Having not been in Utah in almost 50 years, could someone answer this question? When the state took over the Heber Creeper some years ago, I believe it did not acquire the original D&RGW depot and a replica "wild west" town nearby. What happened to these structures? Are they now part of the scheme?

bobyar2001@yahoo.com

The "wild west" town and depot(s) are not part of the Heber Creeper operation any more. The new Heber Valley Railroad facilities are about 3-4 blocks south now. The "wild west" town still has a few shops that seem to be open sporadically. The single-story D&RGW freight depot is still in place, but it does not appear to be in use. The two-story passenger depot (I'm not sure if it's original or a replica) that the Heber Creeper used as a ticket office and gift shop has been uprooted and is sitting on a house moving dolly on the site- it's been that way for six months or so. Nearly all of the tracks have been removed from the site and a new state office building occupies the north part of the lot. The southwest corner is occupied by a bank branch (AmBank)in a mobile office unit. All of the old Heber Creeper rolling stock is gone except for one wooden caboose of unknown origin. The old Heber Creeper engine shop is still there, but there are no tracks leading to it any more and I don't know what it's used for.

> Having not been in Utah in almost 50 years,
> could someone answer this question? When the
> state took over the Heber Creeper some years
> ago, I believe it did not acquire the
> original D&RGW depot and a replica
> "wild west" town nearby. What
> happened to these structures? Are they now
> part of the scheme?


davew833@yahoo.com

>...I believe it did not acquire the
> original D&RGW depot and a replica
> "wild west" town nearby. What
> happened to these structures? Are they now
> part of the scheme?

as I have been told by the 'old hats'...

As the State of Utah was acquiring the "depot block" in the early 90's for the restarted operation, all of the paperwork was in order when the owner of the block "rewrote" the contract at the last minute -- giving himself concession rights. This was wholly unacceptable to the State and they walked away from the deal--setting up two blocks down the line, across from the fairgrounds.

The D&RGW depot is still there with a wooden caboose. The two story depot that had come down to Heber from up north (Corinne?)has been up off it's foundation on house-moving equipment since last summer and a regional bank has a trailer on the site with a sign indicating that they will be building a permanent structure this year. It is rumored that the "Corinne Depot" is for sale. The owner certainly had a sudden interest in selling it two years ago when Heber Valley Railroad announced receiving funding to finally build a depot.

The "old west" structures are still there with entrepreneurs setting up shop for a few months and then seemingly "going under". The main banner visible from the road advertises "VIDEOS FOR SALE".

The traffic pattern for the Olympics Games didn't come near this depot block (Heber Valley Railroad had to run a shuttle to get our passengers to and from the Park 'n Ride lot out by the highway). And it is interesting to note that the main signage out on main street directing the public to the HVRR causes them to miss the old location. intentional??

hope this helps...

sc 'doc' lewis

Heber Valley Railroad
utweyesguy@aol.com

Just adding to what Mr. Lewis wrote, the depot in question here is actually the former Union Pacific depot from Honeyville, Utah. It was donated to the Sons of the Utah Pioneers in 1959 and was moved to Corinne, Utah for their "Golden Spike Railroad Musuem." Later the SUP and the Wasatch Mountain Railway (Heber Creeper) worked out a deal that brought all of the SUP locomotives, cars, and structures to the Heber depot grounds in 1979. The Honeyville depot soon became the main Heber depot, while the 1899 RGW (later D&RGW depot) was used for museum purposes (The 1899 depot is still in its original location). The story of the D&RGW's Provo Canyon Branch, the Heber Creeper, and today's Heber Valley Railroad is enough to fill a book, which just happens to be the project I'm working on at the moment.

The caboose in question is one the Heber Creeper acquired from the Utah Railway during the 1970s.

Jeff Terry



Heber Valley Railroad
jterry618@msn.com

>Jeff,

How ya doin? wish you could have come out for the games, it was great!

Hey, as a point of interest, though the caboose came from the Utah Railway, I have been told that it is really a UP caboose. In fact, it came to Heber with the 618. A picture of it is in the photo book at the gift shop. Is that what you know also?

John E. Oshkosh!

