The Heber Valley Railroad is currently gearing up for our 2011 season which kicks off on May 26th with Day Out With Thomas. Over the winter we did not run any trains which gave the shop staff the chance to work on projects including Great Western 75.
As a contract job the Heber Valley Railroad rebuilt this caboose and painted it. It will be shipped to the customer soon.
In the next picture you will notice a semaphore. This semaphore was rebuilt by an all volunteer crew and put up last fall. It is completely operational and is used as a switch point indicator.
On Great Western 75 work has been focused on building a new lead truck, running gear work and the tender. The tender's frame had deteriorated significantly over the years. It has now been rebuilt and is about 85% new. Also, the original arch bar trucks were completely disassembled, rebuilt and now match the original drawings. Below is a picture of the trucks going back together.
This winter also gave the shop staff the opportunity to increase the volunteer program. While there has always been a volunteer program at the Heber Valley Railroad, it has been a while since we actively recruited new volunteers and had formal volunteer work sessions. Now the program is growing and we hold at least one Saturday volunteer session a month. Last month the volunteers started working on installing rivets in the new steel on 75's cab. If you have interest in volunteering at the Heber Valley Railroad please contact me by email at gregudolph@gmail.com.
I will send out another update in the coming months with more pictures of the work on 75. For now, enjoy these pictures and please visit us soon.