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Utah Travel / Railroads Page

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Utah railroad links Class 1 Utah railroads shortline & historic railroads books & other media image gallery

Statewide Utah Railroad Links
listing of surviving steam locomotives in Utah
'list of Utah railroads' page at Wikipedia
Don Strack's Utah Rails website [est. 2002]

General Railroad Links

American Railroads Pages at Spirit of America Bookstore
Railroad Film Festival Pages at Spirit of America Bookstore

May 10th is National Train Day in USA [est. 2008]

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Railroad Art of Gil Bennett of Lehi, Utah

Railroad Links within Utah
listing of surviving steam locomotives in Utah
'list of Utah railroads' page at Wikipedia
U.P.R.R. Shortline Railroad Profiles for Utah

        
historic Union Station [built 1924] in Ogden, Utah
Utah State Railroad Museum [est. 1988] at Union Station in Ogden, Utah
1881 D&RGW narrow gauge locomotive class C-16 2-8-0 Consolidation #223 is undergoing restoration at Ogden, Utah.
1918 Union Pacific 4436 0-6-0 switcher on display at Eccles Rail Center, Utah State Railroad Museum.
1922 SaltAir open passenger cars built by the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western Railway in its shops.
1939 Union Pacific 833 4-8-4 on display at Eccles Rail Center, Utah State Railroad Museum.
1940 Cargill Corp. SW-1 diesel-electric locomotive #6751 is undergoing repairs at Utah State Railroad Museum.
1940 U.S.A.F. ALCO S-1 turbocharged diesel-electric switcher from Hill Field AFB, Utah
1940s U.S. Army Davenport 44-ton diesel-electric switcher #1216 from Tooele Army Depot, Utah
1949 "Merci Train" 40 et 8 car from France; restored and on outdoor display
1953 U.S.A.F. General Electric 44-ton diesel-electric switcher from Hill Field AFB, Utah
1953 U.S.A.F./Utah Central General Electric 44-ton diesel-electric switcher #1237 is operational.
1954 Southern Pacific G.E. GP-9 diesel-electric locomotive #3769
1959 Santa Fe/Utah Railway #401 ALCO 'Alligator' diesel-electric locomotive
1961 Union Pacific 3-unit gas turbine locomotive #26
1966 Southern Pacific SD-45 diesel-electric #7457
1969 Union Pacific DDA40X diesel-electric Centennial Locomotive #6916
1975 Rio Grande SD40T-2 diesel-electric locomotive #5371

Farmington, Utah in Davis County
S & S Shortline Railroad Park & Museum {see details below}
7½-inch gauge kiddie ride, 2-foot gauge adult ride, full-size freight cars on display, museum, picnic area

Heber City, Utah
Union Pacific #618 2-8-0 in operation at the Heber Valley Historic Railroad.

Ogden, Utah
1881 D&RGW narrow-gauge C-16 class 2-8-0 steam locomotive #223 is being restored by the local R&LHS chapter

Promentory Summit, Utah
Golden Spike National Historic Site [est. 1965]
1868 Union Pacific 4-4-0 wood-burning locomotive #119: the original was scrapped in 1903; however, a full-sized, exact replica
was built in 1979, and currently operates daily in season at the Golden Spike National Historic Site.
1868 Central Pacific 4-4-0 wood-burning locomotive Jupiter: the original was scrapped in 1909; however, a full-sized, exact replica
was built in 1979, and currently operates daily in season at the Golden Spike National Historic Site.

Salt Lake City, Utah
Union Pacific Depot [built 1908-09 by SPLA&SL RR] now contains The Depot [est. 2006] concert venue.
Salt_Lake_City_Union_Pacific_Depot
Rio Grande Depot [built 1910 by D&RGW RR] currently houses offices of Utah State Divisions of History and Arts & Museums

Tooele City, Utah
Tooele Valley Railroad & Mining Museum [est. 1983], 35 No. Broadway in Tooele City, Utah
rolling stock on static display include ALCO 1910 Tooele Valley RR 2-8-0 #11, 2 cabeese, and a gondola car (on south track)
and two passenger coaches, a boxcar, and a snowplow (on north track)  

Class 1 Railroads of Utah
The seven Class I railroads of America are a monopoly: their combined sales revenue is 91% of all U.S. rail freight traffic.
The U.S. railroad industry took in over $69 billion in revenue in 2012.

