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Oregon Short Line Railroad (1897-1987)

UP's subsidiary in Utah

This page was last updated on June 27, 2010.

Additional Information

(click here for the Wikipedia entry for Oregon Short Line)

Overview

The information presented here focuses on the railroad properties and tracks. Except for a brief period in 1897-1898, Union Pacific always held full control and almost complete ownership of OSL&UN and OSL. Union Pacific operations in Utah are presented on this page.

Timeline

February 9, 1897:
Oregon Short Line Railroad was incorporated.

February 23, 1897:
The property of old Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway was sold to the new Oregon Short Line Railroad, incorporated for the purpose in Utah on February 1, 1897. On January 9, the receivers had sold the property to the reorganization committee, who then sold it to the OSL. (OSL corporate history)

March 15, 1897:
The new Oregon Short Line Railroad took possession of the old Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway on March 15, 1897. (OSL corporate history)

March 16, 1897:
Oregon Short Line Railroad took possession of bankrupt Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway at 12:01 a.m. March 16, 1897 (Salt Lake Tribune, March 16, 1897, "System Transferred" "New Company In Possession Of The Short Line" "Change Made Last Night")

OSL was independent from Union Pacific from March 1897 to October 1898.

(Trottman, p. 261, gives date as "early 1897".)

The Salt Lake Daily Tribune article mentioned above also showed that OSL's principal shops were at Salt Lake City and at Pocatello, with smaller shops at Shoshone, Eagle Rock, and Battle Creek, all in Idaho, Butte, Montana, and at Lehi, Logan and Ogden, Utah.

"All locomotives of the Short Line will be at once be renumbered by the class system in vogue amongst most of the roads." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 16, 1897)

March 17, 1897
"Mr. Dunn [J. F. Dunn, Superintendent of Motive Power & Machinery, Oregon Short Line] has decided upon the renumbering of the locomotives by classes. The former Union Pacific 500 class will now be changed to 200; the 700 to 300; the 900 and 1000 classes to 400; the 800 to 500; and the 1400 to 600." "Those of the Union Pacific 400 class are on the Shoshone sidetracks and will not be repaired. In this class are the 437 and 436, many years ago the 10 and 11 of the Utah Central…" (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 17, 1897)

March 19, 1897
The Oregon Short Line is painting its passenger cars in 'a dark Van Dyke brown'. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 19, 1897)

April 1, 1897
The first locomotive repainted and renumbered by the OSL is old 734, now 308. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 1, 1897)

April 3, 1897
O.S.L. coach number 110 came out of the shops yesterday, painted in the Van Dyke brown color, with Roman lettering and numbers in gold leaf. Coach number 121, having received the same treatment, comes out of the shop today. Number 110's first use was on the train to Juab. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 3, 1897)

April 15, 1897
In the OSL engine department, 731, is now 308; 589 is now 214; and the big 843 will soon be the 400. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 15, 1897)

June 6, 1897
OSL Timetable No. 1, effective 12:05am this date; printed by the Tribune's job printing office. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 6, 1897)

August 20, 1897
Item that says OSL 101, 102 and 103 were 437, 435 and 436, and before that 8, 9 and 10, respectively. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 20, 1897)

September 22, 1897
The Oregon Short Line has built new business car number 5 at the shops in Salt Lake City; now they have cars 1, 2, 3 and 5; the 4 will be built soon. Item also says they have three half-length cars (1, 2, and 3), with the 5 being the first big car. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 22, 1897)

October 16, 1897
The OSL has painted up the 437 with No. 102; the builder's plate, still on the engine, apparently, says she was built by Schenectady in 1880. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 16, 1897)

November 1, 1897:
Union Pacific Railway was sold to Union Pacific Railroad, incorporated for that purpose in Utah on July 1, 1897; UPRR took possession of UPRy on January 31, 1898 (Trottman, pages 268, 269)

November 13, 1897
The OSL has purchased two switch engines, 107 and 108, from the Montana Union; the 107 is here and the 108 in Pocatello. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 13, 1897)

January 25, 1898
The 'Railway Age' printed a half-tone (picture) of No. 800, one of the O.S.L.'s new Cooke engines. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 25, 1898)

January 30, 1898
"Mountains and Coast" column: "O.S.L. at Pocatello" - it is stated that the shops there are building two locomotives, to a six-coupled design by Master Mechanic J. F. Dunn; boilers and frames were bought in the East, but the rest is being made at Pocatello. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 30, 1898)

January 30, 1898
Car No. 3 was in the O.S.L. yards last night; it is the new No. 3, being the old No. 31 of Pocatello, and is now going to Leamington with the Lake Bonneville party. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 30, 1898)

February 13, 1898
Reference to OSL timetable No. 4, apparently recent issue. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, February 13, 1898)

March 6, 1898
Specifications of O.S.L. engines 800 and 801 - 21x28" cylinders, 51" drivers, 185psi, BP, and weight of 271,000 pounds. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 6, 1898)

March 26, 1898
Another reference to the two locomotives built at Pocatello; one of them was in Salt Lake City the other day - they are the first ones built by the O.S.L., and are highly regarded. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 26, 1898)

April 28, 1898:
The OSL has gotten its narrow gauge equipment into shape for the annual opening of the Garfield Beach line. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 28, 1898)

July 11, 1898:
In a move to show its new independence, W. H. Bancroft, OSL's General Manager, put into effect a passenger service agreement with RGW for interchange at Salt Lake City that would "shut out the U.P." Bancroft and general Traffic Manager Eccles had just returned from a conference with Union Pacific at Chicago concerning traffic divisions, being disappointed to have not received the same divisions OSL&UN enjoyed with UPRy.

August 19, 1898:
"Superintendent J. F. Dunn has put a straight stack and new smoke consumer on one of the Garfield small engines. It is to try and abate the annoyance of cinders and smoke for lake patrons, and if successful will prove a boon to the public." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 19, 1898)

October 13, 1898:
At its annual meeting on October 13, 1898 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Union Pacific was able to vote in 10 of the 15 board members on OSL's board of directors (including E. H. Harriman as Chairman), putting UP in firm control of Oregon Short Line Railroad. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 13, 1898)

November 2, 1898
The OSL is repairing its postal 304, baggage 501 and coach 121. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 2, 1898)

November 22, 1898
OSL 802 now being built by Cooke. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 22, 1898)

December 16, 1898
"Engine No. 802 was finished for the Oregon Short Line on Monday and left Paterson, N.J., for the West. It will arrive in about a week." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 16, 1898)

January 1, 1899
Review of 1898: The O.S.L. bought 17 engines. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 1, 1899)

January 17, 1899
Ten new Pullman cars for O.S.L. service: Alcazar, Alcade, Algonquin, Alameda, Altamont, Alpine, Alexis, Algeria, and Alcatraz. Cars are ,12 section, 1 drawing room and 1 smoking room, and are intended for the Chicago-Portland run. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 17, 1899)

February 27, 1899
There was a conductor on the O.S.L. who apparently had a flair for sending poetical reports of difficulties; this one made the papers:

"Engine 503 cut up a caper,
Two miles south of Draper.
It's nothing new, she burst a flue,
Engine is dead & can't get through."

