A waiting Christmas train is at the Heber Valley Railroad's station taking on passengers, framed under a DRGW signal bridge salvaged from Midvale, Utah.
My views on my local tourist railroad are always a funny thing to reflect on. I first visited the Heber Valley Railroad as a toddler in 1997. The railroad had just barely then reformed under state ownership; and UP 618 was freshly back in steam after a restoration period. It was my first real encounter with a living steam engine (preserved on grainy VHS film in the family video collection) and I was entranced. Apparently the ride from Heber to Vivian Park was a rough experience especially for my parents tending to me and my sister; from the hot passenger cars, lack of concessions onboard and the limited restroom facilities at Vivian Park.
Of course I have no memory of any of that, what I remember (again thanks in part to that VHS footage) is the image of big 618 huffing smoke and cinders, going "faster faster faster till the cowcatcher breaks" (perfect logic in my childhood mind) and well the desire to do it again. Sure throughout my childhood I would still see steam engines, at Disneyland, Lagoon and a visit to Promontory Summit; but my calls to revisit Heber to see 618 where I had fallen in love with steam kept landing on deaf ears at home. Why wouldn't it? For everyone else involved it was a miserable hot messy trip, and returning to Heber seemed like torture. I was the only one in the family with rose-tinted glasses, trying to chase the image of the steam locomotive that still resonated in the theater of my mind.
My next encounters with real working steam (excluding the Promontory engines) would be teenage encounters with the Virginia & Truckee on a family vacation, a trip to Durango and UP 844 coming through my hometown. By that point though, UP 618 had taken its curtain call in 2010. When I had finally obtained a driver's license and money to travel to Heber on my own schedule, it was too late and 618 was plinthed at the station waiting its turn in the back shop. High school cross country trips to Soldier Hollow had me anxiously staring out towards the track, hoping to see a steam engine round the corner; but with the knowledge that I was there to late by only a few months to witness such a sight. I returned with my grandparents in 2013 to Heber to ride the line behind a diesel; 618 staring silently at us from a spur track at the depot.
The antsy desire to see 618 back in action amplified as I lived in South America, and a cryptic email about my father's fly fishing seeing "something cool" with trains riverside made me wonder if he spotted a restored 618 in action along the Provo River. I was a bit surprised once I got home to realize he meant he found a nice fly fishing spot near the UP mainline at Henefer on the Weber River (useful spot to know at least, I re-visited it for the UP 4014 chase last month). To my dismay 618, while finally being worked on inside the Heber shops; was not yet back in steam and wasn't yet creating some "A River Runs Through It" scenes of fly fishers casting their lines alongside a rolling steam locomotive chugging by.
The following years of frustration and resentment as a trackside fan of steam amplified; but I found much of what I loved about steam could be answered with trips to Ely, Virginia City, Durango, Portola, Sumpter, Chama, Georgetown, Golden or even recently Porthmadog and Tywyn. Almost all of my railfan trips focused on steam locomotives are habitually chasing that first nostalgic high, that "perfect" experience with 618 as a child that is more myth than reality; and every steam encounter since has to live up to that memory. However, 618's absence is like the absence of a first love, the locomotive that really engrained my infatuation with steam that I haven't seen in action since my childhood; and something that is sidelined as I increasingly finding gray hairs on my head. I can't help but glance an envious side-eye at say the California Western; who despite their own 45 being out for repairs much like 618; benefits from a CMO who privately owns his own steam locomotive and has had Chiggen make annual appearances in steam on the line, keeping steam in action on what would otherwise be a steam-less railroad. If only I was so lucky locally.
In the last decade though, the Heber Valley Railroad transformed. New rolling stock, fresh new coaches and diesel locomotives, upgraded facilities, and improved customer service. When my parents disappointed by the memory of that 1997 train trip, finally revisited the Heber Valley on a Christmas train with their granddaughter, it was a smooth experience with singing elves, a jovial Santa, food and beverages for the guests, and charming customer service. All the elements that soured that 1997 visit were gone in the 2020s to the casual visitor who saw the Heber Valley Railroad as a well polished operation, even if the railfan present (ahem looking at the fool in the mirror here) was complaining the trip was behind a diesel and not steam. Yes, on today's showing of "The Legally Distinct Polar Express" the know it all kid is being played by the mechanical engineer in the corner pining for his favorite Baldwin 2-8-0 to come back.
This has always been the dichotomy between the rail enthusiast and the casual visitor as customers at historic railroads. Heber Valley is killing it right now in terms of customer service and experience, and their DRGW inspired repaint of one of their classic GP diesels is a nice concession to railfans (and I am honestly enthusiastic to see the finished UP/Heber 296 return to its classic colors soon as well, so expect another fresh round of Heber photos then). The inflow of cash and positive guest experiences will likely someday allow to "have a cake and eat it too" once steam returns, since 618 is returning not to a hastily reopened and thread-bare operation like I experienced in 1997; but a well oiled organization that with peak customer service skills can insure the passengers and funds needed to pay for operating a steam engine will want to show up.
But, it isn't a total balm for the railfan and photographer who has become attached to the mystique of the steam locomotive. The long trips to Promontory or Ely are for me more satisfying, even after a long travel day just because of some primordial unga-bunga joy at seeing a big machine boil water (ugh fire good)! Much of my educational and career path was set in motion by that love of trains instilled by steam locomotives, and I can't help but still feel a longing to see 618 back in action; while coming to the self-realization that I am the outlier opinion here.
Perhaps it is for the best that preservationists and managers of tourist railroads ignore the opinions of armchair enthusiasts; since what we want is not always the best financially for many train operations. Just look at the type of speculation the East Broad Top or Western Maryland have both received with their steam locomotives going out of service suddenly for some repairs this season, and one has to wonder if the attention steam draws from the railfan community is just more trouble than it is worth for the heritage railroad operator with new threads opening on RYPN or TrainOrders regularly for armchair fans to hand-wring over the downed locomotives from the comfort of their home computer.
Yet, I still wonder how many more gray hairs I will find in the mirror before the day I get to someday see 618 back out on the rails again...
