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Southern Pacific in Utah

Compiled by Don Strack

This page last updated on August 20, 2006.

(This is a work in progress since 1978 — research continues.)

CHRONOLOGY HISTORY

February 14, 1885:
Southern Pacific Company leased all of the Central Pacific property in the Territory of Utah, for a period of 99 years, $1.2 million per year rent. (Box Elder County Abstracts, Book B, p.219, line 17) Poor's Railroad Manual for 1929, page 353, states that the so-called "Omnibus" lease took effect on March 1, 1885.

Southern Pacific Company was incorporated in Kentucky on March 17, 1884. (Poor's Railroad Manual, 1929, page 353)

March 23, 1901:
Southern Pacific announced in San Francisco that they would build a new 105-mile line in Utah, to be known as the "Great Lake Cut-Off". The line is to be built between Ogden and Lucin, allowing the abandonment of the old Central Pacific 146-mile line between Ogden and Lucin by way of the Kelton and Promontory mountains. The cost was projected as being $3,000,000, with a total savings of 41 miles of line to be the result. The new line will be almost flat, with no grade greater than 0.4 percent. It will cross the upper Great Salt Lake in two places. (Ogden Standard Examiner, March 23, 1901, courtesy of the Utah Digital Newspaper project)

April 23, 1901:
The contractors for the Ogden-Lucin Cut-Off will be Kirkpatrick Bros. & Collins, and D'Huer. The contracts were let two weeks previously and various subcontractors had begun arriving in Ogden to commence work. The D'Huer company has had all the contracts for Southern Pacific improvements on the coast. The Kirkpatrick company representatives had been in Ogden for the past two weeks, and were at that time loading their "immense railroad constructing machinery" at Cheyenne, which had most recently been used for work on Sherman Hill. Work has begun on quarry operations at Promontory Point to supply fill for the new line. The surveyors are actively at work along the projected route. (Ogden Standard Examiner, April 23, 1901, April 26, 1901, courtesy of the Utah Digital Newspaper project)

August 7, 1901:
The last needed land purchase has been completed for the new Ogden-Lucin Cut-Off. The projected route is west from Ogden by way of Marriotts, Warren, and West Weber. Kirkpatrick Bros. & Collins will sublet most of the needed work to subcontractors. (Ogden Standard Examiner, August 7, 1901, courtesy of the Utah Digital Newspaper project)

March 19, 1903:
SP trains began operating over the OSL line between Ogden and Brigham City, then over OSL's new Brigham City Cutoff between Brigham City and Corinne Junction, where both OSL and SP operated over 1.5 miles of SP trackage between Corinne Junction and Corinne. (email from John Sweetser, from Elko Weekly Independent, March 27, 1903)

July 16, 1903:
Malad Valley Railroad completed 14.57 miles of line from Corinne and Garland. The company was incorporated on November 25, 1902. (OSL corporate history) (Utah, 4050)Construction had begun on April 6 at Corinne, at a connection with the Central Pacific's line to Promontory. In November 1902 OSL completed construction of the 4.09-mile "Brigham City Cut-off", between Brigham City and a connection with the Central Pacific line at Corinne Junction, about 1.5 miles east of Corinne. (source not recorded)

July 26, 1903:
OSL and Central Pacific signed a trackage rights agreement that allowed OSL to operate trains over the 1.55-mile section of the Central Pacific's main line between Corinne Junction and Corinne. (Also in July 1903, the SP began operating over the new Lucin Cut-off, directly across the Great Salt Lake, making the Promontory line a secondary one.) On July 1, 1903 OSL began service to Garland sugar factory, operating over their own line between Brigham City and Corinne Junction, over the Central Pacific between Corinne Junction and Corinne, and over the Malad Valley Railroad between Corinne and Garland. (OSL corporate history)

The Utah Sugar Company completed the construction of a sugar factory at Garland in 1903 and in July 1907 the plant came under the ownership of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. (Arrington: Great Basin, pp. 391, 407, 408)Union Pacific bought the 1.55-mile Corinne Junction to Corinne portion of the old Central Pacific from SP on November 14, 1947 after the Southern Pacific Promontory Branch was abandoned. (source not recorded)

March 8, 1904:
The date usually given for the completion of the Lucin Cutoff. (Source?)

