UtahRails.net Copyright 2000-2008 Don Strack

UNION PACIFIC IN UTAH

Compiled by Don Strack

This page was last updated on June 9, 2007

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

CHRONOLOGY HISTORY

UNION PACIFIC IN UTAH, 1900 TO 1996

1900:
By 1900 E. H. Harriman had "absolute control" of Union Pacific. He had been involved in the reorganization, was a director of the new corporation and had gradually increased his holdings until he took control. (Trottman p. 274)

September 1900:
The famous Thousand Mile Tree in Weber canyon had died and was cut down. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 16, 1900)

December 1900:
New East Tintic Railway had finished surveying spurs to serve the Lower Mammoth, Grand Central, and Star Consolidated mines. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 22, 1900)

March 20, 1901:
San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad incorporated. (Utah, 3077)

April 1901:
OSL "exercises its option" and buys the Utah & Pacific. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 5, 1901)

April 4, 1901:
After ten days of talks that took place in UP's New York City offices, the Utah & Pacific Railroad was sold to UP's subsidiary Oregon Short Line Railroad on April 4, 1901. The purchase price was set at $1.5 million. (Arrington, Eccles, pages 230-232)

(Utah & Pacific was incorporated on August 20, 1898; construction began at Milford in early October 1898; construction ended at the Nevada state line at Uvada, 75 miles from Milford, on July 31, 1899)

(SP,LA&SL corporate history says that Utah & Pacific Railroad was "conveyed" to SP,LA&SL on June 9, 1903, with the last day of Utah & Pacific operation being on July 6, 1903, the same last day of operations for all other OSL lines sold to SP,LA&SL.)

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

September 10, 1901:
OSL offices in Salt Lake City burn to the ground. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 11, 1901)

end 1901:
By the end of 1901 Union Pacific had purchased 45 percent of Southern Pacific stock, giving it control of the SP. (Trottman p. 281)

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)

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

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. (SP,LA&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)

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

Leamington Cutoff Information: (from Engineering News, September 17, 1903, pp. 249-252)

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.

At time of transfer of ownership to SP,LA&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. (SP,LA&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. (SP,LA&SL corporate history)

(These four branches that served the Tintic Mining District made up the Tintic Subdivision. The subdivision consisted of 1) the Silver City Branch, from Tintic to Silver City; 2) the Eureka Branch, from the new Silver City Junction (about 3/4 mile east of Tintic) to Eureka; 3) the Mammoth Branch, from Mammoth Junction, on the Silver City Branch, to the Mammoth mine, including the former New East Tintic Railway; and 4) 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.)

July 7, 1903:
SP,LA&SL purchased all OSL lines south and west of Salt Lake City. (Poor's, 1929, p. 1066) The ownership changed at Sandy, 17.5 miles south of Salt Lake City on the Provo line. Sandy was SP,LA&SL Mile Post 786.35 [from Los Angeles, via Provo] and OSL Mile Post 49.98 [from Ogden]. 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 SP,LA&SL Mile Post 781.56 [from Los Angeles, via Leamington Cutoff] and OSL Mile Post 1.23 [from Salt Lake City]. Under a 99 year lease dated June 18, 1903 SP,LA&SL took over operation of the 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. The line between Salt Lake City and Sandy was within the yard limits of the OSL/LA&SL joint Salt Lake City yard. (SP,LA&SL corporate history)

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)

September 1904:
SP,LA&SL completed the 5.96-mile Newhouse Extension, from Frisco on the Frisco Branch to Newhouse, to serve the copper mine that was being developed near there. The line was surveyed in February 1904. (Salt Lake Mining Review, February 29, 1904, p. 36) Construction was begun in June 1904, using $99,688.65 advanced for the purpose by Samuel Newhouse, owner of Newhouse Mines & Smelters. (SP,LA&SL corporate history; Salt Lake Mining Review, April 30, 1904, p. 36)

As part of the construction of the Newhouse Extension, SP,LA&SL also constructed the three-mile long "Newhouse, Copper Gulch & Sevier Lake Railroad" which operated between the mining company's Cactus Mine and their mill at Newhouse. (source not recorded)

The Newhouse road was incorporated in December 1904. The line included 4.5 percent grades and was operated using a 65-ton Shay locomotive. The mill went into full production in March 1905. (Salt Lake Mining Review, October 30, 1904, p. 23; December 30, 1904, p. 15; February 28, 1905, p. 25)

May 26, 1905:
SP,LA&SL formally completed the route between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles and began regular operations. (SP,LA&SL corporate history) (COMMENT: Poor's 1929 manual, p. 1066, gives the date as May 1, 1905.) On January 30, 1905 the railroad had completed a temporary connection in the line of new construction between Uvada and Daggett, California, which formed a complete rail line between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The connection was actually a temporary one, around several cuts that had not been completed. (SP,LA&SL corporate history)

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)

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)

March 1906:
Union Portland Cement announced that it would build a plant at Croydon. (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1906, p. 30) Production began in June 1907. (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 30, 1907, p. 31)

(Croydon was called Devil's Slide by the Union Pacific)

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. Most of the stock came from the LDS Church, at a reported price of over $10 million. (Arrington: Great Basin, p. 408)

January 1907:
SP,LA&SL completed the 3.61-mile passenger line, between Buena Vista and Salt Lake City, along Ninth South. Construction was begun in September 1905 from the end of the former Oregon Short Line one-mile long Enamel Spur, which ended near the east bank of the Jordan River. The new line required 2.6 miles of new construction, from Buena Vista to the west bank of the Jordan River. (SP,LA&SL corporate history, p. 47)

February 18, 1908:
Federal government sued Union Pacific to break up the "combination" with Southern Pacific, because it was in restraint of competitive trade and commerce. (Trottman, p. 358)

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 SP,LA&SL completed the new Union Depot at Salt Lake City. Construction was begun in November 1906, and the depot was partially occupied in 1908. (October 28, 1976 UP letter to Julian Cavalier; 110976w quote of Salt Lake City, Past and Present, published in 1908)

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

September 1, 1909:
SP,LA&SL and D&RG sign a joint agreement for the passenger terminal at Provo. (SP,LA&SL corporate history)

April 1910:
Hearings for the break-up of Union Pacific and SP ended. (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.)

1911:
In 1911 the Circuit Court decided in favor of UP/SP, the government appealed the case to the U. S. Supreme Court, which found in favor of the government on December 2, 1912. The Supreme Court agreed to have Union Pacific submit a plan of dissolution to the Circuit Court, by July 1, 1913, that the railroad would dissolve its interest in SP within twenty days of that date. (Trottman, pp. 368, 369)

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".)

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)

October 1915:
D&RG and UP both announce that they will build into the Uintah Basin; D&RG from Soldiers Summit, UP from Park City Branch. (The Sun, October 15, 1915)

December 1915:
Union Pacific will build a line into the Uintah Basin. (Coal Index: News-Advocate, December 3, 1915) Confirmed by R. S. Lovett. Work to start in spring. (Coal Index: News-Advocate, December 24, 1915)

March 1916:
SP,LA&SL announced that it would send surveyors into the Uintah Basin, as soon as snows permit. D&RG is considering a separate corporation to build its road into the Uintah Basin. The construction of the D&RG line was expected to cost $5 million. (The Sun, March 31, 1916, p. 7)

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.

