According to CBS, the Today Show will air a segment on the Heber Valley Railroad (they are still calling it the "Heber Creeper") this Thursday. They filmed UP 2-8-0 No. 618 doubleheading with Nevada Northern 2-8-0 No. 93 for this purpose. Should be a good show.

Jeff Terry
(Who'd be in Heber if he wasn't in engineer training learning to run these &%$@#!! complicated diesels.)

Heber Valley Railroad
jterry618@msn.com

Jeff,

Not picking nits, but is it CBS or the Today Show, which is on NBC? I think my neighbor has a Dish to watch the west coast feed on.

Rob Davis

trains@robertjohndavis.com

> According to CBS, the Today Show will air a
> segment on the Heber Valley Railroad..

NBC's Today Show will air the segment Thursday morning February 14th, according to the "Today Show" website.

hi_plain@yahoo.com

> NBC's Today Show will air the segment
> Thursday morning February 14th, according to
> the "Today Show" website.

Thanks for clearing that up. So far I have watched and seen a 3 second distant shot twice as a lead in to Soldier Hollow. It was so far away you couldn't tell what engine was on the train. Hope they are making lots of money to stash away for the future!
Greg Scholl


Videos and such
sales@gregschollvideo.com

I was called yesterday (Feb 11) for engine service on the Olympic trains. We have all three engines in steam (NN #93, GW #75, and UP#618) with one on standby each day. Unfortunately, there is not enough room inside the shops for all three to stay inside each night (temp has dipped below zero some nights!) so we have night hostlers on duty to keep everything unfrozen. It has been both fun and challenging to keep all three going at once, as we are normally staffed and set up to operate one steamer with one on standby. But for the next few weeks, visitors can be treated to a flurry of activity each morning and evening as we service and move around three engines. (I know this is old hat to the Durango and Chama guys, but for us this is big-time railroading!)
The Nevada Northern crews have been outstanding guests, and great to work with! The #93 is in immaculate condition, a tribute to the efforts of Scott Lindsay, Lance Hunt, and crew. As a side note, a few days after arriving in Heber, there was an extremely cold night, and one of the Nevada coaches had the paint on one side completely craze and crack all the way down to the primer coat, the whole side was peeling off in curly cues. We were all practically in tears. But thanks to the hurculean efforts of a lot of people, this coach was completely repainted and relettered just in time for the Torch Train on Feb 7th. Many thanks go out to everyone who has helped on all of these projects to get ready.
We have two train sets with the capacity to move about 500 people to and from the venue for each event. Ridership was a bit low at first, but has been steadily improving each day as the word gets out. Hopefully, after the Today Show segment, we will be turning people away!
It is fun to work with guys from other railroads, we have railroaders from all over the country here to help, and the interchange of knowledge and practices has been great. The old heads are fading away more each year, and it is important to keep the arts and trades of steam railroading alive with interchange between all of us in this industry.

Hi "C" Hawkins;

> It is fun to work with guys from other
> railroads, we have railroaders from all over
> the country here to help...

When I was down for a few days last July, John Rimmasch had indicated that volunteers from overseas were interested in coming. I'll be there (the token Canadian, I guess) from the 18th until the 24th. Any other foreigners?

As Canadians, I guess we are supposd to know about cold weather railroading, but, our steam does not make it out in the winter!

Thanks;

John Stewart
Ottawa, Canada.

ovlsme@mainframe.dgrc.crc.ca

Can someone explain the operation with the Olympic train. Is this steam southbound chimney first, then runaround the train, and tender first, or what! Is there just one train running at one time, or are there two.

Also are there any runs along the whole line to Vivian park or is all the 3 miles to Soldier Hollow jump off location? Just curious.

Greg Scholl

Videos and such
sales@gregschollvideo.com

a month ago...

> As Canadians, I guess we are supposd to know
> about cold weather railroading, but, our
> steam does not make it out in the winter!

> Thanks;

> John Stewart
> Ottawa, Canada.



info@steamtrain.com

> Can someone explain the operation with the
> Olympic train. Is this steam southbound
> chimney first, then runaround the train, and
> tender first, or what! Is there just one
> train running at one time, or are there two.

> Also are there any runs along the whole line
> to Vivian park or is all the 3 miles to
> Soldier Hollow jump off location? Just
> curious.

> Greg Scholl

Greg,
I'll try to answer. The Olympic train is being pulled to the Soldier Hollow platform, tender first. The billboard train is then sent down right behind them on the first run in the morning. The billboard engine, after dropping the train at the Charleston siding, then couples to the Olympic train, in a push pull configuration, returns to the station to reload with the next load of passengers. There is then an engine at each end of the train. After the last train to carry Olympic passengers deleivers them, the display engine will sit at the Charleston sideing to generate interest (and it is working!!). The train then returns to Heber.
The consist is then used to run a Deer Creek dam for a regular excursion. ( approx. 2 hours )
For the return trips later in the day, the billboard train will be loaded, the additional train is brought down and they will carry passengers back to the station.
The plan has been to have two engines running each day on the trains, while the third is given a good servicing and rotated in the next day. So far it has worked very well and with the cooler temp., alot of steam has made for some magnificent pictures. Each run has been taking about 20 to 30 minutes and the response has been favorable.

The trains aren't going all the way to Vivian Park, just not enough equipment to go around.

We are running a 24-7 shop right now and the engines are looking and performing fantastic. Being a northern boy from Alaska, I think the weather is just right, but these guys say it is a little on the cold side. Servicing the engines has been in the same practice they used many years ago and we can usually have them all serviced and ready by earlier morning.

Hope this helps

Art Chase at the Heber Valley.



artchase@hotmail.com

I understand the Heber Valley RR is an official transport system to one venue, but I've not been able to find any info on it at the official Olympic Games site. Am I blind, or ???
Steamcerely,
David D.


djdewey@cncnet.com

I am myself baffled as to the dearth of "official" Olympic sponsership of this operation. I am only left to speculate that there were rules and procedures about sponsership that couldn't get resolved? At one point early on it was even suggested that our operation be shut down during the games, that it would be a security nightmare and grade crossings would cause traffic snarls. Fortunately, logic and reason prevailed.
As Mr. Chase above explained, the majority of the action is on the first 4 miles between Heber and Soldier Hollow, with no turning facilities (turntables are in our future!) except runaround sidings, hence the tender-first operations. What has resulted is a daily opportunity to see a demonstration of "helper service" with one engine pulling in front and one pushing at the rear up a 1.75% grade, with spectacular winter steam effects, as we generally work 20-25 mph upgrade. This, combined with the activity at the terminal in the mornings and evenings make this a "must see". Unfortunately, I don't yet have a scanner or digital camera, but I am working on a friend of mine who has a website to post a section on the games operation.
In the meantime, go to the official website hebervalleyrr.org for trip info. Ken McConnell should post a link to some more photos soon.
P.S. Watch for the debut of our newly repainted EMD NW-2, ex-UP#1011, soon appearing in black with yellow UP lettering as delivered in 1940.