July 1, 1904:
SP operated the last (through) train over the old Promontory Line. (email from John Sweetser, April 24, 2003; from Nevada State Herald (Wells), August 24, 1906)

SP began operating freight trains over the new Lucin Cutoff during mid 1904, "used by freight for months", and "numerous special passenger trains ran over the cut-off last week and this week. (email from John Sweetser, April 24, 2003; from Central Nevadan newspaper (Battle Mountain), September 15, 1904)

September 18, 1904:
SP began operating passenger trains over the new Lucin Cutoff. Freight trains began using the new line "months" before. (email from John Sweetser, April 24, 2003; from Central Nevadan newspaper (Battle Mountain), September 15, 1904)

July 1, 1906:
SP formally ended the use of the Promontory "Old Line", except for local and mail traffic. (email from John Sweetser, based on research in Nevada newspapers)

1913 to 1923:
Timeline for SP corporate history, 1913-1923 (from "E. H. Harriman's Dream" by Don Hofsommer, in The Streamliner, Volume 10, Number 2, pages 27-31)

May 23, 1928:
SP received Utah PSC approval to close the agency at Lemay. (Utah Public Service Commission case 1028)

August 26, 1929:
SP received Utah PSC approval to close the agency at Cecil Junction, the junction with the Promontory Branch, 0.9 mile north of Ogden. (Utah Public Service Commission case 1133)

June 18, 1930:
SP received Utah PSC approval to close the agency at Promontory Point, halfway on the Lucin Cut-off over the Great Salt Lake, 23.8 miles from Ogden and 23.3 miles from Lakeside. The agency was opened to receive materials for the double-tracking of the Lucin Cut-off. The project was complete and the telegraph operator there was no longer needed. (Utah Public Service Commission case 1164)

August 20, 1930:
SP received Utah PSC approval to close the non-agency at Surbon, located on the Promontory Branch, 22 miles from Corinne and 44 miles from Kelton. (Utah Public Service Commission case 1285)

October 18, 1930:
SP received Utah PSC approval to close the non-agency station at Carver. The siding was used only for sugar beet loading for the Amalgamated Sugar Company, which had dismantled all of its beet loading equipment. (Utah Public Service Commission case 1192)

March 31, 1937:
SP received Utah PSC approval to discontinue service on the Promontory Branch between Kelton and Water Cress. (Utah Public Service Commission case 1918)

June 12, 1939:
SP received Utah PSC approval to close the agency at Kelton. Only one train per week on the Promontory Branch. (Utah Public Service Commission case 2227)

March 16, 1945:
OSL leased, with right to purchase, all of the trackage, facilities, and right of way of SP's line from Corinne Junction to Corinne. OSL purchased the line on October 16, 1947. SP had removed their tracks from Corinne Junction to Ogden in 1942, except for a 962 foot stub at Corinne Junction, which they sold to Utah Idaho Sugar Company. OSL bought the spur from the sugar company on April 21, 1950. (source not recorded)

SP had been running their Promontory Branch trains over OSL between Ogden and Corinne; in an unsuccessful 1932 request for abandonment of the Promontory Branch SP stated that most of their trackage between those two points was "gone, removed by parties unknown". (source not recorded)

December 31, 1946:
SP received Utah PSC approval to abandon and remove the spur at Marriott, 2.3 miles west of Ogden on the Lucin Cut-off. The spur was built for the Amalgamated Sugar Company for sugar beet loading. It was sold to SP in 1939 and the railroad has since used it only for car storage. (Utah Public Service Commission case 3070)

September 30, 1947:
Southern Pacific Company was originally a Kentucky corporation, since 1884. On September 30, 1947, following some changes to the corporate tax laws in Kentucky, and a subsequent suit by SP, Southern Pacific Company was incorporated as a Delaware corporation. (Hofsommer, page 221)