The poetic fellow was Will Havenor. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, February 27, 1899)

March 7, 1899
Jacob Blickensderfer died on February 28, 1899 at his farm near Lebanon, Missouri, at age 83. Began working with the U.P. in the early 1860's. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 7, 1899) Jacob Blickensderfer was Chief Engineer of the U.P., and his son Robert was Chief Construction Engineer of the Utah & Northern during August 1882, and later a Division Superintendent on both U&N, OSL&UN, and OSL.

March 7, 1899
Engine 802 on the OSL has an extension front end and a straight stack, the only engine so equipped on the OSL. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 7, 1899)

March 21, 1899
OSL engines 750-757, ten wheelers, about to be received; have 20x28" cylinders and 57" drivers. Cooke build. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 21, 1899)

March 28, 1899
The O. S. L. is removing the platforms from mail and baggage cars. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 28, 1899)

March 28, 1899
Tuesday; first two engines of 720 class left Paterson on Saturday for the O. S. L. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 28, 1899)

April 1, 1899
"Turtleback 551, from Pocatello, a switcher bought from the Montana Union, is in the Salt Lake shops for repairs." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 1, 1899)

April 3, 1899
Two of 8 new 700 class engines for the O. S. L. left Paterson on Sunday, March 26th, and are expected in Pocatello by April 9th. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 3, 1899)

May 1, 1899
"New Engines are Beauties," being four of the eight due for the Oregon Short Line. They are numbered 720 through 723, built by Cooke, and came out in charge of M. J. McDonald, who is now setting them up for service. Labeled as being ten-wheelers, with 28x30" cylinders and 58" drivers. The item also discusses some of the older engines, such as 316, which was previously Utah Central Railway number 3, and which has now been brought from storage at Shoshone to Pocatello to be scrapped. The O.S.L. has in service eight engines 32 years old, being numbers 202 through 207, 213 and 214, all of which were built in 1867; the 203, 204 and 213 are the oldest of the old, having been built in April of 1867. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 1, 1899)

May 1, 1899:
Another "Stories of the Rail," this one concerns itself with a pair of cars that John W. Young bought of Jackson & Sharp in 1874. The plan of the cars was apparently the same, with an observation end, state room in the center and regular coach seating at the other end, the cars being fitted out with sofas, desks, easy chairs and the like. One of the cars was done up in leather, and the other in red plush. The cars were named Mauch Chunk, which was used on and the property of the Utah Western; and the St. George, which the report has it was a gift by John W. to his father, Brigham Young. When the U. P. took over the line (1881), the St George became 144, and the Mauch Chunk an ordinary coach. The 'st George' later used as a division superintendent's car; on hand in 1896 to be used by the Queen of the Midsummer Carnival; still on hand in 1897 when OSL created. In early 1897, a visiting Canadian railway official, connected with the then-new Columbia & Western, saw the car while on the way east to arrange for equipment for his road, liked the car, and bought it. It was therefore sent to Trail, British Columbia and used on that road. As that road is now about to be made standard gauge, the car is again excess. Sir William Van Horne, who was here lately and is in charge of the Canadian Pacific, which has acquired control of the Columbia & Western, says that the old car is to be sent to Montreal as a relic of pioneer railroading in the West. (Note: I suspect that there is a good deal of reality behind this interesting tale. There was a car St. George, that apparently was kept at Salt Lake for President Young's use; mention of it occurs rarely, and no information otherwise have I found on what happened to it. I believe, however, that assigning it the number 144 would be an error. Consult roster of U.W. passenger equipment.) (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 1, 1899)

May 5, 1899
"First Car Finished" OSL mail car 311 has had its platform removed, now making it 60'10" over end sills, and it is painted a rich Van Dyke brown, lettered in gold leaf. 'Chicago - Portland Special' is on the center of the letterboard, with 'Oregon Short Line' in smaller lettering at the ends of the letterboard, same as on the Union Pacific and related lines. All head-end cars are to be so rebuilt and painted. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 5, 1899)

May 8, 1899
Oregon Short Line engine number 720 visited Salt Lake City yesterday, being brought down from Pocatello for the locals to view. While always referred to as 'ten wheeler,' these engines seem in fact to be of the 2-8-0 pattern, as are freight engines. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 8, 1899)

May 9, 1899
The Oregon Short Line is planning to rebuild four of the 600 series engines (of which there are 42) to fast passenger engines, with 26" stroke and 62" drivers. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 9, 1899)

May 10, 1899
Robert Blickensderfer left the Union Pacific on June 1st, 1895; on September 1st, 1895 he became General Superintendent of the Wheeling .& Lake Erie; and was appointed Receiver thereof on 15 January 1897, and is now to be president of the reorganized W. & L. E. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 10, 1899)

May 22, 1899
The Oregon Short Line is building 40-ton capacity coal cars, matching RGW's new number 1201 and OSL's number 5000 built last fall. OSL number 5001 is about to come out. The road is also getting 250 box cars, of 30 ton capacity, and numbered in the 8000 series. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 22, 1899)

May 31, 1899
The Oregon Short Line has added a new pile driver, number 621, from the Industrial works, Bay City, Michigan. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 31, 1899)

June 12, 1899
The O. S. L. has begun to put automatic couplers on the pilots of its engines. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 12, 1899)

June 22, 1899
Garfield Beach opens today for the season. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 22, 1899)

July 4, 1899
"M. J. McDonald of the Cooke Locomotive works has returned to Paterson, N. J. His next visit west will be to accompany a number of new consolidation engines to the Short Line."(Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 4, 1899)

July 5, 1899
The OSL loaned engine number 208 to the Salt Lake & Los Angeles for yesterday's traffic to the Saltair resort. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 5, 1899)

July 8, 1899
OSL's 720 class of engines have all been received. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 8, 1899)

July 16, 1899
The OSL's Salt Lake shops have turned out their engine 1029, as Boise, Nampa & Owyhee engine number 3, named 'Col. W. H. Dewey'. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 16, 1899)

August 9, 1899
"Short Line's New Engines" are briefly summarized; eight of the 720 class are now running; eight of the 750 class are in transit; and seven of the 900 class and four of the 1000 class are now being built by Cooke, at Paterson, New Jersey. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 9, 1899)

August 23, 1899
Two of 750 class engines have arrived at Pocatello. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 23, 1899)

December 10, 1899
Pullman private car 'Mascot' has been bought for the use of the Horn Silver Mining Co. directors and OSL Utah Division superintendent. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 10, 1899)

January 1, 1900
"S. H. Dunning, representing the Cooke locomotive works, is back at Pocatello, where he will superintend the breaking-in of the four new 1000 class engines just received by the Short Line. These engines are of the same type as the 900's, but are much larger in their dimensions." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 1, 1900)

January 1, 1900
A new depot has been built at Kaysville by the O.S.L., one block to the south of the old one, which puts it at the foot of Maple Street. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 1, 1900)