Union Pacific Railroad
[est. 1862, U.P./S.P. merger Sept. 1996]

Union Pacific Railroad entry at Wikipedia
Union Pacific Historical Society [est. 1984]
Union Pacific Railroad Museum [opened 2003] in Council Bluffs, Iowa

Southern Pacific Railroad entry at Wikipedia
Southern Pacific RR Historical & Technical Society

    
The B.N.S.F. Railroad has no trackage in Utah, but uses Union Pacific's {formerly Southern Pacific} Central Corridor westward from
Denver, Colorado via the Moffat Tunnel to Salt Lake City, then across Nevada and over Donner Pass to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway entry at Wikipedia

       
Amtrak Passenger Service [est. May 1971]
official website • Wikipedia

Amtrak's route from Denver, Colorado via the Moffat Tunnel to California includes stations/stops
at Green River, Helper, Provo & Salt Lake City in Utah.
Amtrak California Zephyr {Chicago thru Denver & Utah to San Francisco Bay}

Shortline & Historic Railroads
of Utah
'list of Utah railroads' entry at Wikipedia
Don Strack's Utah Rails in-depth historical information website [est. 5/2002]
TrainWeb / Tourist Railways / Utah website got hacked {2017}
U.P.R.R. Shortline Railroad Profiles for Utah

Carbon County Railway [1899-1908]
Twenty-six mile route organized by officers of the D&RG to bring coal from Clear Creek & Sunnyside, Utah
to the mainline near Scofield Station; absorbed during the 1908 reorganization of the D&RG.

Carbon County Railway Company [1922-1982]
The second Carbon County Railway was built by the Columbia Steel Corporation in 1922-23; it was only 4.79 miles long and connected their Columbia mine to the D&RGW at MP13 on the Sunnyside Branch; the coking coal was then trans-shipped to Columbia's iron mill at Ironton, Utah, south of Provo. By the 1930s, the line ran under an operating agreement with the D&RGW, which used its own locomotive power and crews; circa 1936, a local D&RGW freight serviced the Sunnyside Branch and left empties for the Columbia mines three days a week, stayed overnight, then hauled loaded cars out on the next day (with Sundays off for trainmen & miners).

The Defense Plant Corporation of World War II constructed a six-mile spur from the Columbia mine to a new Geneva Coal Mine at Horse Canyon; D.P.C. purchased two Baldwin VO-1000 diesels to haul coking coal from the Geneva mine to an iron mill in Orem, Utah. In December 1942, United States Steel acquired eleven small railroads, including the Carbon County Railway. In 1946, CCRwy bought the six-mile extension to Geneva. The two wartime diesel lcomotives were replaced in 1958 by two used (1953) EMD SW-9 diesels. The coal mine at Columbia shut down in 1967; the Geneva mine shut down in 1982, and operations ceased. The hopper cars were sold or scrapped, and the two diesels were moved to the Geneva steel plant in Provo; official abandonment was in 1984.

history of both Carbon County Railway companies
photo gallery of modern Carbon County Railway at UtahRails

Deseret Power Railroad formerly Deseret Western Railway [est. 1984]
The Deseret Power Railroad is a single-purpose railway that hauls coal from mines near Rangely, Colorado for about 25 miles
to the Utah border and another 10 miles to the Bonanza Power Plant, northwest of Bonanza, Utah.
Deseret Power official website • entry at Wikipedia

        
Heber Valley Railroad [D&RGW branch 1899-1967, reopened 1990s]
official website • entry at Wikipedia?