August 20, 1916:
Pehrson (Mile Post 717.12 on LA&SL) changed from Vernon. (source not recorded)

August 25, 1916:
San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad name changed to Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad. Name changed approved by stock holders on August 16, 1916. (Signor, LA&SL, p.86)

October 1916:
LA&SL completed the 13.6-mile Delta Branch, built north from Delta to serve the sugar beet growing area north of Delta that was being developed due to the completion of irrigation projects on the Sevier River. The land was being developed by companies such as the Delta Land & Water Company, the Morgan-Okelbery Land & Sheep Company, and the Delta Investment Company. (source not recorded)

The Delta Sugar Beet Company was promoting the growing of sugar beets and in 1917 they completed a 1,000-ton capacity sugar factory in Delta. The Delta Sugar Beet Company was reorganized in 1918 as the Great Basin Sugar Company, but because of lack of sugar beets being grown in the region, the factory still was not working at full capacity and was sold to the Utah Idaho Sugar Company in 1920. The Utah Idaho company was only able to get 419 growers to plant 10,291 acres in sugar beets in 1921, harvesting 53,498 tons of beets. Production was low because of disease in the beet plants with production for 1922 being even lower than low crops of both 1921 and 1920. The sugar company closed the factory in 1923 and dismantled it in 1927, sending the machinery to a new factory in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. Sugar beet production resumed in the late thirties, with the availability of disease resistant beet plants, but beets were shipped to other sugar factories located in Spanish Fork, West Jordan and Gunnison. (Arrington: Beet Sugar, pp. 192, 193)

November 1916:
LA&SL announced that they would enlarge the Milford roundhouse. (Salt Lake Mining Review, November 15, 1916, p. 33)

late 1916:
Union Pacific completed construction of the second track between Emory and Wasatch, in Echo Canyon. The new line was used for eastbound trains and has a ruling grade of 1.14 percent, compared to 1.77 percent for the original, now westbound, line. The curves of the new line are 3 degrees and the old line has curves of 6 degrees. (Engineering News, October 16, 1916, pp. 700-701)

April 1917:
LA&SL began a modernizing program which included replacing many bridges along the route. The railroad gave a contract for thirty new steel and concrete bridges to Houghton Construction Company of San Francisco. The headquarters for the project was at Milford. The LA&SL, along with the WP, also filed a condemnation suit against J. L. Wilson for a right of way for the relocation of their lines at Garfield, to allow expansion of the Utah Copper tailings pond. (Salt Lake Mining Review, April 15, 1917, pp. 40, 43)

1916-1917:
Union Pacific completed construction of the second track between Riverdale and Gateway, used for eastbound traffic. (source not recorded)

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.)

January 1918:
Union Pacific completed construction of the two-mile Weber Mine Spur from Coalville to the Weber Mine of the Weber Coal Company, which is a subsidiary of the Ontario Silver Mining Company. The work was started in October 1917 and was done by Christensen Construction Company. (Salt Lake Mining Review, January 30, 1918, p. 40) The mine went into production in March, after pumping out the flooded mine and cleaning out the old drifts. The mine is developed down to 900 feet. (Salt Lake Mining Review, February 15, 1918, p. 44) In May 1919 the coal mines in the Coalville area included the Summit Fuel Company. (Salt Lake Mining Review, May 15, 1919, p. 35)

January 1918:
Mammoth Mining Company was complaining of the high rates that LA&SL was charging to ship the ore from the Mammoth Mine down to Mammoth, via the former New East Tintic Railway. In 1917 LA&SL had charged $7,500 to move 40,000 tons of ore in 840 cars over the two-mile line. The mining company threatened to build an aerial tramway from their mine down to the D&RG at Mammoth. (Salt Lake Mining Review, January 30, 1918, p. 40)

January 1, 1918:
USRA assumed control of the railroads. (source not recorded)

April 1918:
LA&SL completed the 3.35-mile Hinkley Branch which connected with the Delta Branch at Moody (Mile Post 4.5). The branch was built to serve the sugar beet growing area west of Delta. (ICC Valuation drawing, ICC Financial Docket 9538, 187 ICC 642)

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)

August 29, 1918:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon service on southern 13.3 miles of the Fairfield Branch between Topliff and Boulter, where the branch connected with the main line of the Leamington Cut-off. The Fairfield Branch was the former Salt Lake & Western. The abandonment was protested by the Scranton Mining & Smelting Company, for its Del Monte Mine located a few miles east of Del Monte Station on the branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 85)

The station of Fairfield on the old Salt Lake & Western was the interchange point for the Salt Lake & Mercur Railroad, which operated a steep and curving, standard-gauge railroad from Fairfield up Manning canyon, and over the Oquirrh ridge to the mining camp of Mercur. (Carr: Rails, pp. 127-129) The last ore mined from the Mercur mine of Consolidated Mercur Gold Mines came to the surface on March 30, 1913. The mill was dismantled in 1917 and the equipment removed over the Salt Lake & Mercur line. The railroad shut down on October 13, 1918. (Conversation with Grant Pendleton at Utah Power & Light in reference with an L. L. Nunn biography, circa March 1982; Tooele, pp. 370, 375)

February 29, 1920:
USRA ended government control of the railroads. (source not recorded)

April 27, 1921:
Union Pacific agreed to acquire the Clark half interest in LA&SL; the purchase was mostly completed by the end of the year. On January 1, 1922 Union Pacific began including the business of the LA&SL in its System statements and reports. (Poor's, 1929, p. 1066)

(The other half interest in LA&SL was owned by OSL, which itself is owned by Union Pacific.)

May 10, 1921:
Topliff (Mile Post 37.0) to Boulter (Mile Post 43.32) on Boulter Branch was abandoned. (Union Pacific AFE 3321, dated September 22, 1927, Work Order 7636, from LA&SL drawing 562-11)

(The name of shortened branch was changed to the Topliff Branch.)

December 21, 1921:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to discontinue passenger trains 57 and 58, from Smelter to Warner (Tooele). Trains 57 and 58 only operated between Salt Lake City and Smelter, where they were turned on the wye. Trains 51 and 52 operated between Salt Lake City and Tintic, by way of the Leamington Cut-off. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 481)

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

October 18, 1922:
LA&SL received ICC approval to construct the 32.5-mile Cedar City Branch. To be completed by December 31, 1923. (ICC Finance Docket 2527)

(The branch was to be constructed to serve the developing iron ore mines in the district west of Cedar City.)

August 1922:
Columbia Steel received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to construct a subsidiary called the Carbon County Railway. At the same time they withdrew their application to build another subsidiary called the Iron County Railway which was to be constructed from Lund, on the Union Pacific, to their iron ore properties in Iron County. The steel company withdrew their application based on the Union Pacific's protest in which Union Pacific stated that they were intending to construct the Cedar City Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 577)

The iron ore bodies in Iron County had been discovered in the early 1850s by Mormon pioneers. The particular deposits near Iron Mountain were first located in the 1870s but by the 1920s had not yet been commercially worked. The mines were to be developed to furnish ore for the new Columbia Steel Company's new iron mill that was being constructed near Springville. The actual mining was done by the steel company's subsidiary Columbia Iron Mining Company, and also by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company to supply its mill in Pueblo, Colorado. Columbia's mill near Springville, called Ironton, went into production, producing pig iron, on May 1, 1924. The construction of the Cedar City Branch also included the 4.5-mile Iron Mountain Branch to Desert Mound, which left the Cedar City Branch at Iron Springs (Mile Post 20.28).