Just adding to what Mr. Lewis wrote, the
> depot in question here is actually the
> former Union Pacific depot from Honeyville,
> Utah. It was donated to the Sons of the Utah
> Pioneers in 1959 and was moved to Corinne,
> Utah for their "Golden Spike Railroad
> Musuem." Later the SUP and the Wasatch
> Mountain Railway (Heber Creeper) worked out
> a deal that brought all of the SUP
> locomotives, cars, and structures to the
> Heber depot grounds in 1979. The Honeyville
> depot soon became the main Heber depot,
> while the 1899 RGW (later D&RGW depot)
> was used for museum purposes (The 1899 depot
> is still in its original location). The
> story of the D&RGW's Provo Canyon
> Branch, the Heber Creeper, and today's Heber
> Valley Railroad is enough to fill a book,
> which just happens to be the project I'm
> working on at the moment.

> The caboose in question is one the Heber
> Creeper acquired from the Utah Railway
> during the 1970s.

> Jeff Terry

Howdy, Osh-Kosh!
If you check the photo in question, the cupola has the characteristic UP CA-X slope inwards at the top, while the old Utah Ry cupola is straight. I think that the UP caboose that made the first trip up with #618 is now in the Nevada collection. BTW, I have a photo of the Utah Ry caboose while on the Utah Ry.
Will we be able to get this caboose (and the Corrine depot) on our property someday?
Wishful thinking!

I was in Heber this afternoon, and it appears the 1899 RG&W depot is in use by a business of some kind. There is a modern coiling overhead door installed on the west side, and there are thin slabs of marble and granite veneer stacked against the exterior wall and similar materials under the adjacent shed. Looks like perhaps the slabs are cut and polished there.

davew833@yahoo.com

Just a note of clarification and a question.

John wrote:
> Hey, as a point of interest, though the
> caboose came from the Utah Railway, I have
> been told that it is really a UP caboose. In
> fact, it came to Heber with the 618. A
> picture of it is in the photo book at the
> gift shop. Is that what you know also?

I don't have my roster notes with me at this moment so I will just give you the generalities but if you are interested I can get you the specifics for the caboose you have. The short general story is this.

In the early 1900's I want to say 1909 and 1911 but this may be off a little, the Utah Railway purchased four wooden cabooses. These were purchased from the Mt. Vernon Car Works, the same builder of several groups of Union Pacific CA-1s. These cars were similar but not the same as the Union Pacific CA-1's. Most of the differences were in the interior accoutrements. After Utah Railway began receiving the Alco RSD4's, two of the wooden cabooses were resheathed with metal sides and new metal cupolas. The other two remained in their original configuration. After the Utah Railway purchased a used CA-5 and CA-6 from the Union Pacific, the two wooden cabooses were set aside. One remained in the Provo yard for many years. The other was stationed in Martin. In the late sixties or early seventies one of the wood cabooses was sold to a contractor south west of Helper. It sat there along with a Utah Railway Vanderbilt tender for many years. About ten years ago I noticed that only the trucks for the caboose were sitting on the short piece of rail. I was told that the caboose had caught fire. The other wood caboose ended up in Heber City.

I may be wrong on this but there have been three CA stile wood cabooses in Heber City over the years. As was mentioned one was delivered with the 618, it was a true Union Pacific CA-1. The other was a home built job that sat near the city complex in Heber City. It has been several years since I have been in Heber City but it use to be on the track just south and east of the D&RGW Depot. The other caboose is the Utah Railway caboose which was erroneously painted Southern Pacific for a photo freight many years ago. As I said earlier this is coming from a rusty memory and I will have to get out my roster information to verify the specifics.

I am curious to know if the Utah Railway caboose is still sitting on the north west side of the D&RGW depot? When I was last up there several years ago it was sitting forlornly being used by as a play house by the children living in the house next to the depot with a clothes line hanging off of it. I would have loved to have had the money to by it and give it a good home.

Another question for John. I have heard rumors that the SLG&W open air trailer in Heber City may be stripped down with picnic benches placed on it. Is this true? My inspection of the car ten years ago found that the roof was gone and much of the hardware was missing. We were able to move the two trailers from Salt Lake City to the museum in Ogden. Their roofs were sheathed with tin and thus are in relatively good condition. One of the trailers was rear ended and needs some metal work and both need a good chunk of wood replaced but for the most part they are intact. I would love to see both cars restored but we are short six or so seats. If the car in Heber City is stripped down Please let me know as I would like to get any hardware we can to facilitate the restoration of the other two cars. My goal is to get one of the SLG&W motors off of the beach and cosmetically restore it with the trailers on a short section of track under some wire to represent a typical Utah Interurban. This is our only chance to have both a motor and trailer restored.

Shay Stark



shays@aquaeng.com