HEBER ? Hordes of passengers, a blizzard of media coverage and record revenues are not typical for most historic tourist railroads.
Yet, no tourist railroad has ever before been at the center of an Olympic audience and played a key role in transporting spectators as has the Heber Valley Railroad.
Ticket sales soared after a five-minute spot featured the railroad on NBC's "Today" show during the Winter Olympics. By day's end, sales hit $10,000, a one-day revenue record in the history of the operation, according to Ken McConnell, marketing director for the railroad.
In fact, a total of 51 minutes of local, national and international television footage was centered on the railroad and the Heber Valley, McConnell said.
"You couldn't pay enough money to get the kind of publicity we got out of that," said Robyn Pearson, Wasatch County economic development director and chairman of the Heber Valley Historic Railroad Authority. "It was an incredible asset, the most unique way to get to a venue."
Roughly 6,000 visitors, shelling out $30 a person, hopped aboard one of three steam engine trains in operation during the 17-day Winter Games.
In addition, sales of clothing, train whistles and memorabilia at the gift shop outpaced expectations, reaching as high as $3,200 on some days.
"This will be a record year for the railroad," said Steve Weber, retail sales manager for the railroad.
And since closing ceremonies, three motion picture companies have called to express interest in using the train in upcoming films, McConnell said.
Craig Lacey, the railroad's executive director, is smiling.
"The train became the icon of the Olympics. It was quite exciting to see all of the footage and coverage we got. A steam locomotive, especially in the wintertime, is eye candy. Everything about it is a very sensory sort of an experience," Lacey said.
The image is already starting to reap other benefits, Lacey said, as tourists planning trips to Utah inquire about the railroad.
When Lacey took over as executive director in 1997, the railroad was grossing around $600,000.
"Now we are grossing about $1.3 million," he said, adding that it costs about $1 million annually to keep the railroad running. "We have to be very innovative. We have to look for opportunities to bring in revenue without raising our costs significantly."
As a nonprofit, state-owned entity, all profits must go back into the operation.
Lacey and his team have stepped up to the challenge, investing in equipment and adding theme rides like murder mysteries, Haunted Canyon and the popular Polar Express.
This May and June, Thomas the Tank Engine, a full-size replica of a cartoon engine from a children's book, will make its debut in Utah, part of 55 stops across the country.
Scott Lindsay, president of Alabama-based Steam Operations Corp., said the Heber Valley Railroad ranks as one of the best tourist railroads in the nation.
"They have a lot more here than most tourist railroads. A lot of tourist railroads operate out of a trailer. Here they have a station and shop building. It's quite an impressive complex," he said.
That impression was enough to prompt Lindsay, who is also interim executive director of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum, to join forces with the Heber Valley Railroad during the Olympics.
The effort was seen as a golden opportunity to draw tourists to Ely, Nev., where the Nevada Northern carried some 6,000 passengers last year.
"That's very small for the tourist industry. That's one of the reasons why we wanted to do this Olympic event with Heber," Lindsay said.
At a cost of roughly $40,000, the Nevada line shipped two of its passenger cars and one steam engine by truck to Heber.
On Wednesday, Locomotive 93 was shipped back to Nevada.
"We now have the attention of a lot of the state agencies in Nevada, and we are trying to use them to build on our financial future and ensure the success of not only the railroad but the region we are in," Lindsay said.
With ridership last year on the Heber Valley Railroad reaching nearly 70,000 passengers, it's sometimes easy to forget the railroad's clouded history.
More than 10 years ago two broken locomotives in this mountain valley sat silent in a vacant lot linked by 16 miles of run-down track.
Fondly known in its early years as the Heber Creeper, by 1990 the railroad had fallen victim to mounting financial losses, lawsuits and mismanagement.
For nearly three more years, the steam engine that had delighted tourists since 1971 had stopped in its tracks.
"We had 150 feet of track hanging in the air because the ground had sunk from under the track," McConnell said.
Not until the Utah Legislature agreed to a $1 million appropriation did the railroad face a fighting chance at a comeback.
"The Legislature was very skeptical when we first had the funding. I think they thought we were putting money down a rat hole because the history of the train had not been very successful. They just didn't think it would last," said Sen. Beverly Evans, R-Altamont.
On top of the appropriation, another $400,000 was allocated for rail repairs on the state-owned right-of-way.
With the Legislature's blessing, the Heber Valley Historic Railroad Authority was formed.
The governor-appointed, seven-member board, headed at the time by McConnell, was charged with furthering the education and preservation of Utah's railroad history.
And the Legislature made it clear that no additional tax money would be used to maintain the quasi-government entity.
It was either sink or swim.
On May 8, 1993, despite a blinding late-season snowstorm, 200 people showed up for a ride.
With an overhauled diesel engine, three coaches and an open-air car, formerly used in Operation Desert Storm to haul tanks, the train was once again rolling.
It would take two more years before steam Engine No. 618 would be running.
Today, the railroad supports two operating 1907 Baldwin steam locomotives, a diesel-electric locomotive, six coaches, two baggage cars, two snack cars, a dining coach, five open-air cars, two cabooses and a host of freight cars.
The railroad has met its legislative mandate, operating off its own revenues since 1993. It is currently working to pay off $300,000 in debt used to purchase and restore new cars.
As a good-will gesture two years ago, the Utah Legislature, along with Wasatch County, Heber City and a federal grant, provided another $850,000 that helped build a depot and pave a parking lot.
This year Lacey hopes to establish a railroad foundation used to solicit funds from outside sources, rather than from operations, as a means to pay for restoration projects.
John Rimmasch, chief mechanical officer for the Heber Valley Railroad, said he believes ridership could top 100,000 in the near future.
"A lot of people are going back to family-oriented activities. We think that the train is one of those. This could be one of the biggest seasons we've ever had," Rimmasch said.
E-mail: danderton@desnews.com