In 1935 Columbia Iron Mining expanded their operations to include the open pit mine at Iron Mountain and Union Pacific extended the Iron Mountain Branch 10 miles south to reach Iron Mountain Station. In 1942 mining operations were again expanded to supply ore for the new Columbia-Geneva Steel plant, under construction near Orem to supply steel plate needed for the war effort, and Union Pacific made improvements to the facilities on the branch to handle the additional traffic. (U. S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4076, May 1947)

January 1923:
LA&SL completed construction of the 32-mile Fillmore Branch. The construction had been approved by the ICC on July 1, 1922, in their Finance Docket 2360. Between the spring of 1923, when the branch was opened to traffic, and June 1929 passenger service on the branch was provided with a locomotive and passenger cars. On June 10, 1929, to reduce costs, the railroad began using a gasoline motor car. Just nine months later, in late March 1930, the Public Service Commission of Utah granted the railroad's request to discontinue all passenger train service between Delta and Fillmore, and replace it with auto bus service. During the time of motor car operation, between November 1929 and February 1930, the motor car had been operating mostly empty, and never with more than two passengers. The approval was in effect after April 3. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1160) Two years later, in March 1932, the Public Utilities Commission approved the transfer of operation of the Delta-to-Fillmore auto bus service to a private contractor, Mr. Moyle Sargent. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1268)

June 7, 1923:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to construct the 1.87-mile Columbia Steel Spur across the D&RGW, Utah Railway, and Salt Lake & Utah to serve the plant of Columbia Steel Company that is under construction. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 652)

February 27, 1925:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to discontinue regular service between Frisco and Newhouse. The line was constructed in the latter part of 1904 for the Newhouse Mining Company and the Cactus Mining Company. By 1925 the town of Newhouse had been dismantled and the railroad's only traffic was tank cars of water for the local sheep ranches. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 741)

July 10, 1925:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to discontinue passenger trains 223 and 224 between Echo and Coalville. The Park City mixed train was 225 and 226. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 799)

November 1925:
Union Pacific gave contract for construction of grade for second track between Gateway and Echo to Utah Construction Company. (Salt Lake Mining Review, November 30, 1925, p. 15)

1927:
Union Pacific's Utah Parks Company began operating the facilities at Grand Canyon National Park, and took over the interests of Utah & Grand Canyon Transportation Company, the bus company that was operating the bus service between Union Pacific's passenger trains at Cedar City and Cedar Breaks National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Monument, Zion's Canyon National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park. The bus company had begun the service in 1923. (Poor's, 1929, p. 1052)

(Union Pacific changed the name of the bus company to Union Pacific Stages.)

March 23, 1927:
LA&SL received ICC approval to operate 1.87-mile Columbia Steel Spur to the Ironton steel plant of Columbia Steel. The spur was built in 1923 to deliver materials needed for the construction of the steel plant. The approval was protested by the Salt Lake & Utah Railroad interurban line because they felt that they should be receiving a large portion of the traffic from the steel plant. The Union Pacific spur crossed both the D&RGW and the SL&U, with the portion from the D&RGW crossing to the steel plant being operated as joint trackage because the steel plant received its coal from the Carbon County coal mines served by the D&RGW and the Utah Railway. The steel plant received its other raw materials from sources on the Union Pacific; iron ore from Iron County on Union Pacific Cedar City Branch, limestone from the Topliff quarries in Tooele County on Union Pacific's Fairfield Branch, and manganese from Pioche, Nevada on Union Pacific's Pioche Branch. (ICC Finance Docket 5543, in 124 ICC 207)

October 31, 1927:
LA&SL retired the southern 13.32 miles of the Fairfield Branch, from Mile Post 30.0 (Topliff) to Mile Post 43.32 (Boulter, connection to Leamington Cutoff main line). Operations were discontinued on September 6, 1918, after the August 29, 1918 approval for abandonment by the Utah Public Utilities Commission. The abandonment was protested by Scranton Mining & Smelting Company, for its Del Monte Mine located a few miles east of Del Monte Station on the branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 85) Mile Post 37.0 to 43.32 was abandoned on May 10, 1921. (Union Pacific AFE 3321, dated September 22, 1927, Work Order 7636, from LA&SL drawing 562-11)

April 18, 1928:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to discontinue Sunday passenger service on the Cedar City Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1018)

October 26, 1928:
ICC approved the abandonment of the St. John & Ophir Railroad, which connected with LA&SL at St. John. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1076; ICC Financial Docket 7108, in 145 ICC 611)

May 22, 1929:
LA&SL and D&RG received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the joint agency at Silver City. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1103 and 1104)

March 31, 1930:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to discontinue gasoline motor car service between Delta and Fillmore, and replace it with auto bus service. The branch had been in service since spring 1923 and the motor car service had begun on June 10, 1929. Between November 1929 and February 1930 the motor car had been operating mostly empty, and never with more than two passengers. The approval was in effect after April 3. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1160) On March 21, 1932 LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to transfer the auto bus service between Delta and Fillmore to Mr. Moyle Sargent. (source not recorded)

July 1930:
State Road Commission replaced the wooden 30th Street bridge in Ogden with a concrete overhead viaduct. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1176)

August 11, 1930:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to discontinue Trains 67 and 68 between Salt Lake City and Garfield. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1181)

October 1930:
Union Pacific was operating Trains 3 and 4 between Salt Lake City and Lund, and Trains 103 and 104 between Lund and Cedar City. In October 1930 the Public Utilities Commission approved the road's application to discontinue all four trains and only operate passenger train service to Cedar City during the tourist season. During the off-season the service was to be provided using motor buses of the Union Pacific Stages. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1197)

June 2, 1931:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Keetley on the Ontario Branch east of Park City. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1210)

December 11, 1931:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Cutler. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1249)

December 31, 1931:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Juab. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1218)

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

February 2, 1932:
Public Utilities Commission approved Union Pacific's application to discontinue the remaining passenger service on the Tintic Subdivision. In March the state agency granted a private individual by the name of George Forsey permission to operate an auto stage company that would provide all of the mail, baggage and express business between Tintic Junction and the nearby towns. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1259, 1267) Almost two years later, in October 1933, the railroad received the Public Utilities Commission's approval to close the depot and discontinue the agency at Mammoth. (source not recorded)

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)

December 29, 1932:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Peterson. The freight house is to remain in place, but locked. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1264)

1930s:
The combination of a drought in central Utah and the depressed national economy of the 1930s made for some hard times in the region around Delta. The farmers in the area were hauling wood for their fuel, instead of buying coal. On November 29, 1932 LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission's approval to close the agency station at Oasis (Mile Post 644.4, 5.5 miles south of Delta). All of the agency's business was to be moved five miles north to Delta. The depot building was converted to living quarters for the signal maintainer. The Public Utilities Commission gave its permission to remove the depot building on November 6, 1947. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1279)

December 1932:
LA&SL retired and removed the entire 3.35-mile Hinkley Branch, from Moody (Mile Post 4.59 on the Delta Branch) to the end of track at Hinkley. The railroad also retired and removed five miles of the Delta Branch, from Nelson (Mile Post 8.4) to end of track at Lucerne (Mile Post 13.5). (ICC Financial Docket 9538, approved October 20, 1932)