November 14, 1947:
OSL took possession of the 1.55-mile portion of the SP Promontory Branch (originally the 1869 Central Pacific main line) between Corinne Junction and Corinne. Union Pacific had used the line under trackage rights since July 1903 as part of the operations of the Malad Branch. SP had abandoned their Promontory Branch in 1944. (source not recorded)

February 13, 1951:
SP sold a 16.5 foot right of way (8.25 feet on each side of the center line) along the 34.01 miles of the original CP mainline from Ogden to Corinne Junction to the Salt Lake Pipeline Company, for the use of a natural gas pipeline to southern Idaho. (Box Elder County Book of Deeds 59, p.613)

Description:
From Ogden (Cecil Junction, Station 729+60, MP 820.78) to Corinne Junction (Promontory Branch Station 1796+09) (OSL Corinne-to-Brigham City line, Station 3+85).

February 20, 1956:
Contract for new Salt Lake Causeway awarded to Morrison-Knudsen. Scheduled for completion on February 20, 1960. (October 1957 mimeographed history of M-K project)

April 21, 1959:
Central Pacific Railway was merged into Southern Pacific Company. (Interstate Commerce Commission Finance Docket 20445, reported in 307 ICC 806; also cited in ICC Finance Docket 2613, page 472)

July 27, 1959:
First revenue freight train crossed over the new Salt Lake Causeway. (Hofsommer, page 249)

August 19, 1959:
Southern Pacific began operating passenger trains over the new Salt Lake Causeway. Work began on the causeway in March 1956. (Ogden Standard Examiner, January 3, 1960)

1960
SP joined Trailer Train, the national trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC) pool. SP's connecting road at Ogden, UP, also joined Trailer Train in 1960. Competing road WP started TOFC service, better known as "piggyback" service, in 1959 between Salt Lake City and Oakland. D&RGW joined in 1963. (The Tioga Group, Intermodal Timeline, 1954 to 1966, http://www.tiogagroup.com/page22.html)

November 26, 1969:
Southern Pacific Company was reorganized on November 26, 1969 as the Southern Pacific Transportation Co., a subsidiary of the new corporate holding company that took the former Southern Pacific Company name. (Hofsommer, page 275;  see also Railroad Retirement Board Employer Determination)

April 1, 1983:
SP reorganized its operating divisions. The old Pacific Lines and Texas/Louisana/SSW regions were done away with. They were replaced by the Eastern, Southern, and Western Regions. The Salt Lake Division into Utah was part of the new Western Region. (part from CTC Board, July 1983, page 4)

December 23, 1983:
Santa Fe Industries (parent company of AT&SF Railway) and Southern Pacific Company (parent company of Southern Pacific Transportation Co.) merged to form the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation, with an effective date of December 31, 1983.

August 1, 1984:
A 300 feet long section of SP's Salt Lake causeway was breached to allow the lake to equalize its low north arm with the higher south arm. The causeway separated the two arms of the lake when it was completed in 1959, but the passageways provided at the time had not been allowing the south arm, fed by excess runoff waters due to high snowmelt, to flow fast enough into the north arm, which has no inlet. (CTC Board, October 1984, page 5)

Lucin Cut-off Breached ... At 12:03 p.m. on August 1, a 300-foot section of the causeway across the great Salt Lake was breached so that a bridge could be erected across the gap, helping to speed the process of equalizing the water level of the lake between the two halves divided by the causeway. Record run-off the last two years has raised the level of the lake to its highest level in the last 106 years.

The $3.2 million project is being paid for by the state of Utah. Witnessing the event was Utah Governor Scott Matheson, SP Chairman Denman K. McNear, and more than 200 members of the media, and state and local governments. Everything seemed to be working as planned, the level of the lake variance between the north half and south half decreased from 37 inches on July 31 to 23 inches on August 15.