Kennecott Utah Copper
Salt Lake City Southern Railroad (SL)
Salt Lake, Garfield and Western Railway (SLGW)

San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad []

Savage Bingham and Garfield Railroad (SBG)

S & S Sales & Leasing [est. 1997] based in Farmington, Utah
buy & sell, repair, or dismantle every type of railroad equipment & components

S & S Shortline Railroad Park & Museum [] in Farmington, Utah
22 miles south of Ogden; 11,000 feet of 7½-inch gauge track (kiddie ride), 5,000 feet of 24-inch gauge track (adult ride), both run on first Saturday
of June thru September only; full-size freight cars on display; museum (with coin-operated O-scale layout), miniature golf, and picnic area
are open Mon-Fri Memorial Day to Labor Day.
homepage at Davis County CVB website
watch 10/2010 visitor home video [7:11] at YouTube

The 24"-gauge train equipment includes a diesel-powered Rio Grande switch engine, an electric trolley, more than 10 passenger cars, a caboose,
a 1914 Model T rail bus, and an oil-fired 4-4-0 steam locomotive built by Crown Metal Products [1959-89].

Tooele Valley Railway [1909-82]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooele_Valley_Railway

The Uintah Railway [1902-39]
The 3-foot narrow-gauge Uintah Railway was constructed in 1902 from Mack, Colorado to the mines at Dragon, Utah; the route over Baxter Pass included westbound grades of 7½% and eastbound grades of 5%. Conventional rod locomotives were used from Mack to the company-built town of Atchee, then seven Shay-geared locomotives over the pass and back, and rod locomotives from Wendella to Dragon. The railroad expanded in 1911 from Dragon to the new mines at Watson and Rainbow. The 1926 purchase of 2-6-6-2T articulated locomotive #50 was a successful solution to changing engines twice on each run, so sister engine #51 was purchased soon after (these were technically not of Mallet design). The Uintah Railway claimed to be 'The Crookedest Railroad in the West', although the earlier 8-mile-long Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Scenic Railway [1896-1930] of California made the same claim. The Uintah Railway ran 53 miles from Mack to Dragon; the 1911 extension to Rainbow was 13½ miles long – roughly 50 miles in Colorado and about 16 miles in Utah. As with many other railroads of the time, the cost of engine and track maintenance grew, and the railroad was replaced in 1939 with trucks. The two articulated engines were sold to the Sumpter Valley Railway in Oregon in 1940, the Shays and other motive power were scrapped.

Uintah Railway entry at Wikipedia
Uintah Railway page at TrainWeb
Bill Pratt's Uintah Railway pages
DRGW.net / Rio Grande Info / Uintah Railway page {with a lovely map}
Uintah Railway page at Abandoned Rails website
Uintah Railway Models (in On3 & On30 scale) website

detailed locomotive roster is found on the Uintah Railway entry on the Colorado Railroads Page

	"Uintah Railway: The Gilsonite Route" [1970] by Henry E. Bender includes 290 illustrations Heimburger House Publng 11¼x8¾ hardcover [8/95] out of print/used Howell-North Books 11½x9 hardcover [1970] out of print/used
	"Uintah Railway Pictorial" [1999] by Rodger Polley Volume 1: Mack to Atchee Sundance Publn 11¼x8¾ hardcover [7/99] out of print/used Volume 2: Atchee to Watson Sundance Publn hardcover [2002] out of print/used
	"The Uintah Railway" [2006] 45-minute compilation includes original 1926 film footage of the new Uintah articulated locomotives on the 7½% grades of Baxter Pass; video combines historic motion picture film from the Lucian Sprague family and the Colorado Railroad Museum archives, plus still photographs and other film clips CustomFlix mostly b&w DVD-R [7/2006] for $24.95

Utah Central Railroad [1869-1987]
Founded and built by Mormons to connect Salt Lake City over the 38 miles north to the Transcontinental Railroad at Ogden, Utah; Union Pacific
gained control in 1878 and in 1881 formed the Utah Central Railway connecting Ogden & the distant mining town of Frisco in Beaver County
(279 miles). The line south of Salt Lake City was sold off in 1903; Union Pacific leased the original line from 1936, then absorbed it by merger in 1987.
entry at Wikipedia

Utah Central Railway [est. 1992]
Began as a switching operation in Ogden, Utah, and quickly expanded to common carrier status; owned by Patriot Rail Corporation [est. 2006] since 2008.
official website at Patriot Rail • entry at Wikipedia

Utah & Pleasant Valley []

