Here's an informal update on Heber Valley Railroad's ex-GW 2-8-0 #75. I stopped by the shop yesterday to find them working away on her (Apparently Sunday's no day of rest for the dedicated Heber Valley shop guys!) Her boiler's completely stripped bare and upside-down, and a brand-new crown sheet was on the floor next to the boiler waiting to be installed. The old crown sheet had been cut off already. There's no timetable for completion, but clearly they're doing a very thorough job of rebuilding her. (I've never seen a boiler being repaired upside-down before!)

Having the boiler on it's back makes installation of the firebox sheets intimately easier. Kinda a standard practice in other parts of the world.

Cheers, Jason

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So... they work 362 days a year

But they don't go anywhere.......?

Apart from keeping our country's arguably most beautiful steam locomotives in pristine esthetic condition, how much actual mechanical work could it take?

dave

I've often thought it was too bad that neither Heber Valley RR nor the Promontory NHS operation have any connection to 'live' rail for obvious reasons. The Heber folks seem to truck big stuff in and out fairly frequently but I wonder if they've had to say 'no' to any good opportunities for guest-hosting equipment or servicing others' equipment just because of the difficulty of getting equipment there.

But they don't go anywhere.......?

...and I hear they run into each other a lot.

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I have thought in my visits there that having the visitors center neat thiokol, out by the highway, and having visitors ride the train to a golden spike reenactmant would have been a better choice than building a visitors center out in nowhere and asking visitors to drive for miles into nothing......more like what the original experience would have been.

dave

It's a neat idea, but their last progress report is from 2001.

-Mark