THERE'S a nip in the air at this crisp altitude. There's also a hint of country music hitchhiking on the breeze. It might be due to the cowboy boots gathering on the station platform. Pec-stretched shirts announce their red and blue-chequered arrival, accessorised by the obligatory Stetson.
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It may be mid-summer here in north-central Utah, but snow refuses to let go of the tips of Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Mountains. It's a quintessential postcard of painfully pretty Heber Valley, fit for a plein-air artist's easel.
I'm all dressed up with somewhere to go on the historic Heber Valley Railroad, based at Heber City, near the charming town of Midway. Railroad activity began here in 1899. Adjacent to the station building is a yard filled with long-retired steam-powered locomotives resting their arthritic joints. And there's quite the crowd paying homage to them.
"My father worked this engine," says the man standing next to me. He doesn't look at me. "How wonderful," I reply. He's having a private moment. I let him be, and return to the platform to board my train.
"Welcome to the vintage lounge car," says the jolly conductor as we shunt away. It's all about fun on this 45-minute themed journey: the Cowboy Train.
I'm admiring my carriage's carved wood panelling when the door swings open. In skip a suited and booted guitar-and-fiddle duet. With strings strumming and voices harmonising they deliver Johnny Cash classics, including Folsom Prison Blues. They balance their bodies as perfectly as their notes as our train sashays along.
The flamboyantly dressed Saloon Girls are next to arrive. Garbed in red and black lace bodice dresses, the trio begin singing and dancing, with lyrics rhyming and skirts flying.
At the rear of the train, I step out on to a viewing platform to absorb the slideshow. It's windy and chilly but also liberating as the train rhythmically joggles along the rails over stream-straddled bridges. Horses bolt when our air horn honks. Cows nonchalantly graze.
Back in the day, the conversion from wagons to trains led to the expansion of the west. Of course, trains were a time-saver then, but today, we embrace them for slowing us down. Even those queuing in cars at level crossings sit relaxed, waving back at our face-filled windows.
Returning to the depot reveals a hive of activity. I watch a re-enactment of a Wild West shootout led by full-costumed cowboys slinging tongue-in-cheek jokes and yarns at each other.
Further celebrations kick off trackside when Charley Jenkins and his country music band arrive. They quickly get the crowd clapping, singing and line dancing. Yeehaw!
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