By Justin Franz
The Heber Valley Railroad has repainted its former Pan Am Railways heritage unit, Maine Central 52, into the Utah road’s Rio Grande-inspired black and gold paint scheme. The locomotive, now renumbered 5926, was released on Monday and will enter service on July 4.
Heber Valley purchased the 52 and the Boston & Maine painted 77 from Pan Am in 2018. Both locomotives were painted into heritage schemes by PAR back in 2011. Heber Valley also purchased a third ex-B&M GP9 from PAR but it was never moved to Utah. That unit was later sold to the 470 Club of Maine and moved to the Conway Scenic.
For the last few years, the Heber Valley has used the MEC and B&M painted units to handle their ever-growing excursion schedule. But Chief Mechanical Officer Mike Manwiller told Railfan & Railroad the plan has always been to repaint them into the Heber Valley’s Rio Grande-inspired black and gold paint scheme.
Heber Valley 5926, formally Maine Central 52, getting repainted in Heber City, Utah, last week. Photo by Mike Manwiller.
Manwiller said Heber Valley plans on painting all of its locomotives and cars in the coming year. In fact, the railroad had hoped to have its entire passenger car fleet painted this year, but delays with contractors pushed the start date back and by the time the painters did arrive, the cars were needed for excursion service. Once this season is over, however, the passenger cars will be run through the shop to get Heber Valley’s classy green passenger car scheme. In the mean time, the painters have tackled other projects, including restoring its D&RGW business car to its original appearance. With 52 out of the shop, former Union Pacific 296 will enter it later this week for a fresh coat of paint. Locomotive 77 is currently getting a major overhaul and will be painted once that is complete.
Rio Grande’s GP9s were numbered in the 5900 series and so the Heber is doing the same, with a twist: the last two digits of the former B&M number are being incorporated. So 52, which was built as B&M 1726, is now 5926. Locomotive 77 will eventually become 5938.