January 6, 1900
"The weight of the new 1000- and 900-class engines, with loaded tender is 301,000 pounds (150 1/2 tons), as against 70,000 pounds (35 tons), the weight of No. 2 narrow gauge, or 63 tons for No. 100, the lightest broad-gauge. The increased weight represents the advances made in railroading in thirty years, number 100 being of the year 1870, and number 1000 of 1900." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 6, 1900)

July 20, 1900:
"The Rio Grande Western borrowed some of the Utah & Nevada narrow gauge cars for a Park City excursion. To get them to and from their own track the cars had to be placed on broad-gauge trucks. The old Ramsay transfer was used, the one that used to be so busy in Utah & Northern days. It was an interesting sight to see the cars go down the slide with broad-gauge trucks and come up the other side on narrow-gauge trucks. It was a reminder of old days." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 20, 1900)

March 13, 1900
"The Railroad Gazette devotes a column with half-tone cut, of the 903, the new Oregon Short Line 100-ton freight engine." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 13, 1900)

April 4, 1900
"The Oregon Short Line will have 18 new passenger cars from the Pullman works the last of this month." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 4, 1900)

April 12, 1900
"The Short Line's new passenger cars will all be here this week." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 12, 1900)

April 14, 1900
"The Railway Age has illustrations and descriptions of the new 900 and 1000 class engines of the Oregon Short Line." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 14, 1900)

April 22, 1900
Oregon Short Line timetable Number 12 in effect today. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 22, 1900)

April 25, 1900
"The Oregon Short Line 1002, new consolidation locomotive, is pictured and described in the Railroad Gazette." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 25, 1900)

9 May 1900
The O.S.L. has just received from Pullman seven new passenger coaches, two of which are for the Cache Valley branch run. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, 9 May 1900)

May 19, 1900
O.S.L. timetable Number 13 went into effect on May 13th — and this is too many 13's for some of the boys! (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 19, 1900)

June 8, 1900
"Engine 650, one of the older, heavy freighters on the Oregon Short Line, has been rebuilt in the Pocatello shops. It is now a fast passenger, with a 69-inch driver and increased stroke, and equipped with extensive front and straight stack. The mechanical work has been very fine, and the engine is being tried, with success. Other 600's will be similarly changed." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 8, 1900)

June 8, 1900
"The Oregon Short Line's new passenger equipment, three diners, two mail and three baggage cars, have left the shops." "The mail and baggage cars have the stub vestibule to conform with the full vestibule, but at the same time saving length by not having platforms." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 8, 1900)

June 11, 1900
"The Coupler Fight" over the Sams coupler. After August 1, 1900 the Union Pacific will NOT accept as an automatic coupler on cars of foreign roads - and most of the RGW's cars are equipped with the Sams coupler. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 11, 1900)

June 19, 1900
O.S.L. number 650 (see 8 June) is in town, "just to look down on 102, 210, 300 400 and the other little old-timers,…" (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 19, 1900)

June 29, 1900
Oregon Short Line engine number 650 was "totally demolished" in a head-on collision at Medbury, Idaho, yesterday morning. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 29, 1900)

July 11, 1900
O.S.L. timetable Number 14 in effect today. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 11, 1900)

July 30, 1900
A Union Pacific inspection special is in town, with engine 836 and business cars 04, 013 and 014. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 30, 1900)

August 21, 1900
"Business car No. 6, formerly the Mascotte, is soon to emerge from the Short Line shops in a new dress." "Going through Beaver Canyon many grades of the old Utah & Northern are seen, relics of a famous narrow gauge." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 21, 1900)

October 16, 1900
"The Oregon Short Line has under consideration again the broadening of the gauge of the Garfield branch but nothing has been decided upon as yet. The matter was brought and seriously considered last spring, but when the Saltair people paid the Short Line $4,500 to keep Garfield Beach closed, the latter dropped all plans for bettering the line and resort." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 16, 1900)

November 8, 1900
O.S.L. timetable Number 16 in effect 12:05am today. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 8, 1900)

December 6, 1900:
Item, "End Of Narrow Gauge", in that an order issued yesterday by Bancroft that the Garfield line to be widened at once; 37 miles to Stockton, and a 2.5 mile branch to Saltair, the last narrow gauge in Utah (except, of course for the RGW tramways). (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 6, 1900)

December 11, 1900:
The OSL yards still equipped with a working Ramsey Transfer device; used yesterday in transferring outfit cars to the Garfield line. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 11, 1900)

December 11, 1900:
"Steel Gang Arrives." "The outfit cars of the steel-laying gang of the Short Line came down from the north yesterday, and the cars were 'Ramseyed' to the Garfield branch so the men can be staked out along the line and commence to lay track. This, by the way, will probably be the last change over the Ramsey car transfer which has been a curiosity in the Short Line yards for so long but which is rendered useless when the Garfield branch is made standard." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 11, 1900)

December 11, 1900:
"A constant reader takes The Tribune to task for stating that the Garfield branch on being made standard will end narrow-gauge railroads in Utah, etc. He cites the Rio Grande Western Alta and Bingham spurs, which are narrow gauge. They are not operated as railroads but as tramways. The one at Bingham is now being rebuilt so that it can be operated. The Wasatch - Alta tram is to be torn up, so the Garfield branch is the last narrow-gauge railroad in the State." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 11, 1900)

January 25, 1901
"Officials in a Wreck" on the O.S.L. - Superintendent J. H. Young of the Utah Division and others hurt slightly when a Southern Pacific train hit O.S.L. car 6 this morning in the Ogden yard. Car 6 was formerly the Pullman "Mascotte," and it will take several weeks to repair the car, the expense of which is to be borne by the S.P. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 25, 1901)

February 11, 1901
Item on new Baldwin compound engines, on the OSL, in the 950 series; says that it has been 20 years since the road got any new Baldwin engines, and "The last lot has but two representatives left the 11 and the 21, now in service on the narrow-gauge Garfield Branch,…" (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, February 11, 1901)

February 15, 1901
The Oregon Short Line has received:

February 18, 1901
Two old O. S. L. engines of the 600 series being rebuilt at the Pocatello shops, having Richmond compound cylinders installed. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, February 18, 1901)

February 18, 1901
OSL received yesterday 15 new cabooses from AC&F, numbers 680-694. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, February 18, 1901)

February 18, 1901
"Performance of New Engines." comments upon the relative merits of several classes of O.S.L. motive power - the 1898 600 class, the 1899 720 class, the 1900 900 class, and the 1901 950 class, which last are the new engines referred to above, from Baldwin. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, February 18, 1901)

February 22, 1901
Two of the new O.S.L. switch engines have arrived in Salt Lake, they being numbers 576 and 587; yesterday. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, February 22, 1901)

April 5, 1901
"Buys Utah & Pacific" is the header of an item dated at New York on the 4th; the Oregon Short Line has exercised its option, and bought the 25% of Utah & Pacific stock held by McCune; also bought the 24% held by Eccles, Nibley and others. Eccles, in interview, said that the O.S.L. did not own any stock before this, but held options on that noted above, as well as an option on the 51% of the road's stock held in escrow, which 51% the O.S.L. has also bought, giving them 100% of the Utah & Pacific stock issue. The O.S.L. did have some $279,000 in Utah & Pacific bonds, which it took as payment for rails and equipment delivered to the U&P. Yesterday, the O.S.L. bought an additional $393,000 in U & P bonds. The stock is given as being 8,250 shares, all of which is now owned by O.S.L. A brief history of the Utah & Pacific says that the road was chartered on 19 August 1898, construction began in September of 1898 and was completed in May of 1899. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 5, 1901)

April 30, 1901
OSL Mechanical Superintendent J. F. Dunn has gotten out a pictorial history of OSL motive power; among the photos are narrow gauge No. 1, new engines of the 900, 1000 and 1100 classes, and so forth. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 30, 1901)

July 17, 1901
" … and at Garden City are sidetracked narrow-gauge equipments. all being relics of a past activity." Last line of an item on OSL track relocation in regards to the Leamington cutoff line. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 17, 1901)

August 1901:
OSL ordered a 65 ton Shay locomotive for the New East Tintic Railway. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 2, 1901) (New East Tintic 11 was delivered in January 1902.)

