A Geep and a heavyweight office car went on the ground at Heber City, Utah, on Saturday as a chartered train carrying four railroad historical societies derailed as it left the station.
Justin Strickland
HEBER CITY, Utah — A special train carrying hundreds of railfans attending four historical society conventions in the Salt Lake City area had one of the shortest excursions ever when the Heber Valley Railroad train derailed Saturday as it left the station.
The rear truck of a Geep and both trucks of a heavyweight business car went on the ground as the train left the station in Heber City. The last passenger cars never got past the platform. Some said the train couldn’t have traveled more than 200 feet.
Nobody was hurt and the engineer dumped the air as soon as he realized the train had derailed. The train was not able to be rerailed and the excursion was annulled. Members of the National Railway Historical Society holding their meeting in Salt Lake City and members of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society and the affinity groups for both the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific had chartered the sold-out train.
The cause of the derailment was not immediately known.
In all my years of train riding and many thousands of miles, have never been in a derailment and hope I never am,
sorry to hear this, we rode on Wed and it was an awesome ride, very scenic.
Almost forgot, near the end of the rerailing they were using a fork lift and a tie to put side pressure on the truck rather than a chain or cable. The tie shot out and came within a few feet of hitting one of the guys doing the rerailing. Needless to say that was a disaster narrowly avoided!
I was told by the guy doing the rerailing that the rear truck of the GP picked the points on the split point derail and took the business car with it. The second car stopped a couple feet before it would have also derailed.They didn’t get it rerailed until 7pm after which we left. Don’t know if they just went to diner or home for the day before rerailing the GP.
The thrill of railroading. Good thing no one was injured.
AT great risk of causing railroads to never allow another special train, I will tell the tale of a derailment that miraculously DIDN’T happen. OK I’ll change names… Some town up in the mountains started holding an annual railroad festival over a weekend in the 19–‘s. As part of it on Saturday they ran a train from G—- through F—- and M—– to C—- & back, all new trackage for me just outside my (in)famous territory so I was there surprising some people with my presence. OK, the host railroad had a daytime freight on the line that had just been put back on its Mon-Sat schedule from a truncated Mon-Fri schedule. So after we left G—- after awhile the freight followed. It was a hot day in September. Yes, the freight stopped in time for a sun kink and it took some hours for repairs. Our returning special waited three hours to fix the rails; while waiting we drank the bar dry in the H****r. It knocked the festival’s schedule into a cocked hat, but…I shudder even now to think of what would’ve happened if the freight had still been on that Mon-Fri schedule. Sailing into a sun-kink at 30mph on a curve with the dredged M— River on the curve’s inside… If any of the cars had gone into the river there certainly would have been deaths!
Refunds? REFUNDS?? How many railfans have been in derailments? If anything–charge them extra for the experience. Me? I’ve been in four derailments–but the first one (1975) barely counts as the flanges dropped back into place. The second (1981) on the NYS&W took three hours to rerail at Oakland NJ. The third (1986) on near North Stratford NH taught me what a slow-speed derailment in a boxcar felt like: bump-bump-bump which prepared me for my last derailment. The fourth (2003) on Mass. Bay’s Dartmouth trip featured a higher-speed passenger train derailment: bumpbumpbumpbump etc. That one ended the trip; fortunately a US highway was beside the tracks. But at derailment time I was in the worst possible place: passing between coaches in a vestibule. I told my friend to get out of the vestibule as soon as I felt the bumps; we skedaddled. The train came to a halt with the cars at a tilt.
OK. Anyone know of other fantrip derailments. Mass. Bay had one in the late 1930’s.
I was on the train. When they dumped the air it was violent enough to cause my left hand to strike the seat in front with enough force to shatter the crystal on my watch, but that was evidently the only casualty. The police/emergency responders checked for injuries before anything else was done. I feel so bad for the folks at the Heber Valley RR and for the riders, but this took place at perhaps five miles per hour and for that we are all the better. As derailments go, in terms of consequences to the passengers, this was truly nothing!
The problem with continuing the trip by re railing the engine and observation car was getting traction from the soft spring (sow recently melted) ground. The railroad had hoped they could proceed in an hour or so, but it was not to be. I suspect in the end they may have needed a crane for the heavy-weight observation car.
Personally I put this in the “sometimes things just don’t go right department” and leave it at that. I disagree with the note below about refunds. I’ve already sent an email to the NRHS refusing any refund and telling therm to keep anything received as a contribution.
This convention was unusually tough to plan because both the Ogden and Promontory events were characterized by a near total lack of advanced on-the-ground operational information. Everyone did their best and the adult response is to be thankful that we were witness to history and that is truly enough! I tip my hat to all in the Union Pacific, NRHS, the R&LHS, the UP/SP Historical Societies, the Utah 150 committee and the National Park Service.
Having already posted earlier on this newswire site a somewhat negative response to how the lack of maps caused unneeded confusion at Promontory, I never the less want to thank all of the above for a truly never to be repeated chance to revisit and be present for history. I’m so glad I had the chance and the still good health to go. Seeing a Big Boy alive and in service was the dream of a lifetime!
An unfortunate incident for certain. I was involved in a derailment while on a tour in eastern Europe several years ago. A sun kink put us on the ground and we were dragged for short distance at relatively low speed. It could have been a lot worse. The train wasn’t able to get us back to our destination so they called our bus and we trekked out of the brush to a nearby inn off the main road. I remember we arrived just before lunch – three dozen dusty railfans appearing out of nowhere must have utterly confused the locals. Thankfully the only derailment that I had the pleasure of riding out.
The Katy was known to have a track causing a standing train to derail.
Steven, they didn’t even leave the station. I think they walked back to civilization.
Buses back to civilization?
Bummer! I hope that everyone got a refund.
Refunds?
Epic fail!
This is where the fine print disclaimers on the tickets take effect.
Oh boy!! Will this be the annual de-rail excursion?