April 2, 1986:
"A vicious storm April 2 on the Great Salt Lake closed the Lucin cutoff across the lake for four days, forcing the SP detour around the lake on the UP. Several dozen washouts were reported to have occurred. At the time of the storm, the lake level was at 4,210.5 feet, the third highest recorded level ever." (CTC Board, May 1986, page 43)

Spring-Summer 1986:
SP's operations across the Great Salt Lake was affected by high lake levels. (CTC Board, June 1986, pages 18, 19)

SP Battles The Great Salt Lake

Now with the level of the Great Salt Lake exceeding its recorded historical high point of 4,211.6 feet above sea level, the SP is now seriously thinking about completely abandoning its 33 miles of railroad that crosses the north end of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. In the past four years, the SP has spent over $85 million in trying to keep their line above water, and the necessary repairs after each storm passes through the Salt Lake area. The railroad has also threatened to no longer do any maintenance on the Great Salt Lake causeway, which carries the mainline, once the level of the lake exceeds 4,212 feet above sea level. This lake level may be reached as early as June as the massive snow pack in the mountains east and north of the Salt Lake Basin melts.

So far in 1986, the SP has had to detour over the UP's former WP mainline between Wells (Alazon), Nevada and Salt Lake City four separate times, in just two months. Between April 2 and April 5, 30 trains were detoured, while between April 12 and April 14, 15 trains were detoured due to the causeway being heavily damaged from storm generated waves. Another detour between May 3 and May 5 found six eastbound trains and nine westbound trains detoured. The storm of May 21, which was characterized by waves in excess of six feet generated by winds gusting to 86 mph, caused more detours. This storm damage, plus a derailment of 19 air-dump cars in a work train at Saline, which is near the midpoint of the causeway, kept the SP's line closed until May 24.

As the Great Salt Lake was exceeding its historical high point in mid-May, the state of Utah was finally getting serious about a proposal to lower the lake level. After waiting four years for "normal" weather to return to the Salt Lake area, the state government is finally convinced that something must be done. The state is now pushing ahead with a $55 million plan that will see water pumped from the Great Salt Lake to the Great Salt Lake Desert, sometimes referred to as the Bonneville Salt Flats, which is four feet higher in elevation than the current lake level. If approved, the pumping scheme could not be implemented for 12 to 14 months and that's if construction was started tomorrow. An impact on the lake level would then be realized within one year. Also included in the plan is money for raising the SP's roadbed across the Great Salt Lake Desert, and part of the current lake.

The state's proposal is as follows: First, the SP's 14 mile causeway between Lakeside and Hogup would be increased in height and strengthened at a cost of $4.75 million, as this would keep the water from flowing out onto the Air Force training grounds in the desert between the Lakeside and Hogup Mountains. Then a bridge would be built into this causeway to span a canal that would bring lake water to the pumping station at the base of the Hogup Mountains. The pumping complex, which is expected to cost $15.4 million, would have the capacity of 900 cubic feet of water per second up the 17 feet to Hogup Ridge.

As the water flows down the west side of Hogup Ridge in a 200 foot wide, 50 foot deep canal, it would pass under the SP mainline on a second new bridge. The water would flow naturally onto the desert north of the SP line. This means that the 20 miles of SP line across this stretch of desert between Hogup and Jackson sidings would also be raised at a cost of $6.5 million. A third trestle would be needed toward the west end of the stretch near Jackson, which would allow the water to flow southward toward Wendover and where both I-80 and the UP's former WP mainline cross this desert. Parallel to and just a few hundred feet north of I-80, another dike would be built across the Bonneville Salt Flats to keep the water north of this point, and protect the freeway during times of stormy weather. This proposed "west pond" is expected to cover 500 square miles of desert with around two and one half feet of water. If and when this plan is put into operation, the level of the Great Salt Lake is expected to be reduced 14 to 16 inches the first year and then seven to eight inches each year thereafter.