June 13, 1933:
LA&SL received the approval of the Utah Public Utilities Commission to close the agency station at Clear Lake (Mile Post 631.2). Business for the agent was primarily accepting railroad owned water hauled to the station for the railroad's own use. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1304)

July 1, 1933:
LA&SL closed the agency station at Beryl (Mile Post 526.2). The Utah Public Utilities Commission had approved the closure on December 7, 1932. The Beryl agency was temporarily reopened in the spring of 1948 to accept materials for the installation of centralized traffic control on the Utah Division. The agency was again closed upon completion of the CTC project in early 1950. (Public Service Commission of Utah case 1280)

October 13, 1933:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Mammoth. (Public Service Commission of Utah case 1311)

1934:
Between May 1, 1924, the date that Columbia Steel Corporation opened the Ironton plant, and 1934, the plant produced: 1,189,598 tons of pig iron; 825,574 tons of coke; 44,702 tons of sulfate of ammonia; and 35,939 tons of benzol. The pig iron that is produced at Ironton is shipped to plants in Pittsburg and Torrance, California. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1658)

July 1934:
During the month of July 1934 LA&SL retired and removed the remaining 7.7 miles of the Delta Branch, from Mile Post 0.8 to the end of track at Nelson (Mile Post 8.5). The abandonment was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission on October 20, 1932. In the application for abandonment Union Pacific showed that the traffic had been decreasing steadily since 1927, with only 1,932 tons being shipped in 1931, 750 of which was mining ores. The shipment of ore had decreased from over 9,700 tons in 1930.

Both the Delta and Hinkley Branches were constructed in about 1917 to serve a developing sugar beet industry. Beet dumps had been built at Erwin (Mile Post 5.2), Abbott (Mile Post 6.7), Wilson (Mile Post 8.4), Gordon (Mile Post 9.3), and at Sugarville (Mile Post 11.5 on the portion that was abandoned in December 1932). Also at Wilson the railroad built a 50 x 320 foot stockyard with a double deck loading chute, to replace a portable stock chute that been placed there earlier.

The production of sugar beets was inadequate to sustain continued operation of the sugar factory at Delta and the factory was dismantled in 1927. The revenues from the other traffic on the branches after the closure of the sugar factory, including coal, hay, sheep and ore, was not sufficient to meet the expenses of the branch line operations. (ICC Financial Docket 9538 187 ICC 642)

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

March 16, 1935:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Uintah. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1716)

April 1935:
The State Road Commission began construction of a concrete subway for State Street under the Union Pacific and D&RGW tracks near Midvale. The construction included a gantlet (interleaved and parallel, but not connected) track for the D&RGW Little Cottonwood Branch to share the new bridge but not the actual rails, with Union Pacific's Provo Subdivision main line. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1725, approved March 25, 1935)

May 31, 1935:
LA&SL began construction of the 11.31-mile line between Desert Mound and Iron Mountain, as an extension of the Cedar City Branch, to serve the iron ore mines that are being developed there. (ICC Financial Docket 10622)

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.)

January 1937:
The State Road Commission began construction of a concrete overpass bridge for the Garfield-Saltair Highway over the tracks of LA&SL and WP. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1895, approved December 22, 1936)

October 7, 1937:
LA&SL completed removal of the seven-mile Newhouse Extension, Mile Post 16.5 (Frisco) to Mile Post 23.5 (Newhouse, end of branch) of the Frisco Branch. The removal was done under Work Order 934. The Newhouse Extension had been completed in September 1904 to connect with Samuel Newhouse's Newhouse Mines & Smelting mill railroad, the Newhouse, Copper Gulch & Sevier Lake Railroad, which shut down in 1927.

Regular service on the Frisco Branch had ended in 1931 with the shutdown of the old Horn Silver mine by the Tintic Lead Company, which had bought the property in 1928. The extension was washed out in several places during 1934 and 1935. Passenger service had ended in 1928.

In 1937 Union Pacific's depot was the only structure remaining in Newhouse and at Frisco there was only the railroad's depot and two houses. Work on removal of the extension was begun on September 10, 1937.

The railroad had applied to abandon the entire Frisco Branch, along with the Newhouse Extension. But the ICC imposed a two year test period, at the suggestion of the Utah State Industrial Development Board, to allow development of potential mine traffic, from Frisco to Milford. (Abandonment approved by the ICC in Finance Docket 10623, effective May 22, 1937, in 221 ICC 309)

December 14, 1937:
Union Pacific completed removal of 2.78-mile Northern Spy Extension, Mile Post 2.65 to Mile Post 5.43 of the Silver City Branch. Retired October 25, 1937. (Work Orders 946 and 1059)

1938:
In a 1938 listing of telegraphers on Union Pacific, there was shown to be three locations in Utah with "towermen" assigned to them:

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)

September 30, 1938:
Union Pacific completed removal of 6.56-mile portion of Fairfield Branch, from Mile Post 23.6 (Five Mile Pass) to Mile Post 30.16 (Topliff, end of branch), including 7.03 miles of spur tracks extending from Topliff, southeasterly to the limestone quarries of American Smelting & Refining Company and United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Company.

The limestone quarries had been opened in 1906 and their operation was abandoned in November 1937. (ICC Finance Docket 11983, 228 ICC 223, approved June 3, 1938, removal date from "Return to Questionnaire" for ICC Finance Docket 13762)

April 2, 1941:
Union Pacific completed removal of the 5.75-mile Grass Creek Branch. (Work Order 8737; Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2381, approved June 15, 1940)

Union Pacific had purchased the branch from Zion Securities (the investment arm of the Mormon Church) in 1923 for the sum of $1.00, agreeing to relay the line with heavier rail and maintain it in operable condition.

In 1927 the mine shipped 207 cars, and in 1928 335 cars. In 1929 Zion Securities leased the Grass Creek mine to the Grass Creek Fuel Company of Coalville, who also operated the Weber mine near Coalville. The new operators shipped 210 cars of coal in 1929 and 353 cars in 1930. In 1931 the mine shipped 243 cars, even though actual production had stopped. The coal being shipped was coming from the pillars of coal that had supported the mine roof while it had previously been in production. The amount of coal in the pillars was sufficient to allow the operators to ship large quantities of coal.

In the first ten months of 1932 the mine shipped 130 cars, with the mine shut down between March and June. In June they began shipping coal to the Union Portland Cement plant at Devils Slide, which was in heavy production to furnish cement for the construction of Boulder Dam.

Union Pacific applied to abandon the branch in August 1932 but the ICC denied the application because Union Pacific requested that the abandonment not become effective for a period of more than a year. Union Pacific had wanted the unusual, extended effective date to allow the mine to furnish all of the coal needed for the cement plant.

In June 1939 Union Pacific applied again to the ICC for permission to abandon the branch, but on August 1 the ICC dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction. Union Pacific had been operating the branch as a spur from Coalville by using a light engine to push two or three empties up to the mine and returning to Coalville with the loaded cars.

The Grass Creek mine was finally shut down in the winter of 1938/39. For most of the mine's life, a large part of its production had been furnishing coal as heating fuel for the Ogden Union Railway & Depot, but by now the OUR&D was getting their coal from other sources.

Only one car was shipped in 1936, eleven cars were shipped in 1937, three cars in 1938, and none were shipped in 1939 and thereafter. There was never any passenger service on the branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2381; UP Drawing 36268, Park City Branch; ICC Finance Docket 9608 --"Return to Questionnaire" and testimony of November 16, 1932 hearing, 189 ICC 195; Finance Docket 12140, 233 ICC 639)

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.)

