UtahRails.net Copyright 2000-2008 Don Strack

UNION PACIFIC IN UTAH

Compiled by Don Strack

This page was last updated on April 4, 2008.

UNION PACIFIC IN UTAH, 1996 to today

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.

(From here on, this chronological history includes all references to events and actions on former Southern Pacific tracks and locations in Utah, and former Denver & Rio Grande Western tracks and locations in Utah. Click here for SP in Utah prior to September 1996. Click here for D&RGW in Utah prior to October 1988.)

UP-SP Merger Timeline:

August 3, 1995 — Proposed UP-SP merger approved by board of directors of Southern Pacific Rail Corporation, parent company of Southern Pacific Transportation Co., St. Louis Southwestern Railway, SPCSL Corporation, and Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. (SEC Form 10-Q, dated August 6, 1996)

Also on August 3, 1995, various subsidiaries and interested companies controlled by Philip Anschutz, owners of 31.8 percent of SPRC, and Morgan-Stanley, owners of 8.5 percent of SPRC, agreed to vote in favor of the proposed UP-SP merger. (SEC Form 14D-1, dated August 9, 1995)

September 7, 1995 — Twenty-five percent of all outstanding shares of Southern Pacific Rail Corporation sold to UP Acquisition Corporation, a UPRR subsidiary organized for the purpose.  (SEC Form 4, dated October 9, 1996) Shares held in trust pending merger decision by ICC.

September 26, 1995 — UP, SP, and BNSF sign a trackage rights agreement that, following the completion of the merger of UP and SP, would give BNSF access to shippers in Provo, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, Utah. BNSF would operate over both UP's "Feather River" route and SP's Donner Pass line. BNSF would purchase UP's former WP "Inside Gateway" route in Northern California between Keddie and Bieber, linking its Oregon lines with its California network. BNSF would also serve the Oakland-San Jose area via UP trackage rights.

November 30, 1995 — UP filed with the ICC, its application to merge and control the Southern Pacific. The ICC was terminated as a federal agency on January 1, 1996, and the application was transferred to the new Surface Transportation Board.

June 26, 1996 — UP Acquisition Corporation merged with Union Pacific Railroad on June 26, 1996, giving UPRR 25 percent control of SP. (SEC Form 4, dated October 9, 1996) UP Acquisition owned 25 percent of SPRC shares.

July 3, 1996 — UP-SP merger was approved in an STB oral voting conference. (SEC Form 10-Q, dated August 6, 1996)

August 6, 1996 — UP control of SP, including D&RGW and SSW, approved by the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB). The time period was within the allowed 255 day procedural period. (STB Financial Docket 32760)

September 11, 1996 — Southern Pacific Rail Corporation formally merged with UP Holding Corporation, a Union Pacific Corporation subsidiary organized for the purpose. (SEC Form 4, dated October 9, 1996) Union Pacific Corp. owned Union Pacific Railroad, who owned 25 percent of all outstanding shares of SP. The shares are in a voting trust, with stock ownership being different and separate from corporate control.

October 25, 1996 — Southern Pacific Rail Corporation terminated its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (SEC Form 15, dated October 25, 1996)

June 24, 1997:
Union Pacific began using its new Garfield line change. The double-track mainline was moved north to make room for the expansion of Kennecott Utah Copper's tailings pond at Magna. Construction began in late summer 1995. Although traisnwere using the trackage as early as June 18, the formal cutover date for the signals for the Number 1 track (north track) was on June 24. The Number 2 track (south track) was formally placed into service on June 26. Information about the project is difficult to obtain because its cost was fully covered by Kennecott, therefore the railroad has no budget or planning data. They engineered the project, and acted as a contractor to Kennecott to complete it. (Information from Bill Van Trump, Director Track Maintenance, Salt Lake City Service Unit, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 1998)

June 30, 1997:
D&RGW was formally merged with Union Pacific Railroad, including ownership of equipment and the DRGW reporting mark. D&RGW formally ceased operations on June 30, 1997, but on December 31, 1996, D&RGW ceased compensation of employees. From January 1, 1997 to June 30, 1997, D&RGW employees were compensated by Union Pacific. (Railroad Retirement Board, Employee Status Determination, dated December 19, 1997.)