Utah Railway Company [est. 1912]
Utah Coal Railway was incorporated on January 1912; the name was shortened to Utah Railway in May of the same year. Today's Utah Railway
owns 47 miles of track south and west from Price, Utah and operates over 375 miles of track between Grand Junction, Colorado and
Provo, Utah; company is subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming.
official website • entry at Wikipedia
http://www.carbon-utgenweb.com/railroad.html

Utah Southern Railroad [1871-1881]
Built in fits & starts southward from Salt Lake City toward the silver mines in Frisco, Beaver County; absorbed in the 1881 merger
that became the Utah Central Railroad; line sold off in 1903 to the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake RR.

Utah Southern Railroad [2008-2011]
Single-purpose line to haul iron ore from the Palladon mine about 14 miles to Cedar City, Utah; original construction circa 1935 requires constant repair;
operation halted late 2008 due to the G.O.P. Economic Meltdown; mining company reorganized in March 2010; operations ceased December 2011.

Books & Other Media
browse books about Utah Railroads at Amazon

	"Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History, Volume 1: The Desert States - Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah" [1986] by Donald B. Robertson Caxton Press 11¼x8¾ hardcover [9/86] out of print/many used
	"Rails Around Helper [Utah] (Images of Rail)" [2007] by SueAnn Martell & The Western Mining & Railroad Museum Arcadia Publng 9¼x7¼ pb [9/2007] for $16.35
	"Bingham Canyon Railroads (Images of Rail)" [2011] by Don Strack Discoveries of rich silver and gold deposits in Utah's Bingham Canyon 1863 and the Transcontinental Railroad of 1869 were followed by a railroad line to Bingham Canyon in 1873; the discovery of copper deposits led to rapid expansion in the 1890s. The railroads used Shay-geared steam locomotives, articulated steam locomotives, and electric locomotives to haul the ore until 2001; since then, the very busy open-pit mines use a giant fleet of trucks to haul the ore. Arcadia Publng 9¼x6½ pb [8/2011] for $17.93

"Desert Empire" [Universal Pictures Commercial Dept. 1948]

29-minute travelogue film by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad filled with Utah history and scenery from the 1940s; featuring D&RGW trains {D&RGW 4-8-4 locomotive #1803}, Arches Monument, 'enough coal to supply the United States for 250 years', farming & irrigation, copper mining, Black Rock Beach, salt beds, and a Salt Lake Tabernacle organ recital • Produced by Robert M. Connell for the D&RGW Railroad; directed by Carlton T. Sills; narrated by Don Wilson Quality Information Publrs b&w DVD [2009] for $10.99 + s/h via Amazon third party Quality Information Publrs b&w DVD [2009] for $10.99 + s/h via Amazon third party not listed at IMDb • watch full movie [29:40] online at YouTube

"Mountain Thunder" [2006] Footage shot by Peter Crook in 2006 of: Heber Valley Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation hauling freight in the snow; Nevada Northern 4-6-0 #40 pulling a passenger train; and Nevada Northern Alco 2-8-0 #93 leading a freight train; plus 20 minutes of bonus footage Highball Prodns widescreen color DVD-R [4/2006] for $24.95 also available at the producer's website for $24.95 + s/h

"Deidra & Laney Rob A Train" [Marigold/Netflix March 2017]

After their mother is taken to jail for an outburst at a store, two sisters struggle to feed themselves; they decide to rob a train . . . • Filmed in Utah; directed by Sydney Freeland; written by Shelby Farrell; starring Rachel Crow, Ashleigh Murray, Danielle Nicolet, Missi Pyle, Tim Blake Nelson, Sharon Lawrence, Sasheer Zamata, Brooke Markham, Arturo Castro, David Sullivan, Kinna McInroe, Lance Gray, Cj Strong, Deborah Lee Douglas, Tua Kealoha, Nick Moceri, Chad Wright, Ashlyn Brooke, Mario DeAngelis, Griffin Childers, Gage Chandler, Don Hudson DVD/Blu-ray not yet available • full credits at IMDb • official movie site • movie entry at Wikipedia watch 1/2017 official trailer [1:50] at YouTube

Image Gallery

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