For the SP, these plans may come too late to save the Overland Route. A series of severe wind storms hit the Great Salt Lake during the first two weeks in June washing out the causeway in several areas. The worst storm, which hit the area on Saturday, June 14, has dealt a severe blow to the SP by washing away most, if not all of the Great Salt Lake causeway. The last train on the fill, a work train powered by five GP9s, just barely got off the fill before it went under water on the 14th. The waves, driven by sustained winds of 50-60 mph, have undermined and washed out several areas of the fill between Lakeside and Strongknob (five miles worth) and totally obliterated the main fill between Strongknob and Hogup, a distance of nine miles. As this column goes to press, it was unclear if the causeway was even going to be repaired. The SP has stopped doing any maintenance on the the entire causeway between Little Mountain (MP 767.2) and Hogup (MP 720.7) and with the water level still rising it seems unlikely that the causeway will ever see another SP train. So far, the SP has only been able to get an agreement from the UP for use of their line around the south end of the Great Salt Lake on an emergency, temporary basis. With the SP's line now closed, for what could be permanently, some long term arrangement with the UP will have to be arrived at if the Overland Route is to survive.

The detouring of SP trains over the UP has made the UP's line from Salt Lake City to Alazon, Nevada a very busy piece of railroad with UP's regular traffic, SP's regular traffic and UP's work trains (trying to shore up UP's lakeside trackage against the rising waters) all vying for the same trackage.

In Ogden, things look pretty grim for SP employees. After the loss of the causeway on June 14, all mechanical and clerical personnel in Ogden were furloughed and train crews were being ferried down to Salt Lake City to board their trains. It seems as though a potentially devastating problem has come to a head in Utah for the SP and the Overland Route. (Blair Kooistra, Vinnie Ventosa, Staff)

June 1986:
Closures of the Salt Lake causeway. (Pacific RailNews, September 1986, page 24)

Salt Lake Tribulations

On June 7, Utah's Great Salt Lake was hit by a major storm in addition to its current high water problem. Rain and winds gusting more than 50 miles per hour caused SP to close its 27-mile-long causeway across the lake that afternoon. A subsequent engineering inspection of the fill structure revealed that 11.5 miles of track were out of line, under water, or actually washed out. SP presently estimates that the causeway will be out of service until around August 18, and SP trains will be detoured over the former WP trackage of the Union Pacific to Salt Lake City, around the south end of the lake. With no railroading being performed at Ogden, SP invoked a clause in its labor agreement and furloughed most (121) of its employees at that location on Friday the 13th.

Even before the storm, the lake level had risen so much that in places water was nearly lapping at the ties. The lake reached its highest level in modern history on June 6, when it rose to 4,211.85 feet above sea level; it has risen 3.5 feet since last November. To put this in perspective, SP rails in the area average 4,213.5 feet above sea level, less than two feet above the lake!

In late June, an interesting development in the causeway story was the announcement that the state of Utah and the Southern Pacific have signed a $17.25 million agreement to reconstruct the railroad embankment and build an access road from Lakeside to Hogup. This is no small feat initself. Hogup is the site of a massive pumping station that is part of the huge state-sponsored project to pump water from the lake into the barren desert land to form Lake Bonneville. The pumping project is not expected to be operational before February 1987. SP would also be involved with excavation work for the pumping plant site, building two trestles and excavating for an outlet canal. A subsidiary of the Reno, Nev.-based Helms Construction Co. will do the work for the SP. The project does need the cooperation of the SP, which owns the only right-of-way access to the pumping station. SP spokesman L. Ridd Larson commented that the railroad does not guarantee it will resume service on the causeway, but it is a favorable indication.

On June 27, Union Pacific announced an offer to SP to permit it to detour over UP tracks. This would continue until August 18, when the SP hopes to have its line restored to service. If this is not possible, UP has also offered a proposal for handling SP traffic on a permanent basis. SP would pay UP for its costs of handling the detoured trains, which would be handled by SP locomotives with SP crews. The addition of SP traffic on the UP line complicates matters, as UP is continuing to work to raise the level of its line (see UP column).

