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.