Buildings of the San Pete Valley Railway

Rolling Stock

SPV 23 began life as a Bachmann Porter tank engine. I found a photo in the Union Pacific Historical Society calendar (many years ago) of tank engine with attached tender, wood cab and balloon stack. I haven’t done any research to determine why the UP had such an engine, I just copied it (sincerest form of flattery?). The tender is from a Bachmann ten wheeler, but shortened and small wheels to lower the height. The wood cab is maple and made “free hand” no plans were used except for the calendar photo. (I know, it shows). Stack is from a Bachmann Shay. Engine is controlled by Digitrax DG586, Sierra Sound System and Suerte smoke unit.

This gondola was a simple kitbash done by adding wood strips to a short gondola. I wrote an article on the construction in Garden Railways, so you may recognize it. It is used to haul bags of wool from Fountain Green down to Nephi. Must be on a return trip as the car is empty.

I believe this kitbash was from a Garden Railways article? I don’t remember. Maybe it was my brother-in-law’s idea. Anyway, simply replace the bobber four wheels with two 4 wheel trucks. Small Bachmann wheels used to lower the height a bit.

SPV 18 began life as a Bachmann Mogul, but the cab and tender just seemed to look too small. So I replaced the cab with a 10 wheeler cab, and made a short tender as done with SPV 23. Digitrax DG583 controls the engine, but the sound card is a freebie of unknown origin. It chuffs as it should, and sometimes whistles on command, but most the time makes whistle and bell noises at any time and for unknown reasons.

The San Pete Valley hauls a lot of sheep. Sheep car SPV 612 started as a Bachmann cattle car (sound familiar?). With marker pen in hand and looking at photos of D&RG cattle and sheep cars, I placed an “X” on everything that didn’t belong. This includes all the boards in the upper half, and many of the braces the Bachmann car has. Side boards were added to the outside of the car on the upper half. A platform was made in the middle of the car as sheep aren’t that tall. Loading doors for the upper level were made at the ends, with one end left open. Paint and decals and ready for the rails.