The wild card in all of this is the future of the SP's Overland Route, with rumors flying around about possible trackage rights, or even outright sale to the Denver and Rio Grande. That road is watching all of the Great Salt Lake developments with keen interest, as its traffic is turned over in greatest proportion to the SP at Ogden. The addition of Rio Grande as a paying partner in the project could be seen as an asset by the UP, which has spent over $20 million on keeping its tracks above water in the last four years. In any event, the water problem is not going away soon, and considerable resources must be committed to the project to ensure continued operations. We will have additional details in upcoming issues. (Ken Meeker, Union Pacific, Staff)

August 23, 1986:
SP reopened its line across the Great Salt Lake, after a 78 day closure due to damage to the causeway. (CTC Board, September 1986, page 14)

The Lucin Cutoff across the Great Salt Lake was reopened for traffic at 18:00 on August 23 after a 78 day closure due to washouts and flooding caused by a massive storm on June 7. A maintenance-of-way window is in effect seven days a week now between the unlikely hours of 16:00 and 06:00. This allows the SP to run the majority of its priority trains over the cutoff without delaying them or having to take the costly detour over the Union Pacific. There still are some trains continuing to detour over the UP now, from two to four trains per day, depending on the day of the week. (Dave Martinez)

August 23, 1986:
SP reopened its line across the Great Salt Lake. (Pacific RailNews, November 1986, page 6)

Southern Pacific restored its water-damaged route across the Great Salt Lake at 6:00 p.m. on August 23. Due to a series of 10-mph slow orders on 40 miles of the temporary trackage, SP received permission to continue detouring two of its hot trains over the Union Pacific's main line along the south shore of the lake until its line can be returned to normal operating condition.

At least initially, the detouring trains were the CHOAT and OGOAT westbound and the OACHF and RVAST eastbound, handling piggyback and time-sensitive merchandise. During the first week after the line was returned to service high winds again forced the SP to close the line twice when water and debris were blown over the track in a number of locations. In early September work crews were scheduled to work in the evening and early morning hours (4:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.) in order to better accommodate the scheduling and handling of SP trains. (Ken Meeker)

Spring 1987:
Water level of Great Salt Lake was expected to be lower due to less snowpack. The new pumps arrived to lower the level of the lake. (Pacific RailNews, March, 1987, page 41)

News from the Great Salt Lake area finds that as of early February, snowpack in the Washatch Mountains is less than 60 percent of normal, which is good news for the SP and everyone in the area. Even with this "dry" year, it is predicted that the Great Salt Lake will peak at 4,212.5 feet above sea level, which is just under a foot higher than the historic highpoint of 4,211.85 feet established last year when the SP's causeway across the lake was heavily damaged. The project to pump water from the Great Salt Lake into the "western desert" continues to move ahead, but nearly two months behind schedule. The first of the three giant Ingersoll-Rand pumps that will pump an average of one million gallons per minute out of the Great Salt Lake arrived at Lakeside on January 12 (by truck from New York). Even though the project is designed to reduce the level of the lake by one foot per year, the pumps will not be in full operation before May when the high point will be reached.

September 25, 1987:
Rio Grande Industries (parent company of D&RGW RR) announced its intention to purchase the Southern Pacific Transportation Co. (from Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation, the merged former parent companies of Santa Fe and SP.) (Pacific RailNews, Issue 290, January 1988, page 36)

December 28, 1987:
Sale of Southern Pacific Transportation Co. to Rio Grande Industries was made final by a written agreement between Rio Grande Industries and Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation. (Pacific RailNews, Issue 291, February 1988, page 12)

August 9, 1988:
Rio Grande Industries received ICC approval for its purchase and control of Southern Pacific Transportation Company. (August 9, 1988 Rio Grande Industries news release) (see also: Deseret News, August 9, 1988, page A-1; Pacific RailNews, Issue 300, November 1988, page 4; Trains, Volume 48, Number 12, October 1988, page 8; CTC Board, Issue 154, July 1988, page 3, full page of coverage)

Coverage of the sale by Trains magazine (Volume 49, Number 1, November 1988, page 3) included three pages of commentary, history, and a map.

