{"id":1958084,"date":"2026-05-27T14:18:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T11:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1958084"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:18:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T11:18:34","slug":"remembering-utahs-legendary-1960s-era-snowball-express-ski-train-a-rolling-party-that-bypassed-strict-liquor-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1958084","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Utah\u2019s Legendary 1960s-Era Snowball Express Ski Train: A Rolling Party That Bypassed Strict Liquor Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_407422\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-407422\" style=\"width: 956px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-407422 lazyload\" src=\"image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAoAAAAGUAQMAAACfrAFwAAAABlBMVEUAAAD\/\/\/+l2Z\/dAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAAlwSFlzAAAOxAAADsQBlSsOGwAAADZJREFUeNrtwQENAAAAwqD3T20PBxQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAfBp\/1AABPRC5dAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"snowball express utah ski train \" width=\"640\" height=\"404\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-3.49.45-PM.jpeg?resize=640%2C404&amp;ssl=1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-3.49.45-PM.jpeg?w=956&amp;ssl=1 956w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-3.49.45-PM.jpeg?resize=300%2C190&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-3.49.45-PM.jpeg?resize=200%2C125&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-3.49.45-PM.jpeg?resize=768%2C485&amp;ssl=1 768w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-eio-rwidth=\"640\" data-eio-rheight=\"404\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-407422\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-3.49.45-PM.jpeg?resize=640%2C404&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"snowball express utah ski train \" width=\"640\" height=\"404\" data-eio=\"l\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-407422\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Passengers crowd the specially modified Union Pacific railcars, dancing to live music from local bands and enjoying an onboard bar scene exempt from Utah\u2019s strict liquor laws. | Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DYz6itIlaXV\/?img_index=2&amp;igsh=OW1oZ25kcWttMmZq\">Park City Museum, Leland Flinders, Rick Burn\/IG<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-1\" style=\"margin: 8px auto;text-align: center;display: block;clear: both\">\n<!-- GAM 71161633\/SNWBR_snowbrains\/article_hrec_1 --><\/p>\n<div data-fuse=\"article_hrec_1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"0\"><strong>In the mid-1960s, a journey from Salt Lake City to the burgeoning ski slopes of Park City, Utah, typically meant a straightforward drive.<\/strong> But for six winter seasons, Union Pacific offered an alternative that turned a simple commute into a legendary, rolling celebration. Known as the \u201cSnowball Express,\u201d this special ski train operated between 1965 and 1971, capturing a distinct era when Utah ski culture and railroad history collided in a flurry of live music, winter sports promotion, and surprisingly loose liquor service.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"0\"><strong>Related: <\/strong><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/snowbrains.com\/vail-i-70-tunnel\/\" rel=\"bookmark\" data-modified-href=\"https:\/\/snowbrains.com\/vail-i-70-tunnel\">Forget the Eisenhower \u2014 This Vail I-70 Tunnel Would Have Been 5 Times Longer<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"p-rc_bfcb1c5e23ab0d7b-24\" data-path-to-node=\"1\"><span data-path-to-node=\"1,1\"><span class=\"citation-43\"><strong>The roots of the Snowball Express trace back to <a href=\"https:\/\/parkcityhistory.org\/park-citys-snowball-express\/\">December 4, 1965<\/a>, with an excursion originally dubbed the \u201cHootspa Special.\u201d<\/strong> <\/span><\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"1,5\"><span class=\"citation-42\">Organized in part to support Salt Lake City\u2019s bid for the 1972 Winter Olympics, the train was a deliberate nod to a regional tradition of winter excursion trains that dated back to 1936<\/span><\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"1,7\">. <\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"1,9\"><span class=\"citation-41\">The promotional run was a success, and Union Pacific subsequently rebranded the service as the Snowball Express, running the special excursion usually once a year<\/span><\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"1,11\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"p-rc_bfcb1c5e23ab0d7b-25\" data-path-to-node=\"2\"><span data-path-to-node=\"2,0\"><strong>While intended to transport winter sports enthusiasts to Park City\u2019s slopes, the journey itself quickly became the main attraction.<\/strong> <\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"2,2\"><span class=\"citation-40\">The train followed a circuitous mainline route, departing Salt Lake City and heading north to stop in Ogden before winding through Weber Canyon and eventually arriving in Park City<\/span><\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"2,4\">. Because this rail route took several hours\u2014far longer than a direct drive\u2014the onboard environment evolved to keep passengers entertained.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_407425\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-407425\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-407425 lazyload\" src=\"image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAoAAAAGgAQMAAAAAR0TLAAAABlBMVEUAAAD\/\/\/+l2Z\/dAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAAlwSFlzAAAOxAAADsQBlSsOGwAAADhJREFUeNrtwTEBAAAAwqD1T20ND6AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAODXAIOgAAGpe47\/AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC\" alt=\"treasure mountain vintage utah park city 1960s\" width=\"640\" height=\"416\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2004-84-1-20-8-1024x665-1.jpeg?resize=640%2C416&amp;ssl=1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2004-84-1-20-8-1024x665-1.jpeg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2004-84-1-20-8-1024x665-1.jpeg?resize=300%2C195&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2004-84-1-20-8-1024x665-1.jpeg?resize=768%2C499&amp;ssl=1 768w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-eio-rwidth=\"640\" data-eio-rheight=\"416\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-407425\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2004-84-1-20-8-1024x665-1.jpeg?resize=640%2C416&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"treasure mountain vintage utah park city 1960s\" width=\"640\" height=\"416\" data-eio=\"l\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-407425\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Skiers stepping off the Snowball Express in the mid-1960s were greeted by the freshly minted slopes of Treasure Mountains Resort, captured here in its earliest days of operation. | Photo:: Park City Historical Society and Museum, Park City Mountain Resort Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"p-rc_bfcb1c5e23ab0d7b-26\" data-path-to-node=\"3\"><strong><span class=\"citation-39\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/parkcityhistory.org\/park-citys-snowball-express\/\">historical records<\/a> from the Park City Museum, the Snowball Express earned a reputation as a raucous party train<\/span><\/strong><span data-path-to-node=\"3,3\"><strong>.