A spare GS4 is often seen in the engine yard. HVT is contracted by the Southern Pacific to do turn-around maintenance on their FEF-3 GS4 which pulls frequent excursions to Hill Valley aboard the historic Coast Daylight train. The favorites of the younger crowd include excursions behind Thomas the Tank Engine pulling Annie and Clarabelle, and at times his companion Percy. The HVT also handles freight using an EMD SD40T-2 leased from Denver & Rio Grande Western and a GP9 in Western Pacific livery on loan from the Union Pacific, which had acquired the GP9 in the recent merger. The flagship of the HVT fleet is engine #3, the recently restored 1896 Rogers 4-6-0 steam locomotive, pulling a set of restored passenger cars from the same era. #3 was taken out of mothballs, converted to standard gauge and put back into service. They were successful and the railroad was back in business, complete with new standard gauge track work and rolling stock. In 1921 several investors got together and reopened the mine, this time looking for coal. After the silver vein paid out in 1910 the line sat dormant for several years. The new railroad connected with the D&RGW mainline at Thistle, located between Salt Lake City and Denver, where an engine facility was being built to service and turn the helper locomotives used to help heavy freight trains over the pass at Soldier Summit. A new Rogers locomotive #3 found its home hauling silver ore to the mainline and supplies back to the mine. The HVT was originally a narrow gauge line which began in 1897 when silver was discovered in the Clear Creek mine located in Clayton Ravine.
Buffalo still graze in the luscious grass near Tatanka Lake. Trout are plentiful at Browne Lake at the head of the North Fork of Clear Creek, site of the present day Scout camp. These Indian ruins overlook the fertile Hill Valley where the Fremont Indians most likely raised corn. The railroad operates between the interchange yard and engine facility at Thistle and the popular resort town of Hill Valley, traveling through picturesque mountains and rolling sand dunes, passing the famous Mountain Dell Scout camp and historic Fremont Indian cliff dwellings. The HVT is a tourist railroad set in 1985 with close ties to the Union Pacific Railroad.
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