The sale of SP to RGI was objected to by Kansas City Southern Industries, who had itself made a bid for SP, in the form of $1.25 billion in cash and securities. The KCSI bid was questioned by the ICC due to its court judgment of $600 million in antitrust and contract violations in a South Dakota coal slurry pipeline case. SP's parent company, Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp. , had agreed to the sale of SP to RGI in December 1987, pending ICC approval. (Wall Street Journal, August 9, 1988)

The ICC approved the sale of Southern Pacific Transportation Co. to Rio Grande Industries, for the amount of $1.02 billion. The new combined D&RGW and SP system will be 15,000 miles in 15 states, and will be the fifth largest railroad in the U.S. (Wall Street Journal, August 10, 1988; Pacific Rail News, Issue 299, October 1988, page 7)

August 25, 1988:
The Interstate Commerce Commission approved the acquisition of control of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company by Rio Grande Industries, Inc., and its subsidiaries SPTC Holding, Inc., and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company. (Rio Grande Industries, et al.–Control–SPTC et al., 4 I.C.C. 2d 834)

October 13, 1988:
Rio Grande Industries took control of Southern Pacific Transportation Co. (CTC Board, Issue 159, May 1989, page 18)

D&RGW was a Delaware Corporation, as was Rio Grande Industries.

Originally, Southern Pacific Rail Corporation was a privately held corporation; owned by Anschutz Corporation. In 1994, SP was offered to the public, with approximately 25 percent being retained by Anschutz and another approximate 25 percent being held by Morgan Stanley. The rest was sold on the open market, mostly to institutional buyers.

(From here on, this chronological history includes all references to events and actions on former D&RGW trackage and locations in Utah. Click here for D&RGW in Utah prior to October 1988.)

December 31, 1988:
All SP mechanical department buildings in Ogden were retired. An employee jokingly referred to this on the facilities record page as the "Big Bang," because many other facilities in many locations across the SP system were also retired on the same day. (SP Facilities Record book, examined at SP San Francisco headquarters, July 26, 1995)

January 16, 1989:
Southern Pacific began the operation of 13 new trains to take advantage of the combined Southern Pacific and D&RGW railroads. Included was the reopening of the Modoc line in northwestern Nevada, and the startup of run-through operations with Norfolk Southern and Soo Line east of Kansas City. (CTC Board, Issue 159, May 1989, page 18)

May 1, 1989:
Southern Pacific Transportation Co. and Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad combined their two operating departments under a single operation, known as Southern Pacific Lines. (Pacific Rail News, Issue 311, October 1989, page 10)

May 16, 1989:
Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp. (parent company of AT&SF Ry., and former owner of Southern Pacific Transportation Co.) changed its name to Santa Fe Pacific Corp. because the exclusive rights to use the Southern Pacific name were sold to Rio Grande at the same time as the railroad. (Pacific Rail News, Issue 296, July 1988, page 8; SEC Form 8-K, dated January 19, 1994)

October 1, 1989:
Southern Pacific's new Central Region and Salt Lake Division created to included the operations of D&RGW. With offices in Ogden, the new division included the SP route between Ogden and Carlin, Nevada, and the D&RGW route between Ogden and Helper. (CTC Board, February 1990, p.6)

November 8, 1989:
Sale of St. Louis to Chicago line to Rio Grande Industries took effect. Operations began on November 9, 1989. (Pacific Rail News, Issue 314, January 1990, pages 4, 31)SP organized a separate corporation to operate the line, called SPCSL Corporation, for Southern Pacific Chicago St. Louis.

August 3, 1989:
Southern Pacific (Rio Grande Industries) announced that they would purchase the St. Louis to Chicago portion of bankrupt Chicago, Missouri & Western. (Pacific Rail News, Issue 310, September 1989, page 4)SP's Cotton Belt (St. Louis Southwestern, SSW) subsidiary already had direct access to St. Louis.

The line was the former Illinois Central Gulf Chicago to St. Louis line which had been sold to Chicago, Missouri & Western. The remaining St. Louis to Kansas City portion of the bankrupt CM&W was sold to Gateway Western Railway. (Trains, Volume 52, Number 10, October 1992, pages 36-43)

September 29, 1989:
Sale of St. Louis to Chicago line to SP approved by ICC. (Pacific Rail News, Issue 313, December 1989, page 4)

November 14, 1990:
Operation of SP/D&RGW trains between Kansas City and Chicago began over BN trackage. (Pacific Rail News, Issue 326, January 1991, page 5)

early 1991:
Geneva Steel is using coke produced in Pennsylvania. The coke is moving to Geneva via UP/Cotton Belt/Rio Grande. (CTC Board, Issue ??, May 1991, page 13)

April 30, 1993:
Rio Grande Industries changed its name to Southern Pacific Rail Corporation (SPRC), with an effective date of May 4, 1993. (Railroad Retirement Board Employer Status Determination) Ed Moyers was named as president of the new SP in July 1993.

