Heber Valley Railroad's No. 618

Heber Valley, vs. Arkansas's Heeber Creeper...confused me, but I had heard of the

Heber Valley.  WHY must they convert from coal to oil?

The area that the Heber Vally operates in is VERY dry, and all the residents  would just as soon NOT have any fires. Plus, burning waste oil is cheaper in the long run, cleaner, and produces no ashes.

I was at Heber Valley when GW #75 was running some years (and years) ago.  The steam engine led a string of passenger cars and if I recall correctly, a caboose on the tail end with a hose attached (or being held?) to put out fires left in the engines wake. 

Nearly got hosed taking photos of her after rounding a sharp bend!

Makes you wonder why it took so long?

So - anyway - what's the deal with Great Western #75?  Wasn't that the engine that was going to be ready to go while #618 was undergoing it's rebuild?

/Mitch

Yeah, I saw that on the news the other night. As soon as they get that up and running I'm going for a ride.

The "75 project" is a complete overhaul, from the running gear, to the boiler, and well take years to complete. The 618 went out of service due to the FRA mandated 15 year boiler inspection. Management at the Heber Valley, realized the importance of having a running steam locomotive, so #618 was "moved up in the schedule" and is currently receiving her FRA 15 year boiler inspection, as well as the conversion to oil burning.

The Heber Valley RR (Heber Creeper went under years ago) never really recovered from John Rimmash leaving. I was volunteering up there right before he left. There was a huge split between the operations section and the foundation that runs the place.

One of the last things I worked on was removing the tubing from one of the engines for an inspection, that was probably 10 years ago, never heard if it got put together again.  Also they recovered a steam engine from the US Steel Union Workers  park in Provo, to restore,  I assume it's still just sitting there.

They been mostly Diesel for years, with a very occasional steam run. Really too bad. They tried to get some funding from the state two years ago, not sure whatever happened with that 

All of Utah is very dry, we are a desert after all. The 844 3985  (oops was thinking of one and typed the other) made one of it's last coal fired runs through here there were numerous fires between Ogden and SLC.  State fire officials made it quite clear she was not welcome back until she was an oil burner.

Heber Valley is adjacent to Park City and as park city grew and got expensive, Heber Valley has really grown. Starting fires would be very bad and would take out houses where 20 years ago would have just burned up a few cows.

Interesting. But UP 844 hasn't burned coal since about 1945, so I guess the state "fire officials" even had real issues with the UP for a very long time.

Sure it's not 3985?  844's been an oil burner since I can remember. (At least since the February 1967 Trains article "That Four digit 4-8-4" when I first became aware of her.)

Rusty

Opps my bad that was before coffee  It was the 3985