August 11, 1901
OSL engine 103 scrapped at Pocatello; was built by Taunton in 1868. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 11, 1901, news item lifted from the Pocatello Advance)

September 10, 1901:
The records of the Oregon Short Line Railroad were destroyed in an explosion and fire at the Salt Lake City headquarters on September 10, 1901. The entire offices of the Oregon Short Line were wiped out of existence. "It had many valuable records stored in different parts of the burned building upon which no money value can be placed. They were records of the company from its very beginning - records which represented the company's entire history and holdings. They are gone, and gone forever." General Manager W. H. Bancroft was asked what was lost. His reply was, "What have we lost? Why everything we had. We have not as much as a scratch of a pen left. Everything is gone; everything." The cause of the explosion was said to be improper storage of various chemicals in the basement, which was occupied by the Mine and Smelter Supply Company. The first alarm was sounded at 3:34 a.m. Burned fragments of OSL records were found as far away a one and a half miles, on the grounds of the St. Mark's hospital. Included in the destruction was the Chief Engineer's vault, which contained the plans for the Salt Lake City to Los Angeles extension. (Deseret News, September 10, 1901; Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 11, 1901)

By mid November 1901 the railroad had located new offices in the just completed Deseret News Building. (Deseret News, November 18, 1901) Mr. Bancroft occupied his new offices on April 7, 1902. The railroad occupied three full floors. (Deseret News, March 29, 1902; April 7, 1902)

The original OSL building that burned in 1901 was located on West Temple Street between 2nd and 3rd South. The Deseret News Building was six stories high and was located on the southwest corner of South Temple and Main streets. By 1907 the railroad was occupying all floors of the Deseret News Building except the ground floor. The newspaper had moved directly west to the adjacent "Annex" building. By the time of the modernization of the building's facade in 1964, the Union Pacific had taken over both the original building and the annex to the west, with matching names: Union Pacific Building and Union Pacific Annex. (Deseret News, April 1, 1964)

In April 1977 Union Pacific moved its offices to the old Post Office Annex building, located south of its Salt Lake City depot. What was called the Union Pacific Building at 10 South Main then became known as the Zion Securities Building, named for its then-current owner. The Zion Securities Building was demolished in October 1995 to make way for an entirely new 18-story office building and underground parking terrace called Gateway Tower West. The new building's first tenant moved in during the second week of July 1998. (Deseret News, September 21, 1995; October 6, 1995; June 13, 1996; September 13, 1996; July 9, 1998)

January 30, 1902:
OSL received its new Shay locomotive. An item in the Deseret News revealed that "The Oregon Short Line has received the largest Shay locomotive ever built. It is now being coupled up at the shops and will be used on the Tintic branch in handling the ore shipments of the Star Consolidated." (Deseret News, January 30, 1902)

March 1902:
OSL completed the spurs to the Kaysville Cannery and the Elgin Creamery, both at Kaysville at the present site of the Deseret grain elevator. (UP engineering drawings)

March 8, 1902:
"A dozen or so of the old narrow-gauge cars of the Oregon Short Line are being broken up at the yards." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 8, 1902)

April 13, 1902:
"Very little work is being done at the Garfield shops, as the narrow gauge equipment will not be needed after this fall, and the company will make only necessary repairs. The old equipment will all be sold or sent to the scrap pile, which already has many relics of the Garfield line." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 13, 1902)

May 13, 1902
Mr. Ashton hopes that the new standard gauge line, the Leamington cut-off, will be done by August, so that the narrow-gauge can be torn up. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 13, 1902)

June 20, 1902:
"All the narrow-gauge equipment of the Garfield line not in use will be removed from the yard. A lot of it has already been scrapped." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 20, 1902)

July 9, 1902:
Harriman and Clark reach agreement that ended the rivalry for the route between Uvada and Caliente and south through Meadow Valley Wash in Nevada. (SPLA&SL corporate history)

September 7, 1902:
"One of the narrow-gauge engines on the Garfield run was formerly a Utah Western engine." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 7, 1902)

September 10, 1902:
"The Oregon Short Line will shortly have some narrow-gauge equipment to dispose of. The lot consists of three Mogul locomotives, six coaches, twenty-three excursion cars, two baggage cars, 151 revenue freight cars and nine non-revenue freight cars." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 10, 1902)

September 16, 1902:
Three miles of the narrow gauge track, this side of Garfield, is already gone, and the narrow gauge is running on a third rail; this because the new standard gauge line could not be built without disrupting the narrow gauge; for a space of about four miles, the two alignments are on top of each other, or nearly so. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 16, 1902)

September 26, 1902:
The old narrow gauge line is abandoned from a point about 1/2 mile west of Saltair Junction, the narrow gauge running west of there on a third rail in the standard gauge line. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 26, 1902)

November 15, 1902:
Last OSL narrow-gauge train operated. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 16, 1902) OSL was building the Leamington Cut-off and since September the narrow-gauge trains had been operating on about eight miles of three-rail trackage because some portions of the two alignments were the same. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 16, 1902) Approximately 2.36 miles of the roadbed and right of way of the "Terminus Line" from Mile Post 1.28, at the west bank of the Jordan river, to Buena Vista and 4.91 miles of the right of way near Garfield were utilized in the construction of the Leamington Cut-off. (SPLA&SL corporate history) On April 10, 1903 David Eccles' Sumpter Valley Railway lumber line in Oregon bought all of the remaining OSL narrow-gauge equipment. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 10, 1903)

November 15, 1902:
"The Oregon Short Line has for sale a lot of narrow gauge equipment." Also, the last regular narrow gauge train was to be "today." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 15, 1902)

November 15, 1902:
"The train on the new broad gauge road of the Oregon Short Line will leave in the morning at 7:45, returning in the evening at 5 o'clock. The train for the present will consist of a combionation baggage and smoker and a day coach." (Salt Lake Herald, November 1902)

November 16, 1902:
"END OF NARROW GAUGE" "When the little Mogul pulled the narrow gauge train into the city last night …," "… her trip was the final one over the narrow gauge, which will at once be abandoned." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 16, 1902)

November 18, 1902:
Narrow gauge Engine number 3 is sidetracked, in the roundhouse; negotiations are already under way for the sale of the narrow gauge equipment. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 18, 1902)

December 10, 1902:
In the OSL yards, the Ramsey Transfer device is gone, as are the tracks for it, and the other narrow gauge yard tracks; standard gauge yard tracks have been laid already in their place. "All the narrow gauge equipment has disappeared and the rails are almost obliterated." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 10, 1902)

December 31, 1902:
The current Railway Age magazine has an article on recent OSL improvements, at Pocatello and at Garfield, particularly, with photographs. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 31, 1902)

January 1, 1903
Review of 1902: O. S. L. lost 39.5 miles of line, "by the abandonment of the old narrow-gauge,…" on, it says, November 15, 1902. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 1, 1903)

April 10, 1903:
"ECCLES BUYS THE LOT" "Garfield Line Equipment Goes to Sumpter Valley Road." "Shipping Cars Today" "Engines and All Other Equipment Sold by O. S. L." "There Are in all 191 pieces and the Lot Will Be Used on the Oregon Line."

