Western Railroad Discussion > GWR (and UP) GP9 #296 in Heber Valley, Utah

I visited Utah in April of this year, and made a quick visit to Heber City to check out the Heber Valley Railroad. They were running Easter Bunny trains on that weekend, which only made short ~3 mile runs to the Charleston siding and back. The tickets were sold out, so I did a chase instead.

I didn't know what power was going to be assigned, and was pleasantly surprised to see a high-nose GP9 on the head of the train. The former Great Western Railway #296 started life as a Union Pacific GP9, and word is that it will eventually be repainted Armour Yellow.

The horn on the GP9 looks and sounds like a Leslie S-3L. That's it for the quick, belated report.
 

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Cool Railroad, saw it in Heber City with my buddy during the big celebration in May.  Can't wait to go back & check it out in its entirety.  I'm curious about the old Coaches in the consist, there seems to be an abundance of this particular type of coach across the country at numerous museums.  What is the Coach's origin & history?

Nice coverage of the Heber operations. Many years ago I was at a UPHS convention in Salt Lake and we had an excursion on the Heber,
I knew the fireman, John, and I was invited up in the cab in the return trip. I was still working for UP on the steam crew at that time.
It was then that I got to know the engineer, Doug, and he let me run the 618 for a while. John also had me fire the locomotive and at the Convention he gave me the shovel I used that afternoon. It still hangs proudly in my garage to this day. I don't know if they will ever get 618 operable again but I will always treasure my time in the cab that day.

I see on your video that the train was pretty full. That's a good thing. And what a collection of equipment.
Thanks for sharing.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

IIRC, these are ex Lackawanna coaches, mass-retired 1984-ish.

Amtrak784 Wrote:
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> Cool Railroad, saw it in Heber City with my buddy
> during the big celebration in May.  Can't wait to
> go back & check it out in its entirety.  I'm
> curious about the old Coaches in the consist,
> there seems to be an abundance of this particular
> type of coach across the country at numerous
> museums.  What is the Coach's origin & history?

Nice series, we rode the Easter Bunny train, wonder if that was our ride.  The kids had fun!

Nathan

Wow, did they score a nice signal bridge or what??!