June 30, 1942:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Sandy. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2593)

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)

August 1942:
Ogden Union Railway & Depot expanded the Ogden East Yard, also called Speedway or Riverdale Yard. On August 5, the Utah Public Utilities Commission approved OUR&D's request to add two tracks to the 33rd Street crossing as part of the expansion, which included construction of the car repair track. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2608)

September 11, 1942:
Interstate Commerce Commission dismissed, rather than postponed, LA&SL's application to abandon the Fillmore Branch. The railroad had made application based on projected losses from wartime restrictions on petroleum products and to provide relay rail and other scrap materials for the war effort. The branch was not being operated at a loss. The application was denied because of protests of shippers. Union Pacific had requested an indefinite postponement due to new traffic of crushed volcanic stone, as cinder ash, for use on manufacture of cinder block needed in the war effort. (ICC Finance Docket 13771)

September 11, 1942:
ICC dismissed LA&SL's application to abandon the Fairfield Branch, from Mile Post 0.8 (Cutler) to Mile Post 23.6 (Five Mile Pass, end of branch). The application was made on May 23, 1942. (ICC Finance Docket 13762)

On August 24, 1942 Union Pacific withdrew the application because new traffic developed which required that the branch remain in service. The operation of the new Geneva Steel plant at Orem required a special type of clay for use in the mortar of the fire bricking in the blast furnaces. The closest source for the clay was in a quarry which was located on the Union Pacific's Fairfield Branch. The clay was required in quantities that could not be furnished by trucks from the quarry. (Minutes of ICC hearing, Salt Lake City, August 24, 1942)

In November 1942 Union Pacific was operating two trains per week over the Fairfield Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 2631)

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)

August 28, 1943:
LA&SL completed removal of 15.29 miles of the Frisco Branch, from Mile Post 1.21 to Mile Post 16.5 (Frisco, end of track). The branch was retired on June 22, 1943, after abandonment was approved by the ICC on July 24, 1942. (Work order 2528; ICC Finance Docket 13611, effective September 24, 1942)

February 11, 1944:
The D&RGW AFE for the line change that resulted in the Grant Tower automatic interlocking was approved. The documentation to support the AFE shows that there was a 17-lever mechanical interlocking at the combined WP/D&RGW and LA&SL/D&RGW crossing along 700 West and South Temple streets. The formal completion date for the line change was December 20, 1952, and for the tower building itself, the formal completion date is shown as May 20, 1950. (D&RGW AFE records on file at Colorado Railroad Museum) (more details are on this D&RGW page)

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.

Industry Events

June 17, 1947 — The federal Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) ordered all railroads to install automatic block signals on all lines where freight trains operated at 50 mph or more, or where passenger trains operated at 60 mph or more. The ICC order required the installation of either an automatic block system (ABS), or a centralized traffic control system (CTC) for lines (Track and Time, Jeff Asay, page 76)

A further clarification of this ICC order comes from Mark Hemphill: "Actually the ICC order required the initiation only of a block system, manual or automatic, in order to exceed 49/59 mph. Automatic block signal systems include ABS, CTC, and various types of cab signal systems. Manual block systems persisted in the U.S. after this date and in fact I dispatched Manual Block-DTC on the KCS in 2000, where we operated freight trains at 60 mph in dark territory." (Mark Hemphill email, October 20, 2007)

1947-1948:
Union Pacific installed Centralized Traffic Control between Salt Lake City and Caliente, Nevada. Included was a new building located north of the Salt Lake City passenger depot, to house the communications equipment, and personnel needed to operate the new control system and control the train movements. this building later became the South-Central District train dispatching center. (part from Union Pacific annual reports for 1947 and 1948)

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)

1948:
Union Pacific completed installation of Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) between Salt Lake City and Caliente, Nevada. 329 miles, begun in 1947. (Moody's, 1959 p. 848)

March 24-26, 1948:
The American Freedom Train came to Salt Lake City via Western Pacific. It was displayed at Salt Lake City (24th), Provo (25th) and Ogden (26th) before going to Pocatello, Idaho, via UP. (Source)

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)

1949:
Union Pacific completed removal of the 2.6-mile Weber Mine Spur, from Coalville to the Weber Mine in Chalk Creek canyon. (Work Order 6926, UP Drawing 19564, UP Drawing 36268, Park City Branch)

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)

Blizzards In Wyoming

Between January 2 and February 21, 1949, a series of blizzards swept across Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. Temperatures fell to as low as 51 degrees below and the wind drove drifts up to 30 feet. It was the worst winter season for Union Pacific since the early 1870s. The blizzards tied the railroad up for seven weeks, and finally UP was forced to detour many of its trains by way of D&RGW through Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, and Denver, then across Kansas. George Ashby, who had been President since Jeffers retired in January 1946, was forced to retire as of March 1, 1949. Although his handling of the railroad's troubles during the storms were not the direct cause, they certainly did not help. (part from Union Pacific, The Rebirth 1894-1969, by Maury Klein, pages 451-458)

 

1944-1951, Grant Tower Interchange

Between 1944 and about 1951, D&RGW, UP, and WP worked together to construct a new interchange in downtown Salt Lake City. (click here for a separate page about the "Grant Tower Interlocking", located just west of UP's Salt Lake City passenger depot.)

December 1951:
Work started on the new Diesel Repair Shop at Salt Lake City. (Railway Age, October 3, 1955, p. 34)

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 2, 1955:
Union Pacific formally opened the Diesel Locomotive Maintenance and Repair Shop in Salt Lake City. Announced to be built in October 1951. Construction started in December 1951. (July 20, 1955 "72055" news release; Salt Lake Tribune, August 3, 1955, p. 16; Railway Age, October 3, 1955, p. 34)

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)

March 11, 1956:
GM's Aerotrain stopped in Salt Lake City (Salt Lake Tribune, March 12, 1956)

"9,500 Utans See 'Areotrain' On U.P. Swing Into State -- After being admired and examined by more than 9,500 Utans, a forerunner of tomorrows passenger trains was on its way Sunday to oother points on the Union Pacific Railroad.

"Aerotrain," a General Motors conception of modern rail transportation, was viewed Saturday and Sunday during stops at stations in Salt Lake City and Ogden.

"The 400-passenger prototype was lent to U.P. so the railroad's engineers could exhibit it and try it on the company's lines.

"Main difference in the 102-mile-an-hour train from present units, is that each 40-passenger, 32-ton car is cushioned by air-filled bellows rather than steel springs as the older 80-passenger, 65-ton models now being used.

"U.P. has no similar lightweight trains in operation, but is merely trying out the new design, officials said.

"Other stops are planned at Boise, Idaho, March 16 from 8 to 11 a.m. and at Pocatello, Idaho, March 16, between 7 and 9 p.m."

