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This page was last updated on March 3, 2024.

Today's Railroads in Utah

Today's railroad companies in Utah: Since we do not represent any railroad in any way, please do not contact us with any concerns or issues about today's railroad companies. They can be contacted directly:

(Links are no longer active due to corporations changing their websites on a regular basis. We recommend using an online search tool, such as Google or Bing.)

BNSF Railway

Union Pacific Railroad

Utah Central Railway (Patriot Rail Corp., Ogden)

Utah Railway

Utah Transit Authority (TRAX light rail and Frontrunner commuter rail)

Other Utah Railroads Sites

KUED's Promontory -- KUED's production of "Promontory," produced in 2002. The program gives a good background and discussion of the last spike ceremony at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, and attempts to answer the question of why Brigham Young did not attend the ceremony. Includes clips from an interview with Don Strack. Comments by Don Strack are at time stamp 10:03 and 17:48 (a total of about 15 seconds of air time).

Utah History Encyclopedia

Don Strack contributed articles about "Railroads In Utah" and "Utah's Canning Industry" in the Utah History Encyclopedia

(Originally published in Utah History Encyclopedia, University of Utah Press, 1994, ISBN 0-87480-425-6, pages 67-70 and pages 450-455)

(Read the online version of the Railroads In Utah article; as part of the online Utah History Encyclopedia)

(Read the online version of the Utah's Canning Industry article; as part of the online Utah History Encyclopedia)

Railroad Reference and Research

Poor's Manual of Railroads, at Pacific NG

Railroad Extra -- Thomas Ehenreich's archived web site; mirrored at Timothy J. Mallery's Catskill Archive

AbandonedRails.com -- An excellent web site showing maps of abandoned railroads.

Eric's Railroad Car History -- Eric Neubauer's research covering railroad cars. I find it especially useful for cars built by Pullman.

American Engineer and Railroad Journal -- A link to a query at Archive.org; Volume 67 (1893) to Volume 85 (1911)

ICC Reports -- Catalog record listing of the ICC Finance Reports available from HathiTrust, as "Full View" PDF files; Volume 1 (1887) through Volume 366 (1983)

History of Texas and Other Railroads -- Added in support of the requirements of Railroading Merit Badge for Boy Scouts.

Copyright Information

Google Books Law Suit Decision -- A New York Times article from November 2013 about the Google Books suit being dismissed.

The most recent copyright law, signed into law in December 2014, essentially says that anything and everything created after January 1, 1978 is automatically copyrighted, whether it is marked as "Copyright" or not. The general guidance is a publication is copyright-protected 95 years from date of first publication, or 120 years from date of creation. All that is needed to prove copyright, is proof of date of creation by an author, photographer, or music composer, including a "work" created by an employee for a corporation. These same range of years also apply if the author, photographer, or music composer signs over copyright to a publisher, which is very seldom done. In such case, the proof is the date of publication by a publisher. Of course, it makes it simpler if a work is actually marked as "Copyright," with a year. (Copyright.gov)

"Created by an employee for a corporation" means that every bulletin, instruction, or equipment roster listing created in a railroad office by an employee as part of his work responsibilities, for the benefit of railroad management or other employees can be considered by the employer as copyrighted material. Prior to the changes to the law in 1978, this wasn't the case, and only works where the author or owner went to the trouble to apply for copyright protection were so protected. This was universally true of books, magazines, and published photos, but relatively rare for other incidental railroad paper. Public timetables were meant for public use, whereas employee timetables were not.

Concerning the effort to make available digital copies of books and magazine articles that were only published to paper, and have never been reprinted due to their small print runs and small potential market (including railroad themed publications), Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig wrote, "We need access to our past, not just the part of our past that continues to be commercially viable."

Several large commercial publishers sued the Open Library Project (and its parent, the Internet Archive), over its limited policy of making digital books available during the COVID-19 pandemic. In late 2023, the parties reached a settlement. (Read the Wikipedia article)

Many have remarked that limited content can be digitally shared under the concept of "Fair Use." Under the U. S. Copyright law, a limited number of digital images (photos and text) can be used for non-commercial purposes and for educational reference and research. Digital preservation is also allowed under fair use, such as making your own digital backup (change of format) of a purchase of a copyrighted work that was published solely to paper. (U. S. Copyright Law, Sections 107 through 118, Title 17, U. S. Code.)

Both Google and the HathiTrust have benefited from recent court decisions concerning Fair Use:

(Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust; at Copyright.gov)
(Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust; Wikipedia article)
(Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc.; Wikipedia article)
(Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc.; Electronic Frontier Foundation)
(Atlantic Monthly article about the Google Books Project, published in April 2017 -- "It was strange to me, the idea that somewhere at Google there is a database containing 25-million books and nobody is allowed to read them." "The naysayers throw down obstacles left and right, until both sides lose interest and wander off. In the mean time the lawyers make money and nothing really gets settled.")

We can only hope that the few publishers who make profits, and admittedly provide hundreds of jobs, will loosen their "Dog in the Manger" grip and attitude that libraries should be closed, and for *all* publishers to be the sole source of historical information. ("Dog in the Manger" being a metaphor used to speak of someone who spitefully prevents others from having something for which that same someone has no use.)

Abandoned Web Sites

Oocities.org -- Archive versions of old GeoCities pages.

Reocities.com -- Archive versions of old GeoCities pages. (As of October 2018, the entire Reocities web site is no longer available)

Broken Link Finder

Xenu's Link Sleuth -- An online link checker and sitemap builder. Download and install the program. It really works.

YouTube Links

Information R/evolution

The Machine is Us/ing Us

We Will Rock You -- The long version of a classic Pepsi commercial.

Two Steps From Hell 2012 Show Reel -- Trailer music at its best. (Lots more great music at their Youtube channel)

Wild Bunch, Washers -- A clip of a classic scene from one of the best westerns ever made.

Building New Borax Wagons -- A playlist of 37 videos at Engels Coach Shop in Joliet, Montana, showing how they built new Borax 20-Mule Team Borax wagons in 2016-2017. First the two Borax wagons (15 videos), then two years later, the water wagon (22 videos).

Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me -- Pulls you up when when you are depressed.

Rail Beast -- When vandals repainted UP SD70 2519 on September 8, 2017 to look like a tiger. It was stored at Lund, Utah, at the time, and by the end of September was en route to UP's main locomotive shop in North Little Rock, Arkansas, to be repainted back to standard UP colors.

Did You Know?

Fantastic video series, also known as "ShiftHappens," all about the convergence of technology and the constant change going on around us every day.

2008 -- Version 3.0

2009 -- Version 4.0

2018 Remix