"The Sumpter Valley railway, of which Messrs. Eccles and Nibley are the leading spirits, has purchased from the Oregon Short Line all the narrow-gauge equipment of the latter company and the same will begin to move to Oregon today. This is quite a large addition to the equipment of the Sumpter Valley, as the Short Line had on hand three Mogul engines, 158 freight, outfit, water and wrecking cars, thirty passenger, baggage and excursion cars, making a total of 191 pieces. The Sumpter Valley people, however, realizing that they could get the equipment at a reasonable price and that it would all be needed when their line was extended, took the entire lot at a figure something like $40,000."

"Since the road was broad-gauged and the narrow-gauge equipment laid aside the company has been deluged with offers for the cars and engines but the average prospective purchaser was of the opinion that the lot could be secured for next to nothing, and the Short Line refused all offers until the Sumpter Valley came along with quite a liberal offer and took the goods. The Moguls will find a long lost brother when they reach Baker City, as the Sumpter Valley bought all the Sanpete Valley equipment when that line was made standard. In the lot was an engine that formerly ran on the Utah Northern and later on the Garfield line before it was bought by the Sanpete road. It was in the same class as the engines which now go to Oregon." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 10, 1903)

April 19, 1903
Huge headline says "SAN PEDRO, LOS ANGELES & SALT LAKE ROAD BUYS ALL OREGON SHORT LINE SOUTH OF SALT LAKE CITY," which is self explanatory. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 19, 1903)

May 3, 1903
"Ho for Stockton!" "Broad Gauge Line Open to New Station Tomorrow" for regular traffic, there being a fine new station building at Stockton now. U. S. Ragland, the agent at Terminus, in a box car, on the narrow gauge, also goes to Stockton tomorrow. He had been the entire population of "Terminus City," and the box car its only building; "…for the present Terminus will retire to its desert solitude." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 3, 1903)

June 20, 1903:
OSL completed the 117-mile Leamington Cutoff, between Salt Lake City and Leamington Junction (later Lynndyl). (SPLA&SL corporate history)

Leamington Cutoff

The original Utah Southern main line between Salt Lake City and the connection at Leamington Hill was 133 miles long and had grades as high as 1.14 percent and numerous 6 degree curves, not suitable for use as part of Harriman's projected trunk line between Utah and southern California. Leamington Junction was originally called Leamington Hill Spur and was at the top of a 1.5-mile 1 percent grade west from Leamington Station. The new Cut-off has maximum grades of 0.8 percent and curves up to 4 degrees.

Construction of the Cut-off began in March 1902, with the grading work being done by Utah Construction Company. The new construction included a cut 100 feet deep and 3,000 feet long through the "Stockton Bar" at the south end of the Tooele valley. This ridge of sand and gravel is the geological feature that separates the Tooele Valley from the Rush Valley, to the south.

The old Utah & Nevada narrow-gauge had terminated at the north slope of the ridge, preparing to construct a 1,000 foot tunnel through it. But the U&N was not able to build the tunnel because of the type of material that makes up the ridge ("unconsolidated conglomerate") would not allow construction of a tunnel with the technology available in the 1880s, and the U&N couldn't afford to go around. Later consideration of the tunnel project was not possible due to the financial condition of the company. (from Engineering News, September 17, 1903, pp. 249-252)

At time of transfer of ownership to SPLA&SL, in July 1903, all of the track work and bridges were completed, but the line was not yet ballasted. Upon completion of the cut-off, the 31 miles of former Utah & Nevada narrow-gauge line was abandoned. (SPLA&SL corporate history)

The Leamington Cut-off crossed the Tintic Branch (built in 1887 by the former Salt Lake & Western) at Boulter, 43 miles south of the branch's connection with the Provo main line at Lehi Junction. The Cut-off also crossed the old SL&W Silver City Branch 1.8 miles northeast of its connection with the Tintic Branch at Ironton. The point where the Cut-off crossed the Silver City Branch was named Tintic Junction and the point where the Eureka Branch made its connection with the Silver City Branch was called Silver City Junction. The 10.04 miles of the old OSL (former SL&W) Tintic Branch between Boulter and "old" Tintic was abandoned in 1904, including the wye at Ironton, the old connection between the Tintic Branch and the Silver City Branch. (SPLA&SL corporate history)

These four branches that served the Tintic Mining District made up the Tintic Subdivision. The subdivision consisted of :

  • The Silver City Branch, from Tintic to Silver City
  • The Eureka Branch, from the new Silver City Junction (about 3/4 mile east of Tintic) to Eureka
  • The Mammoth Branch, from Mammoth Junction, on the Silver City Branch, to the Mammoth mine, including the former New East Tintic Railway
  • The Northern Spy Extension, from the end of the Silver City Branch to the Northern Spy mine.
  • The subdivision was the operating home of Union Pacific's Shay locomotives.
  • (click here for more information)

July 7, 1903:
SPLA&SL purchased all OSL lines south and west of Salt Lake City. (SPLA&SL Corporate History)

Lines of railroad purchased by SPLA&SL included:

The connection on the new Leamington Cut-off was at the west bank of the Jordan River, 1.78 miles west of Salt Lake City, at SPLA&SL Mile Post 781.56 (from Los Angeles, via Leamington Cutoff) and OSL Mile Post 1.23 (from Salt Lake City).

Separation on Provo line was just immediately south of Sandy at OSL milepost 49.98 (from Ogden), and later LA&SL milepost 786.35 (from LA).

(Sandy was likely chosen as the point of separation because OSL(UP) wanted to retain the smelter traffic. At this time, Salt Lake City was the smelting center of the west, with numerous smelters at Murray, Midvale, and Sandy. Click here for more information.)