1960
UP joined joined Trailer Train, the national trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC) pool. UP's connecting road at Ogden, SP, 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 )

1962:
Union Pacific Coal Company was dissolved and all properties transferred to the railroad. (Moody's, 1973 p. 511)

May 1967:
WP and UP completed a line change to allow the construction of today's I-80, west of Salt Lake City. Included was a new line for WP from about 1000 West, paralleling UP's LA&SL line west to Gladiola Street, at about 3200 West. WP's mainline was abandoned upon completion of the line change, which included a new location called "WP-UP Junction" at about 1100 West. The original WP/LA&SL diamond crossing at Navajo Street was abandoned and the tracks between the new WP-UP Junction and Smelter, 15 miles to the west, were operated as joint trackage. (Track and Time, by Jeff Asay, page 94)

WP-UP Junction, a double crossover at about 1100 West, was added in 1967 to replace the "Navajo Street" diamond-crossing at about 1400 West. As noted above, Jeff Asay wrote that the change was to put the WP and UP(LA&SL) lines west from Salt Lake City, on a common alignment in preparation for what today is I-80, and the new superhighway's crossing over the two rail lines at Cheyenne Street (about 1550 West). With the common ownership of both UP and WP lines after the 1983 merger, the need went away to crossover to WP-owned tracks before the ownership changed at the Jordan River, and the double crossover was moved several miles west to Orange Street, about a mile west of Redwood Road. (click here for a Google map.)

1967-1969:

In May 1967, Great Salt Lake Minerals and Chemicals Corp. began building a large plant for commercial extraction of potassium sulfate, sodium sulfate, and magnesium chloride, along with common salt. The plant included 17,000 acres of evaporation ponds just north of Little Mountain, west of Ogden on the lake's eastern shore. (Peter Behrens, "Industrial Processing of Great Salt Lake Brines by Great Salt Lake Minerals & Chemicals Corporation", Great Salt Lake, a Scientific, Historical and Economic Overview, p. 223)

In February 1969, Union Pacific secured Interstate Commerce Commission approval to construct its Little Mountain Branch. The line was to extend 13.27 miles southwesterly from Hot Springs to mineral industry trackage on the east shore of Great Salt Lake, where Great Salt Lake Minerals and Chemicals was developing its extensive facility. Union Pacific's application was protested by both Southern Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, arguing that the new trackage would duplicate SP's already existing 1.7-mile spur, and that shippers had not shown that they required duplicate service from two railroads. The two roads argued that SP, as the existing carrier, was entitled to an opportunity to serve the shippers prior to Union Pacific being granted entry into the area. SP had constructed its 1.7-mile spur northward from its main line to transport construction materials to the site, intending further extension into the area to connect with industry trackage as the area developed and industrial plants were completed. The ICC found that the Little Mountain industrial area was not exclusive SP territory, and that the area was as yet undeveloped and not generating any substantial traffic. Great Salt Lake Minerals, the largest potential shipper, testified that it required single-line service access to Union Pacific, because its markets were all located within Union Pacific territory in the Pacific Northwest, southern California, and in Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming. Other shippers in the area wanting competitive Union Pacific service included Prior Chemical Co., Boise Cascade Corp., Potlatch Forests, Inc., and Amalgamated Sugar Co. Construction was completed by the end of 1969. (ICC Financial Docket 24635, in 334 ICC 267-272)

1967-1969:
"In 1967, the Union Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroads began a new service involving a dedicated set of new equipment and motive power. The service was planned to bring high quality coal from the Carbondale Company mines at Sunnyside, Utah, to the Kaiser Steel mill in Fontana, California. Before the operation of true unit trains, coal had been moved west in D&RGW and Carbon County Railway hoppers, with each railroad supplying its own locomotives and cabooses. During the first months of unit train operation, the train ran with leased red MKT 100-ton hoppers until Union Pacific received the first of two orders of "Coal Liners." In actual practice, the coal was moved in two separate trains, one originating in Colorado and the other in Utah. Both trains were handed over to Union Pacific at Provo, Utah. Motive power was run through all the way to the unloading point in California. In fact, during the 12 hour unloading period, the Santa Fe often made use of the locomotives foe a freight run to Barstow.

Quoting Mark Hills in "Coal Liner Modeling, Using The MDC Thrall Gondola" (Mainline Modeler, Volume 15, Number 9, September 1994, p. 27):

"New motive power [was] acquired specially for this service. The Union Pacific SD45 series 3638-3649 were non-RCS equipped as opposed to the rest of their order. The Rio Grande engines, numbers 5326-5328 and 5336-5338, were among the first to incorporate the new large Rio Grande logo. The D&RGW engines also had Union Pacific cab signal systems installed so they could run in the lead position in UP territory.

"Union Pacific's first group of 95 "Coal Liner" cars, series 31900-31994, were delivered from Thrall in 1969. They were classed G-125-1 by UP. The cars were designed to be high capacity (3850 cu. ft.) and were delivered equipped with a remote control retainer system and 38-inch wheels. The D&RGW also ordered a group of five cars in 1969, numbers 56995-56999. They were very similar in appearance to the UP cars except for small horizontal ribs running between the heavy vertical ribs. Union Pacific purchased an additional group of 100 cars for Kaiser Steel unit train service in 1970. Numbers 32000-32099 were classed G-125-2. These were also quite similar to the first group of cars, differing only in minor dimensions and lower capacity (3700 cu. ft.)."

The G-125-1 cars had an inside height of 8 feet, 10 inches vs. the G-125-2 inside height of 8 feet, 6 inches. Four inches difference, explaining the lower capacity of 3700 cu. ft. for the G-125-2 vs. the larger 3850 cu. ft. on the G-125-1.

The cars were delivered in April 1969 by Thrall car of Chicago Heights, Illinois.

June 17, 1969:
A new high capacity loading facility at Sunnyside was dedicated by the presidents of Kaiser Steel Corporation, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, and AT&SF Railway, along with Utah Governor Calvin L. Rampton. The new facility, said to have cost Kaiser Steel $1.2 million, was used to load a 84-car, 8,400 ton Coal Liner unit train every four days, on a 96 hour roundtrip schedule. The entire 1,600 mile roundtrip takes place over the D&RGW from Sunnyside to Provo, over UP from Provo to Barstow, Calif., and over AT&SF from Barstow to the Fontana mill. The service began late in 1968 using leased cars. The dedication was held in June 1969 with the delivery of the new gondola Coal Liner cars. (Deseret News, June 13, 1969)

From an email that I posted to the D&RGW email discussion group:

I found an article in the September 1969 issue of Coal Age magazine (Volume 74, Number 9, page 62), a photocopy of which was sent to me in November 1994 by Mark Hemphill. It has drawings of the general arrangement of the loading tunnel and coal pile at the Sunnyside mine, including the actual loader itself.

Here is some data that might interest a modeler of the Kaiser unit train:

According to the article, Kaiser's Sunnyside mine had the capacity of 5,500 tons per day, and the K train's 96-hour (four day) cycle took all of the mine's production. The loader, actually a tunnel under a man-made 10-foot deep fill, could load up to 11,943 tons per hour, but the average loading time to fill the 84-car, 8,507 ton train was 51 minutes. Above the tunnel loader was a 120 foot high, 400-foot diameter coal pile, holding an average of 35,000 to 40,000 tons of coal, with a maximum capacity of 70,000 tons. The coal pile was fed by a conveyor belt from the mine's preparation plant, about a quarter mile away. The empty train backed all the way through the 456 foot long tunnel, with the motive power disappearing completely inside the tunnel. With the train's first car directly under the tunnel mid point at the loader, the loading cycle started, moving back out of the tunnel at 0.9 mph. On a model layout, this could easily be simulated by a tunnel into which an empty train is backed. Inside the model tunnel could actually be two tracks, one for the empty train and another for the loaded train. A classic empties in / loads out operation. Mark Hills' article in September 1994 Mainline Modeler about the Coal Liner cars from MDC mentions his train of 30 cars, which would be perfect to simulate this unit train.