<\/strong> Union Pacific modified cars specifically to accommodate music and dancing, featuring live performances from local jazz bands. Most notably, the train\u2019s bar cars managed to bypass Utah\u2019s notoriously strict local liquor laws because Union Pacific operated under federal railroad jurisdiction. Since the interstate rail network was subject to federal regulations rather than state rules, the Snowball Express was entirely exempt from local statutes on the ground, allowing alcohol to flow freely\u2014including liberal serving of liquor-by-the-drink, which was otherwise illegal in Utah at the time. This unique regulatory loophole created a festive atmosphere that proved highly popular, with local history noting that passenger numbers eventually swelled to more than <a href=\"https:\/\/parkcityhistory.org\/park-citys-snowball-express\/\">500 people per trip<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"3\"><strong>Related: <\/strong><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/snowbrains.com\/mt-hood-skiway-flying-bus-history\/\" rel=\"bookmark\" data-modified-href=\"https:\/\/snowbrains.com\/mt-hood-skiway-flying-bus-history\">History With SnowBrains: Remembering the Time Oregon Put a City Bus on a Cable to Access Mt. Hood<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"p-rc_bfcb1c5e23ab0d7b-27\" data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span data-path-to-node=\"4,0\"><strong>The era of the Snowball Express then came to an abrupt halt in 1971 due to sweeping changes in the American railroad industry.<\/strong> <\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"4,2\"><span class=\"citation-35\">The creation of Amtrak required participating passenger railroads, including Union Pacific, to surrender their independent public passenger services and special excursions<\/span><\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"4,4\">. <\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"4,6\"><span class=\"citation-34\">As a result, the Snowball Express made its final journey on February 27, 1971, marking the last passenger train service to reach Park City<\/span><\/span><span data-path-to-node=\"4,8\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"0\"><strong>Even though the Snowball Express only ran for a handful of winters, it left a massive mark on Western ski lore.<\/strong> It captured this wonderfully chaotic, social side of Utah\u2019s early ski scene that you just don\u2019t see as much anymore. People still talk about those trips today, remembering them just as much for the wild onboard party as for the actual skiing.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"1\"><strong>That legendary spirit hasn\u2019t completely faded, either<\/strong>. If you head up to Park City today, you\u2019ll find that the local bus system, High Valley Transit, actually revived the \u201cSnowball Express\u201d name for one of its routes. It\u2019s a thoughtful, modern nod to a piece of local history, even if a standard transit bus doesn\u2019t quite match the law-defying, jazz-fueled energy of the original 1960s train.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_407426\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-407426\" style=\"width: 944px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-407426 lazyload\" src=\"image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAoAAAAGZAQMAAAAjMhKuAAAABlBMVEUAAAD\/\/\/+l2Z\/dAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAAlwSFlzAAAOxAAADsQBlSsOGwAAADdJREFUeNrtwTEBAAAAwqD1T20LL6AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAE4GgWkAAVgEmlMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=\" alt=\"snowball express salt lake park city utah vintage 1960s \" width=\"640\" height=\"409\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-4.06.16-PM.jpeg?resize=640%2C409&amp;ssl=1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-4.06.16-PM.jpeg?w=944&amp;ssl=1 944w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-4.06.16-PM.jpeg?resize=300%2C192&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-4.06.16-PM.jpeg?resize=768%2C491&amp;ssl=1 768w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-eio-rwidth=\"640\" data-eio-rheight=\"409\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-407426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/snowbrains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-4.06.16-PM.jpeg?resize=640%2C409&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"snowball express salt lake park city utah vintage 1960s \" width=\"640\" height=\"409\" data-eio=\"l\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-407426\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Snowball Express sits at the Salt Lake City station circa late 1960s. | Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DYz6itIlaXV\/?img_index=2&amp;igsh=OW1oZ25kcWttMmZq\">Park City Museum, Leland Flinders, Rick Burn\/IG<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-2\" style=\"margin: 8px auto;text-align: center;display: block;clear: both\">\n<!-- GAM 71161633\/SNWBR_snowbrains\/article_hrec_2 --><\/p>\n<div data-fuse=\"article_hrec_2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Passengers crowd the specially modified Union Pacific railcars, dancing to live music from local bands and enjoying an onboard bar scene exempt from Utah\u2019s strict liquor laws. | Photo: Park City Museum, Leland Flinders, Rick Burn\/IG In the mid-1960s, a journey from Salt Lake City to the burgeoning ski slopes of Park City, Utah, typically [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,267],"class_list":["post-1958084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-snowbrains-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1958084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1958084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1958084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1958084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}