Under a 99 year lease dated June 18, 1903, SPLA&SL was granted trackage rights over 18.74 miles of the two OSL lines into Salt Lake City; from Sandy on the Provo line and from the Jordan River bridge on the Leamington Cutoff. Also included was a 99-year joint use agreement for SPLA&SL to use OSL's facilities and yards in Salt Lake City. The line between Salt Lake City and Sandy was within the yard limits of the OSL/LA&SL joint Salt Lake City yard. (SPLA&SL corporate history)

Included in the sale were 17 OSL locomotives (15 rod locomotives for mainline use and 2 Shay locomotives for switching at Tintic). (Deseret News, July 21, 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)

May 24, 1904:
OSL and Utah Sugar Company signed an agreement for OSL to operate the sugar company's 7.04-mile branch from Tremonton west to Thatcher. The line was operated as OSL's Thatcher Branch. (OSL corporate history)

August 1904:
OSL completed the branch to the United States smelter at Midvale, south of Salt Lake City, called the U. S. Smelter Spur, from Atwood on the Provo line. The road also completed the branch to the Highland Boy smelter, by building north from the U. S. smelter, along the west side of the RGW main line. (source not recorded)

June 1905:
OSL completed the new roundhouse at 900 North and 500 West, the last locomotives were moved from the old roundhouse to the new roundhouse on Sunday, June 5, 1905. (Deseret News, June 9, 1905, "Old Roundhouse Now Demolished)

On February 17, 1905, the Deseret News carried an item that the new roundhouse would be completed about March 1. (Deseret News, February 17, 1905, "Spike and Rail")

OSL and SPLA&SL had shared the original OSL roundhouse at Salt Lake City at North Temple and 400 West, and would continue to share the new roundhouse.

June 1905:
OSL completed the spur to the Kaysville Milling Company, at Kaysville (now the Deseret Mills grain elevator). (UP engineering drawings)

December 22, 1905:
Malad Valley Railroad completed the 31.83-mile extension from Garland to Malad, Idaho. The entire 46.38-mile Malad Valley line from Corinne to Malad was formally leased to OSL for operation on July 1, 1906, although they had been operating the line since its completion to Garland in June 1903. (OSL corporate history)

In 1906, OSL completed the construction of a new line into Ogden from Salt Lake City. The new line left the original Utah Central 1869 main line at Roy and connected with the western leg of the OUR&D wye, at 30th Street, completed in 1889. The construction of the new OSL line included the bridge over the Weber River, and the connection with the OUR&D was named Bridge Junction. The original Utah Central line remained in place as a secondary main line, until the second track between Salt Lake City and Ogden was completed in 1912. At that time the original line became the Evona Branch. (source not recorded)

1906:
OSL completed its new depot in Brigham City. "The Brigham City Depot was built in 1906 by the Union Pacific-owned Oregon Short Line Railroad Company, under the design and direction of architect A.C. Rainey and a staff of 22. Rainey used 80 tons of concrete in the foundation alone, providing a firm structure that stands strong today. The 38-foot-by-90-foot building was built in the Hudson Bay Gothic style and included all of the modern amenities of the time: indoor plumbing, electricity, steam heat and lavatories. The depot opened for business in 1907 and quickly became a bustling hub of activity. Fruit growers shipped their goods out to the rest of the region, while coal was brought in to heat local homes and businesses. By 1916, 13 passenger trains went through the depot each day. When the United States entered World War II, that increased to 17 with soldiers traveling to and from the war front or to the Bushnell Army Hospital in Brigham City." (Standard-Examiner, Ogden, June 25, 2010)

January 12, 1906
Oregon Short Line engineers are at work surveying what is known as the 'Logan Cut-off Line,' direct from Cache Junction to Logan. This line, when done, will shorten the route by about eight or nine miles. (Salt Lake Daily Herald, January 12, 1906)

March 1906:
OSL retired and removed the western half-mile of the Syracuse Branch, west from Mile Post 4.7 at Syracuse, including the wye track at the end of the branch. (ICC 1912 Valuation drawing)

September 12, 1906:
OSL completed the 14.53-mile Wellsville Branch between Mendon and Logan Junction, through Wellsville and Hyrum. The line began in March 1901 as an industrial spur from Logan to the Logan sugar factory of the Logan Sugar Company (later, in July 1902, the Amalgamated Sugar Company) which had begun construction of its factory in December 1900. In September 1905 work was started on the extension of the spur to the west, reaching Hills Spur, just east of Wellsville and nine miles south of Logan Junction, on December 11. Work was halted for the winter. Construction started again in the spring, with the line being completed to Mendon in September. (Arrington: Eccles p. 243; OSL corporate history) The original, direct line between Mendon and Logan, built as the narrow-gauge main line in 1872 and 1873, became the "Old" Cache Valley Branch. (ICC Financial Docket 15790, 267 ICC 639)

December 1906:
E. H. Harriman bought controlling interest in Utah Light & Railway, the street car company in Salt Lake City, operated as a subsidiary of Oregon Short Line. Most of the stock came from the LDS Church, at a reported price of over $10 million. (Arrington: Great Basin, p. 408)

1909:
OSL completed construction of the spur to serve the cement plant of Ogden Portland Cement Company, located near Brigham City. The 1.1-mile line connected with the OSL main line at Bakers and ended at the cement plant, called Opco by the railroad. (ICC Financial Docket 15740, 267 ICC 633) By February 1910 the cement plant was in full production. (Salt Lake Mining Review, 2/30/1910 p. 23)

(The semi-demolished hulk of the cement factory still stands adjacent to Interstate Highway 15, about three miles north of the Brigham City exit.)

July 1909:
OSL and SPLA&SL completed the new Union Depot at Salt Lake City. Construction was begun in November 1906, and the depot was partially occupied in 1908. (Salt Lake City, Past and Present, published in 1908)

September 1909:
E. H. Harriman died. (Trottman, p. 362)

October 31, 1910:
Oregon Short Line took possession of its seven branch feeder lines, comprising 390.5 miles of trackage, mostly in southern Idaho. Included was the 46.4-mile Malad Valley Railroad, which had completed its line from Corinne, Utah to Malad, Idaho in 1905. The Malad Valley Railroad corporation was dissolved on June 24, 1911. (Poor's, 1929, p. 1051; OSL corporate history)

(The Malad Valley Railroad became OSL's Malad Branch.)

1912:
In 1912 OSL completed the construction of the second track between Salt Lake City and Bridge Junction in Ogden. The construction included major line changes that were completed in May 1911. The longest was between Layton and Clearfield, from OSL Mile Posts 9 to 15. The original Utah Central 1869 main line had been located adjacent to Territorial Highway 1, later to become U. S. Highway 91. The business section in each of those two town's was developing along the same route, giving the towns a main line railroad down its main street. The line change moved the line about 500 feet west to its present location. A short section of the original track was left in place along Layton's Main Street, until at least 1930, to allow access to shippers, including Layton Milling Company and the Layton plant of the Woods Cross Canning Company. (UP valuation drawing; Layton history)

Another line change, called the Shepherd Lane Line Change, was completed in August 1911 and was for an easier curve between Farmington and Kaysville, between OSL Mile Post 18 and Mile Post 21, now Mile Post 799 and Mile Post 803, respectively. There was also a minor line change at Roy, at OSL Mile Post 5, now Union Pacific Mile Post 814. (UP valuation drawing)

October 12, 1912:
OSL completed the 8.13-mile Benson Branch between Ballard Junction (3.53 miles south of Cache Junction) and Benson Junction, at Logan. Construction began on June 1. (OSL corporate history)

(The line was sometimes called the "Ballard Cut-off".)

