround track.
Here at the runaround track, the engine cut off from the train.
The engine ran around the train.
The return trip along the Deer Creek Resevoir.
One of the last curves of the trip before we returned to Heber City. Here we detrained and I started working on the story by converting the pictures and numbering them and made the trip page while Elizabeth visited with Mike Manwiller, the Chief Mechanical Officer. This concludes our coverage of the Heber Valley Railroad. It had been a great trip aboard their train.
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