The Kaiser unit coal train to the Fontana steel mill must have been one of the first unit trains in the west. In an article in the local Deseret News newspaper, the day of dedication was set as June 13, 1969. At the ceremony was Utah Governor Calvin L. Rampton, UP president Edd H. Bailey, D&RGW president Gus Aydelott, AT&SF president John Reed, and Kaiser president Jack Carlson. Apparently, this unit train was pretty important stuff for Utah, Kaiser, and all three railroads.

A photo on the cover of the above mentioned Coal Age magazine showed the train with D&RGW and UP SD45s as motive power, with a large banner declaring "Utah Coal means Utah Jobs" on the side of the lead unit, D&RGW SD45 5337. My copy is a second generation Xerox copy, but it looks like the power that day was D&RGW 5337 and 5336, along with UP 3645 and another UP SD45.

Some time back in 1970, I had the opportunity to ride this train. A friend, Floyd Jarvis, arranged a trip for the two of us to ride the train's motive power from Helper, out to the mine and back, then we rode the helpers from Helper on up the hill, and back to Helper. At the mine, the train pulled into Sunnyside, through a wye, then backed around a balloon track that extended from the tail of the wye and which lead into the loading tunnel. After being loaded, the train continued around the other leg of the wye and proceeded back out to the RG main at Mounds. Unfortunately, although I took photographs from the trip, none have survived my various moves, and changes of mood in and out of railroading.

One half of the D&RGW SD-45s were repainted into the large lettering. The first two were the 5337 and 5338 which were assigned to the Kaiser coal trains and were repainted to make them stand out from the UP units. (Robert Harmen, October 11, 1998, post to D&RGW mailing list)

June 26, 1971:
All non-railroad properties transferred to Union Pacific Corporation. (Moody's, 1973 p. 511)

1972:
Union Pacific removed the trains sheds for the west side of the Salt Lake City depot. (Historic American Building Survey, by Utah State Division of History)

October 1972:
Union Pacific rebuilt its tracks along Fourth West, between Second and Ninth South, in Salt Lake City. The tracks were completely removed and new sub-roadbed was installed. New ballast, ties and heavier rail, including 6,000 feet of track and 23 new switches, was installed. The major feature was separating the track structure from the street structure with a curbing. Many of the original, but unused spurs were removed at the same time. The project cost UP $650,000, and was expected to be complete by the end of November. UP had 60 customers along the line. About six trains per day used the track, including the southbound iron ore train to Geneva Steel. The line was previously all double track. The new line included double track only between Fifth and Sixth South. (Deseret News, October 19, 1972)

December 1972:
Union Pacific completed the "one-spot" car repair facility in Salt Lake City. Construction was begun in July. The facility was the latest of many one-spot car shops being built all over the Union Pacific system, the first was at Council Bluffs, opened in early 1972. (Union Pacific 072772r news release)

November 1973:
Union Pacific will install a test section of catenary at Farmington, Utah, and Emkay, Wyoming. Each of the two half-mile sections will be used to test the characteristics of electrical catenary under varying weather and operational conditions, including interference with communication and signal lines. The test are preparatory to a decision of whether or not Union Pacific will electrify its mainline between North Platte, Neb., and Salt Lake City to the south and Pocatello, Idaho, to the north. (Extra 2200 South, Issue 42, Sep/Oct 1973, p. 12)

late 1974:
Union Pacific completed expansion of Salt Lake City diesel shop, including construction of the new locomotive servicing facility. Construction was begun in March 1973. (032773r news release) The construction of the locomotive servicing facility and the "one-spot" car repair facility required removal of the old rip track and old coach yard.

Corporate Events - UP/Rock Island Merger

May 13, 1963 — Union Pacific Railroad announced a propsed merger with Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. (New York Times, May 14, 1963)

June 27, 1963 — The Board of Directors of Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railrpoad voted unanimous approval to accept a proposed merger with Union Pacific Railroad proposed a merger with Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. (New York Times, June 28, 1963)

July 6, 1963 — Chicago & North Western Railway applied to the ICC for its own merger with CRI&P. (New York Times, July 7, 1963)

Over the following 18-24 months, several suits and countersuits, and shareholder proxy fights kept the Rock Island in the financial news. By early 1965, the ICC began its hearings. The C&NW proposed that C&NW, CRI&P (Rock Island) and CMStP&P (Milwaukee Road) merge to form an Upper Midwest system of railroads, selling any lines south of Kansas City to AT&SF.

UP's proposal would have given the road direct access to Chicago. All of the western roads soon entered the case, asking the federal ICC for some form of consideration, in what would be the longest and most complex railroad merger case heard by the ICC. The case continued for a full 10 years. The ICC finally approved the case on November 8, 1974, but with numerous conditions that UP was unwilling to accept, and UP decided to withdraw its merger application. The ICC dismissed the case on July 10, 1976. (The Historical Guide to American Railroads, 5th printing, 1991, page 91)

June 27, 1966 — C&NW let its bid expire on June 27, 1966, and withdrew its bid to merge with Rock Island. (New York Times, June 28, 1966) Instead, C&NW and almost every railroad in the nation jumped into the UP/Rock Island merger and sought various considerations to the ICC's approval of the merger.

November 8, 1974 —The federal ICC approved the UP-CRI&P merger.

March 17, 1975 — CRI&P declared bankruptcy.

August 4, 1975 — UP withdrew its appliction to merge CRI&P due to the financial condition of the company. The federal ICC approved the UP-CRI&P merger on November 8, 1974, but due to conditions imposed by the ICC to satisfy the objections of D&RGW and SP, UP withdrew its application.

July 10, 1976 — The ICC dismissed the proposed UP-CRI&P merger after UP withdrew its application.

1975:
The TOFC piggyback ramp at Salt Lake City was of the drive-on type until 1975, when they received their first "Piggy-Packer."

October 15-19, 1975:
The American Freedom Train came to Salt Lake City from Billings, Mont., by way of Butte and UP's Montana Subdivision. It was displayed in Salt Lake City (15th) and at Ogden (19th) before heading back north via UP to Boise, Idaho. (Source)

1977:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon portions of the Ironton Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 77-400-06)

April 1977:
Union Pacific moved into the newly renovated, former Post Office Annex building, south of the Salt Lake City depot. With this move, the railroad vacated leased office space at 10 South Main Street in downtown Salt Lake. (10/28/76 UP letter to Julian Caviler) The downtown location was in the "Union Pacific Building", formerly called the "Oregon Short Line Building", which the OSL had occupied since 1910. The original OSL offices in Salt Lake City had burned completely in September 1901. (interview with C. R. Rockwell, UP public relations representative, circa 1978)

June 21, 1977:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to close the agency at Arsenal, which Union Pacific had purchased from the Bamberger Railroad in 1959. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 77-400-01)

June 21, 1977:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon the stockyards at Henefer. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 77-400-03)

May 14, 1978:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon the stockyards at Milford. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 78-400-07)

August 21, 1978:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon the Eureka Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 78-400-04)

October 1978:
During mid October 1978, Union Pacific operated its 1944-built 4-8-4 steam locomotive, numbered UP 8444, from Cheyenne to Salt Lake City. The occasion was UP's donating Ogden Union Station to the City of Ogden. A special dedication ceremony was held in Ogden on October 21, 1978, and the locomotive returned to Cheyenne. The actual sale of Ogden Union Station to Ogden City took place in early 1977, with renovation by the city taking place over the following time period prior to the October 1978 dedication.