January 1913:
OSL acquired Idaho Northern Railway

August 1914:
OSL acquired the following railroads:

April 1915:
OSL completed the spur to the Layton Sugar Company's sugar factory at Layton; the sugar factory was also completed in 1915. In December 1917, additional trackage, joint with D&RGW, was completed. (source not recorded)

June 1916:
OSL awarded a contract for the expansion of Brigham City yard to the Utah Construction Company. (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 15, 1916, p. 33)

August 1916:
OSL announced that it would install a block control system between Cache Junction, Utah and McCammon, Idaho. LA&SL would also install a block control system between Salt Lake City and Lynndyl. (Salt Lake Mining Review, August 15, 1916, p. 33)

The amount of traffic was increasing for businesses in Logan and northern points in Cache Valley. With the construction of the Wellsville Branch in 1906, all of the Cache Valley traffic was being routed away from the "Old Cache Branch" (originally the 1873 Utah Northern narrow-gauge main line) and on to the new line through Wellsville and Hyrum.

The trackage for the Wellsville passed through the Logan sugar factory and was becoming a bottle neck for the other Cache Valley traffic. To remedy the problem OSL completed, during August 1916, a two-mile direct connection which by-passed the sugar factory. The new line connected with the Wellsville Branch on the south at a point called Sugar Factory Junction. The connection to the north was named East Logan Junction.

The name Logan Junction was retained for the connection between the Old Cache Branch and the north end of the line that still served the sugar factory. In 1932, with the abandonment of the west end of the Old Cache Branch, East Logan Junction became Logan Junction, and the old Logan Junction became College Junction, because the Old Cache Branch then ended at College and was renamed the College Branch. The Wellsville Branch became the new Cache Valley Branch at the same time. The old line through the sugar factory became the 1.89-mile long Logan Sugar Factory Branch, between Sugar Factory Junction on the south and Logan Junction on the north.

1918:
OSL completed the 10.6-mile Bear River Branch, from the sugar factory at Garland, on the Malad Branch, south to Bear River City. (Railway Age, January 13, 1919, p. 95)

(Built to transport sugar beets, grown in the region west of the Bear River, to the sugar factory at Garland.)

May 1918:
OSL completed the 4.9-mile Urban Branch, by constructing a 3.8-mile line to Urban, as a extension of the spur to the cement plant at Opco. (Railway Age, January 3, 1919, p. 95) The branch was built to transport the sugar beets from the region along the east bank of the Bear River. (ICC Financial Docket 15740, 267 ICC 634)

July 18, 1918:
OSL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Mendon, on the Cache Valley Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 66)

August 1918:
OSL retired and removed the one-mile long spur to the Highland Boy smelter, which connected with the U. S. Smelter Spur near Atwoods. (OSL Work Order 6324) The trackage was joint with D&RG and had not been used since the smelter was closed in December 1907. The right of way was retired in October 1943. (OSL Work Order 759)

1922:
OSL sold its interest in Utah Light & Traction Company, the street car line in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Poor's, 1929, p. 1051)

December 31, 1931:
OSL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Hot Springs. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1245)

June 1932:
Public Utilities Commission gave its approval for the OSL to close the agency at Willard. The depot grounds were actually located about a half-mile west of town and the Utah Idaho Central interurban operated through the center of town along Second West. The closure of the depot was protested by the citizens of Willard because they had donated the depot site in 1890 for the purposes of OSL providing freight and passenger service to the town. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1275, 1311)

October 25, 1932:
OSL retired and removed the western 2.78 mile portion of the College Branch, from College, at Mile Post 3.14, to Mendon, on the main line of the Cache Valley Branch, Mile Post 5.92 and end of the College Branch. (OSL work order 258; ICC Financial Docket 9518, approved August 25, 1932, 187 ICC 329)

November 10, 1932:
OSL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Roy. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1278)

October 19, 1934:
OSL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Collinston. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1610)

September 9, 1935:
OSL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Dewey. Approval to take effect on September 14. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1762)

November 1935:
The State Road Commission began construction of a concrete subway for U. S. Highway 30 under the Union Pacific and Utah Idaho Central tracks, north of Brigham City. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1807, approved November 9, 1935)

January 1, 1936:
Union Pacific leased Los Angeles & Salt Lake, Oregon Short Line, and Oregon-Washington Railway & Navigation for operation. ("Union Pacific Unification", ICC Finance Docket 9422, dated July 26, 1935, in 207 ICC 543.)

"LEASE OF PROPERTIES OF SUBSIDIARY RAILROAD COMPANIES --- For many years the properties of the Union Pacific Railroad Company and those of the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company, Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad Company and The St. Joseph and Grand Island Railway Company have been operated under one control and management but the operations of the properties of each company were for its account and it was necessary to keep accounts and statistics and make separate reports to regulatory commissions and others for each company. Effective January 1, 1936, the properties of the other companies were leased to and are being operated by the Union Pacific Railroad This made possible the centralization at Omaha of all accounting and treasury work in connection with the railroad operations and the discontinuance of the separate Accounting and Treasury Departments which had been maintained by the lessor companies at Salt Lake City, Portland, Los Angeles and St. Joseph, with a resultant saving in expense (after the first year) estimated at $472,000 annually." (Union Pacific Annual Report for 1936)

(click here for more information about Union Pacific's lease in 1936 of its OSL, OWRR&N and LA&SL subsidiaries)

The visible evidence of the 1936 merger was that Union Pacific lettering was placed on the sides of the tenders, while ownership initials were placed on the rear of the tenders and in smaller letters on the cab side below the locomotive numbers.

April 1, 1938:
OSL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Portage, at Mile Post 36.73 on the Malad Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2024)

June 28, 1941:
OSL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Hyrum, on the Cache Valley Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2478)

In May 1942, Union Pacific retired and removed the western 1.15-mile portion of the Evona Branch, between the connection with the OSL main line (branch Mile Post 3.77), and the crossing with the Roy-Hot Springs Road (Highway 91), branch Mile Post 2.62. (Work Order 89) The Evona Branch was built as the original Utah Central main line in 1869 and became a secondary main line in 1906 after OSL completed its six-mile Sand Ridge Cut Off into Ogden. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2544, approved March 30, 1944)

The portion of the branch to be abandoned had only been used for the storage of cars since 1912 when OSL completed the second track on the new main line. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2544) In July 1930 the state began improving Highway 91 by building a new "modern" concrete bridge over the 1906/1912 built OSL main line. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1176)

(Abandonment for the portion of the Evona Branch west of the highway crossing was requested because the state wanted to pave the entire route of Highway 91 between Roy and Hot Springs and Union Pacific did not want to pay for a highway crossing for the branch.)