Rio Grande Industries had two subsidiaries that engaged in railroad transportation: Rio Grande Holdings, Inc. (which controlled the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad), and SPTC Holding, Inc., which controlled the following:

• SPCSL (Southern Pacific Chicago St. Louis) Corporation
• St. Louis Southwestern Railway (SSW)
• North Western Pacific Railroad
• Visalia Electric Railroad
• Portland Traction Co.
• Sunset Railway
• Arkansas & Memphis Railway Bridge and Terminal Co.
• Alton & Southern Railway

Southern Pacific Rail Corporation (SPRC) is the parent company of Southern Pacific Transportation Company (SPT), which includes St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company (SSW), SPCSL Corp. (SPCSL) and The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company (D&RGW). (SEC Form 10-Q, dated May 15, 1996)

December 1993:
From a December 1993 article in The Salt Lake Tribune, written by Jack Fenton:

A 21-mile wooden trestle that spanned the Great Salt Lake between Promontory Point and Utah's mountain desert is coming down, a victim of the technology it led 80 years ago. Today, the original "Lucin Cutoff" is about half gone. Salvage rights were bought by T.C. Taylor of Aurora, Ill. for $1.00.

The span, built across 38,256 pilings, cut almost 42 miles of steep grades and sharp curves from the transcontinental railroad's 146-mile Ogden to Lucin route, saving more than a half-day oftravel time. If placed end to end, the pilings would stretch out exactly 534.986 miles, roughly a round trip between Salt Lake and Cedar City.

The cutoff, including 11 miles of rock fill arid tracks, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972. It even had a cluster of housing in the middle of the lake for railroad workers. T. L. Burton of Ogden, consultant to the salvage operations, said tracks already have been sold as scrap. Pilings are going to sawmills in Oregon and California and to mines where they will be used as timbers. The pilings are so heavy they will not float, he said. "We don't know what will happen when they dry out. So far, pilings we pulled out and dried are holding up."

Work began in 1991 with track removal. The rest of the structure, once described as "a fine monument" to designer William Hood, should be removed by August 1996. When it was replaced in the mid-1950s, the trestle was deteriorating and had outlived its usefulness. Turn-of-the-century rail cars were small, and the locomotives that pulled them were less powerful. "Speeds had been restricted to 20 mph," a Southern Pacific spokesperson said of the trestle.

"You could tell when a train was coming," said Vern Davis of Sacramento, who lived at Midlake, the tiny colony on the trestle, in 1939 while working as an assistant maintenance foreman. "The whole thing shook from end to end."

Within two years the $5 million project that was an engineering marvel of its time will disappear."

December 1993:
SP announced that it would begin dismantling the 11-mile Lucin Cutoff trestle across Great Salt Lake. The trestle is on the National Register of Historic Places, but SP obtained a letter from the Utah State Historical Society allowing it to demolish the trestle. (Pacific Rail News, Issue 363, February 1994, page 11)

September 11, 1996:
Control of the combined D&RGW and SP system was turned over to Union Pacific.

The $5.4 billion UP/SP merger would form North America's largest railroad, a 31,000-mile network operating in 25 states serving both Mexico and Canada. Union Pacific and Southern Pacific have 53,000 and 19,000 employees respectively, with combined 1995 operating revenues of $10.6 billion. (UP press release dated July 9, 1996)

(All events on former SP trackage and locations after September 1996 are covered as part of the coverage for Union Pacific in Utah.)

See also a station-by-station listing of SP in Utah, including a breakdown of both the Lucin Cutoff and operations along the Promontory Branch.

See also the SP in Ogden page.

This work is copyright 2000-2008 by Don Strack, but licensed under a Creative Commons License.