March 20, 1980:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon the stockyards at Springville. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 80-400-01)

February 16, 1981:
Union Pacific operated the last train of iron ore from Iron Mountain to the Colorado Fuel & Iron plant in Pueblo, Colo. (source not recorded)

September 16, 1981:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon the stockyards at Wahsatch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 81-400-01)

March 26, 1982:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon 2.54 miles of tracks in Weber County. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 82-400-02)

September 7, 1982:
Union Pacific 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 1, 1983:
Union Pacific control of Western Pacific Railroad took effect. UP had received federal ICC approval for its control of WP and MP on December 22, 1982.

(From here on, this chronological history includes all references to events and actions on former Western Pacific tracks and locations in Utah. Click here for WP in Utah prior to January 1983.)

July 21, 1983:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon the stockyards at Wanship, on the Park City Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 83-400-03)

June 11, 1984:
Union Pacific received ICC approval to abandon the Fillmore Branch from Delta (Mile Post 0.5) to Fillmore (Mile Post 32.26). (source not recorded)

Elsewhere On UP

August 16, 1984 — The first coal train to move on the new Chicago & North Western coal line serving Wyoming's Powder River Basin was operated on August 16, 1984. The train was powered by C&NW SD40-2 6935, along with two UP C30-7s. UP was a partner in construction of the new line, which was known as "Project Yellow". (part from Pacific RailNews, December 1984, page 6)

Early 1985:
Union Pacific placed a "Piggy-Packer" in service at the intermodal ramp in Salt Lake City. The new machine included weigh-in-motion capability. Trailer-On-Flat-Car (TOFC) traffic for UP at Salt Lake City had doubled since 1982. (Pacific RailNews, Issue 257, April 1985, page 5, from Railway Age)

October 22, 1985:
Union Pacific and D&RGW exchange trackage rights on each others lines between Ogden and Salt Lake City (D&RGW operating on UP), and between Salt Lake City and Provo (UP operating on D&RGW). (CTC Board, December 1985, page 43, reported by Ryan Ballard)

At the same time, UP and D&RGW removed the angled crossing at Lakota Junction, near Orem, and replaced it with a switch that allowed UP trains direct access to the D&RGW mainline to Salt Lake City. (James Belmont, March 19, 2005 email to Trainorders.com)

January 1986:
Union Pacific announced that all customers along the Wyoming-Ogden main line in Utah, together with customers on the Park City Branch and Ontario Branch, will be served by a toll-free customer service number in Salt Lake City. The stations served include Ogden, Baskin, Castle Rock, Devils Slide, Echo, Emory, Henefer, Morgan, Peterson, Strawberry and Uintah on the main line and Calgas, Coalville, Keetley Junction, Park City, Wanship, and Phoston on the branches. (Union Pacific January 1986 [010186t] news release)

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

April 29, 1986:
Utah Division was eliminated. The new Western Region covered everything west of Green River, Wyoming, and was made up of the new California Division, Idaho Division, and Oregon Division.

May 5, 1986:
Grant tower in Salt Lake City was closed. The facility controlled the crossing of D&RGW's double track mainline between Roper (Salt Lake City) and Ogden, and UP's ex LA&SL mainline, and WP's line to Oakland. There were at times up to 80 movements per day through the tower trackage. Control was taken over by two screens on the D&RGW dispatcher's station in Denver. (CTC Board, May 1986, page 12)

(See CTC Board, June 1986, page 6, for information about UP's battle against the Great Salt Lake during the spring of 1986.)

Corporate Events

October 1, 1987 — Drew Lewis, former Secratary of Transportation, was named as Union Pacific Corporation's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Since April 1986, he had been a director and CEO of Union Pacific Railroad. Lewis succeeded William S. Cook, who prior to being Chairman and CEO, had been UP Corporation's Vice President of Finance since 1969. (Pacific RailNews, Issue 290, January 1988, page 10)

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.

June 1, 1989:
The new Harriman Dispatch Center in Omaha began operations by taking control of the Seattle to Hinkle portion of the railroad. Control of the remaining parts was to take place over the following 15 months. (Pacific RailNews, Issue 308, July 1989, page 7)

July 27, 1989:
The new Harriman Dispatch Center in Omaha was officially dedicated. (Pacific RailNews, Issue 311, October 1989, page 13)

Corporate Events

Sale of UP Interest in Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal

On January 19, 1990, Union Pacific (through its Union Pacific Realty subsidiary) exchanged its 23% ownership of Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal to Santa Fe Pacific Realty (a subsidiary of Santa Fe Pacific Corp., the merged parent companies of AT&SF and Southern Pacific), in exchange for property previously owned by LAUPT. (Railroad Retirement Board Employer Determination)

 

Corporate Events

UP Buys Interest in Omaha Royals Minor League Baseball Team

During the summer of 1991, Union Pacific Corporation bought half interest in the Omaha Royals, a minor league baseball team.(Pacific RailNews, August 1991, page 4)

"UP Buys Into Royals: In a move aimed more at public relations kudos than corporate profits, UP has entered the world of minor league baseball by agreeing to buy a 49 percent interest in the Triple-A Omaha Royals. Although UP was not seeking a baseball team to purchase, Chairman Mike Walsh struck the deal when it became apparent that Omaha might lose the Royals if a local buyer was not found for the team.

"UP agreed to put up half of the $5 million needed to buy the team. The other half of the money will come from Craig Stein, an experienced and successful minor league owner—and a longtime friend of UP Corp. Chairman Drew Lewis—who will act as managing partner. The one condition insisted upon by Walsh was that any move of the Royals out of Omaha would have to be done with the consent of the railroad."

May 1993:
UP set up a concrete tie facility in Ogden. Quoting Pacific RailNews, issue 356, July 1993, page 49:

A major manufacturer of concrete ties, CXT Inc. of Spokane, Wash., announced the signing of a six-year contract with UP. During this period, 50 percent of CXT's annual production will go to UP. Approximately one-third of this total will be used in the UP track expansion programs on the Marysville Subdivision in Kansas and Nebraska plus the Blue Mountain project in Oregon. CXT will establish a shipping depot in Ogden, Utah, where the concrete ties will be stockpiled for delivery.

August 3, 1995:
UP and SP announced on August 3, 1995 that they intended to consolidate their operations and merge. In Utah, both Geneva Steel and Kennecott Utah Copper were concerned that the new rail-monopoly in the state would result in increased rates. Geneva shipped about 70 percent of its finished products by rail, using either UP or SP. UP has agreed to allow a second railroad to have access to serve companies that were once served by both railroads, but following the merger, would be only served by the new merged company. At the time of the proposed merger, SP operated 564 miles of route in Utah, with 300 employees, and UP operated 859 miles of track in Utah, with 1,500 employees. (Ogden Standard Examiner, August 21, 1995, p. 4A)

September 11, 1996:
Union Pacific received federal Surface Transportation Board approval to control Southern Pacific Rail Corporation (formerly Rio Grande Industries), including its Southern Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande Western subsidiaries.

(See UP in Utah, 1996 to today, for continuation of this chronology history.)

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