July 21, 1942:
OSL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Farmington. The last business for the agency had been to accept materials for the construction of the Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph transcontinental cable. Woods Cross is the next station to the south and Kaysville is the next station to the north. Approval to remove the Farmington depot building was given on July 26, 1948. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2599)

November 1942:
OSL retired and removed the western 2.9-mile portion of the Benson Branch from Mile Post 0 at Ballard Junction on the Cache Valley Branch, to Mile Post 2.9 at Benson. (OSL work order 428; Abandonment approved by the ICC on October 26, 1942, Financial Docket 13927, 254 ICC 810) The 8.17-mile Benson Branch was completed in October 1912, between Ballard Junction (Mile Post 3.53 on the Cache Valley Branch) and Benson Junction, in Logan, as a direct route (11.7 miles) for through traffic between Cache Junction and Logan, by-passing the Cache Valley Branch (15.3 miles) and the Wellsville Branch (23.9 miles). The branch was used seasonally for 90 days each year for the movement of sugar beets to the Logan sugar factory. The Logan sugar factory operated until 1926 and was dismantled in 1936. In the twenty-five years that the sugar factory was in operation, from 1901 to 1926, it processed 1.5 million tons of beets and produced 3.5 million hundred pound bags of sugar; in its peak year of 1920 the factory processed 100,000 tons of sugar beets. (Arrington: Eccles, p. 243)

December 1942:
OSL retired and removed about a half-mile of track at the end of the Bear River Branch, from Mile Post 9.9 to Mile Post 10.6, at Bear River City. (OSL work order 439) The remaining portion of the branch was in service at least until 1951. The branch paralleled U. S. Highway 30, between Bear River City and Tremonton, from about Mile Post 3 to about Mile Post 7.

January 1943:
OSL retired and removed the 1.24-mile portion of the Thatcher Branch from Thatcher at Mile Post 6.25 to Nelson at Mile Post 7.3. (OSL work order 461) The 7.3-mile Thatcher Branch was built in 1903 for the Utah Idaho Sugar Company to transport sugar beets from the region west of Tremonton to the sugar company's sugar factory at Garland. OSL purchased the line in 1922. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2621, approved October 19, 1942)

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)

October 1945:
OSL retired and removed the 1.03-mile portion of the Evona Branch between the western end at Mile Post 2.62 (the end of the branch at the Roy-Hot Springs highway, U. S. 91) and the spur to the Ogden sugar factory, at Mile Post 1.59. (Work Order 1332)

(The remaining portion of the branch is still in service during 2003, serving the Farmer's Co-op and the former Pillsbury grain elevators.)

October 1945:
OSL retired and removed a portion of the Thatcher Branch, from Mile Post 5.63 to Mile Post 6.25, at Thatcher. (Work order 1429) The siding for Thatcher was moved to the new end of track in November.

November 3, 1947:
OSL received ICC approval to abandon the 2.98-mile College Branch, between College Junction, on the Cache Valley Branch south of Logan, to College. The line had originally been constructed in 1873 as the main line of the narrow-gauge Utah Northern Railway between Ogden and Franklin, Idaho. It became the Cache Valley Branch in 1890, upon construction of a new standard-gauge line between Ogden and Pocatello, and in 1906 the line became a secondary line, with the completion of the Wellsville Loop through Wellsville and Hyrum, further south in the Cache Valley. The 2.78-mile western portion of the College Branch between Mendon and College was abandoned in 1932. In 1945 the only traffic on the College Branch had been 23 carloads of beets and four carloads of potatoes. In 1946 there had only been 25 carloads of beets. (ICC Financial Docket 15790, in 267 ICC 640) By October 1948, Union Pacific had sold all of the property. (source not recorded)

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)

May 1948:
OSL retired and removed the entire 4.93-mile Urban Branch, between Bakers (OSL Mile Post 25.3) and Urban. (Work Order 2162) The branch was completed in 1918 and was used to move sugar beets to the Garland sugar factory, on the Malad Branch. Beet dumps were located at Natal, Teal, and Urban.

In the six year period from 1941 to 1946, the traffic on the Urban Branch amounted to only 105, 79, 72, 75, 49, and 36 carloads, respectively, all of which were loaded at the beet dumps at Teal, at Mile Post 2.6, and at the end of the branch at Urban. The only trains on the branch were operated about one per day, for the duration of the thirty day beet harvesting season.

The decline in traffic was attributed to the steady decrease in the number of acres that have been planted in sugar beets in the region east of the Bear River. (Abandonment approved by the ICC in Financial Docket 15740, dated November 3, 1947, in 267 ICC 634) The siding at Bakers, Mile Post 25.6, was retired in 1949 (Work Order 2168), while Bakers Spur, at Mile Post 25.3 on the east side of the main line, was retired in December 1947 (Work Order 2162).

July 28, 1948:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to remove the depot building at Farmington. Approval to close the agency was given on July 21, 1942. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2599)

January 1949:
OSL retired and removed the 1.57 portion of the Logan Sugar Factory Branch between Logan Junction and the branch's crossing of the Logan River at Mile Post 0.9. (Work order 2617) Included in the abandonment was the one-mile portion of the original branch, from the river to College Junction, along with the 0. 58-mile portion of the College Branch from Logan Junction to College Junction that remained after the College Branch was removed in November 1947. The remaining 0.9 portion of the Logan Sugar Factory Branch is in service today as the Sugar Factory Spur, from Sugar Factory Junction to the river. (source not recorded)

June 1954:
OSL retired and removed the remaining 5.2-mile portion of the Benson Branch from Benson, at the end of track, to Benson Junction in Logan. (Work order 4203)

(The wye at Benson Junction, along with about 1,000 feet of the branch, remains today as part of the Cache Valley Branch.)

August 31, 1955:
OSL retired the 2.6-mile portion of the Syracuse Branch, from Barnes at Mile Post 2.1 to Syracuse at Mile Post 4.7, including the 1.8-mile West Point Spur that ran north from Steed, at Mile Post 3.2. The siding at Steed had been retired in December 1946. Barnes is the present end of track for the Syracuse Branch. (source not recorded)

November 15, 1955:
OSL closed the Trenton depot. The building was sold to the Cache Valley Turkey Growers Association and was moved by January 1956. (Work order 4781; Public Service Commission of Utah, case 3248)

September 7, 1982:
Union Pacific (OSL) received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Tremonton, on the Malad Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 82-400-06)

January 13, 1986:
Union Pacific (OSL) received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Logan, on the Cache Valley Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 85-400-02)

January 13, 1986:
Union Pacific (OSL) received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Brigham City. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 85-400-02)

December 29, 1987:
The Des Chutes Railroad in Oregon and the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company were both merged into the Oregon Short Line Railroad.

December 30, 1987:
The Oregon Short Line Railroad was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad.

December 31, 1987:
The Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad. The one day delay was necessary because the LA&SL was owned by both the OSL and the Union Pacific. The OSL was merged into the Union Pacific on December 30. Also on December 31, the Spokane International Railroad was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad.

The OSL depot at Smithfield (north of Logan on the Cache Valley Branch) was removed from railroad property after being retired in the 1960s and moved a few blocks away. In 2007 the building was purchased from its owner and in late 2009 it was moved to become a real estate office at 775 South Main Street in Logan. (Herald Journal, November 9, 2009) The original site in Smithfield was on the east side of the OSL tracks, at 350 West 100 North.

Sources

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