Heber Valley Historic Railroad

Construction of the Rio Grande Western branch that later became the Heber Valley line began in 1897 and was completed in 1899, linking Heber City with Provo. After the Deer Creek Reservoir forced a ten‑mile reroute in 1941, freight service continued until it was abandoned in 1966, with a brief D&RGW use in 1968 to haul the National Christmas Tree. Preservation efforts by Utah railfans led to the line’s reopening for tourist use in 1970; a final freight run on the lower end of Provo Canyon occurred on April 22 1971, and public tourist service began that July under the “Heber Creeper” brand. Financial strain caused the last privately operated Heber Creeper train to run on October 27 1990, after which the Heber Valley Historic Railroad Authority was created and the Utah State Legislature funded the line’s purchase in 1992; operations resumed in July 1992, the first revived train ran in May 1993, and steam service returned in 1995. The railroad served the 2002 Winter Olympics, and subsequent milestones include acquiring Columbia Steel No. 300 in 2003, retiring UP No. 618 in 2010, featuring in a 2012 music video, facing a whistle‑blower dispute in 2013, assessing over $2 million in track repairs by 2015, and expanding its fleet with GP9s in the late 2010s, an FP9 and passenger cars in 2019, and the original Salt Lake Rio Gran neon sign also in 2019.