Folks:
With all the buzz on 1744 I thought I would chime in with few personal takes on the locomotive.
In late April of 1980 while attending a univesity in central Utah that used to produce good football teams and quarterbacks, I started working summers on the "Heber Creeper" tourist line. It ran from Heber City south through Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls. I worked on the lind from 1980 to 1982.
A few days before I started a collection of cars and locomotives that had been on display in Corrine, Utah were trucked to Heber. They even brought over the station. The 1744 had been unloaded from a truck and recently attached to the tender. My first "cab ride" in a steam locomotive was when they pulled it out on the main line for a couple miles to check it out. They used their former UP NW2 1011 and I went along for the ride. The engine was in pretty rough shape cosmetically.
The CMO Craig Drury told me how they had initially approached the UP about moving the engines (there was also a UP 2-8-0 6246, I think was the number, and a UP Heavywight Coach and an RPO) over the UP lines from Corrine to Park City or Provo, the nearest connections to the "outside world" for the line. The local UP folks were receptive, but they could not get permission from Omaha. They also discussed moving the engines on flatcars, but there were clearance issues.
During the summer of 1980 is was restored to operation, I recall, by a couple of Kennecott Copper locomotive engineers, Chick and Gordon? It was not a massive overhaul with replacement of flues, etc. It was more of a "tune up" restoration. After the last run of the day in late August or early September, it was fired up and operated for the first time. We ran it light 2-3 miles to the Charleston siding. It ran that fall quite a bit on the regular trains.
While I was there 1980-82 it was painted with a grey boiler and red cab roof. While not a big fan of the grey, I think it is a great looking engine. Craig told me how they used to call it the "Valley Mallet". We just assumed it was because of the oversized tender. But John West's comments earlier about the nickname make more sense. While I was there is had "Southern Pacific Lines" on the tender. I recall the manager telling me how he had contacted SP for permission and they said no problem.
In 1981 and 1982 I got to fire 1744 on a regular basis and run it once in awhile in the yard and around the train at Bridal Veil and sometimes up the hill back towards Heber on the return trip. I thought it fired fine, I don't recall a difference between it and the other two engines they had at the time, ex-Sierra 36 and ex-Santa Maria Valley 100, both 2-8-2s. But it was a long time ago and I am far from an expert. I don't recall it having any issues with the normal train of several open cars, rebuilt gons/flats, a Harriman Combine and a couple of Harriman coaches. I found a slide the other day showing it pulling three coaches, the combine and five open cars. It should do fine on the La Veta line. The grade from Provo Canyon up to Deer Creek Lake is pretty stiff. The engine has a great bark.
The Heber Creeper runs south tender first, so going around the curves in Provo Canyon was a bit of a challenge with the large tender. On one run in 1981 while firing for Craig, we plowed into a herd of sheep after rounding a bend, that made a mess, the return view coming back was worse. In 1982 we backed down too far at the end of the track at Bridal Veil and the rear truck of the tender came off the rails. Buses took the passengers back to Heber. A gentleman from the Rio Grande came up from Provo and helped us get the engine rerailed. It was dark when we started back and we ran out of fuel by Deer Creek Dam. The engineer hitchhiked to Heber and brought back the 1011 to pull us back to town.
I returned a few yers later after I had graduated and moved away. They operation had moved a few blocks down the line to a new location. The 1744 was gone by then. The original engine on the line UP 2-8-0 618 was back in operation. I do recall seeing a picture in the shops of 1744 derailed at Deer Creek. Craig told me the story, but I don't remember the details.
Finally a couple urban legends. Supposedly the 1744 was in the original "East of Eden", the one with James Dean. I have seen it in a Rock Hudson movie, I thought it was "Giant", but the SL&RG website references "The Land is Mine". Another story I heard was that it was used as a staionary boiler as it made its way from California to Utah. This is why the steam gauge had inspection dates after end of steam on the SP. Hey I said they were urban legends. I have read that it took part in several Northern California farewell to steam excursions. Also, for blowdowns, there were pipes that extended below the cab so you could blow down into the ground. But they were quickly torched off as there were clearances problems in Provo Canyon.
Personally I am very excited to see the engine back in the West. I am looking forward to a trip behind it this summer. It will be great to show my son an engine I actually worked on. Many years ago I noticed 36 and 100 sitting derelict in the Ogden, Utah SP yards. Now I hear they are in some field in Oregon. So for me to see the 1744 in operation after all these years is a real treat. Standard guage steam on a D&RGW line! Earl's pictures of the test run to La Veta sure brought back a lot of memories, especially the cab shots.
Below is s shot of myself in 1981 firing as we were gettng ready to head back to Heber.
Randy in Phoenix.