June 30, 1997:
Southern Pacific Chicago St. Louis Corporation (SPCSL) was formally merged with Union Pacific Railroad. SPCSL formally ceased operations on June 30, 1997, but on December 31, 1996, SPCSL ceased compensation of employees. From January 1, 1997 to June 30, 1997, SPCSL employees were compensated by Union Pacific. (Railroad Retirement Board, Employee Status Determination, dated December 19, 1997.)

August 1997:
The last train to travel across Colorado's Tennessee Pass as a westbound unit train moving iron ore in the form of taconite pellets, moving from Mountain Iron, Minn., to Geneva Steel near Provo, Utah. The train crossed the pass on August 23rd and carried SP symbol OMIGV-19, and had two SP GE's on the lead (SP 262 and 219), with two SP GEs and an SP GP60 (SP 108, 241, and 9607) as mid-train helpers, with 94 loads, no empties, no caboose, length of 5,244 feet and loaded weight of 12,145 tons. (Trainorders.com, March 8, 2004)

September 30, 1997:
St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt) was formally merged with Union Pacific Railroad, including ownership of equipment and the SSW reporting mark. SSW formally ceased operations on September 30, 1997, but on December 31, 1996, D&RGW ceased compensation of employees. From January 1, 1997 to September 30, 1997, SSW employees were compensated by Union Pacific. SSW began operations on January 16, 1891. (Railroad Retirement Board, Employee Status Determination.)

SP owned 99.9 percent of SSW at the time of control by UP. Minority portions of SSW were owned by private individuals and institutions. The FRA also owned shares of SSW.

December 1997:
The merger and control of Southern Pacific by Union Pacific in September 1996 made UP's Little Mountain Branch unneeded for access to the Little Mountain industrial complex, giving UP direct access by way of the former SP trackage. UP served notice to the federal Surface Transportation Board on August 12, 1996, that after a 180-day waiting period, service over the Little Mountain Branch would be discontinued. By letter dated December 21, UP notified the STB that service had been discontinued, but that additional time was needed to negotiate trail use for 10 miles of the 12-mile branch. The railroad retained a one-mile segment at the branch's connection to the mainline at Little Mountain Junction, also known as Hot Springs, and another one-mile segment was retained at the Little Mountain end. Both segments were needed for car storage. (STB Docket AB-33, Sub 99X, Decision 31314) Negotiations to turn the abandoned 10 miles of right of way into a trail began in August 1996, and several extensions were requested through following years. All parties reached the needed final agreement in August 2000, and the new Little Mountain Rail Trail was opened to the public in early June 2002. (Salt Lake Tribune, June 3, 2002)

February 1, 1998:
Southern Pacific Transportation Co. was formally merged with Union Pacific Railroad. Union Pacific began operations on July 1, 1897. Southern Pacific began operations on November 26, 1969.

The full name for the Southern Pacific was the Southern Pacific Transportation Co., organized and incorporated in Delaware. To benefit from this corporate location, Union Pacific Railroad, previously a Utah corporation, was merged with Southern Pacific Transportation on February 1, 1998, and on the same day, the Southern Pacific Transportation Co. name was changed to Union Pacific Railroad Co. (SEC Form 8-K, dated February 13, 1998)

(SPT's parent company, Southern Pacific Rail Corporation (formerly Rio Grande Industries), had formally merged with Union Pacific Corporation, parent company of Union Pacific Railroad, on September 11, 1996.)

Corporate Events

April 18, 1998 — Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe sold their jointly-owned Camas Prairie Railroad to Camas Prairie RailNet, a new copororation created for that purpose, and owned by North American RailNet. (part from Railroad Retirement Board Employer Determination)

Camas Prairie Railroad had been organized on November 4, 1909 as a jointly held and operated company of Northern Pacific Railway (later Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway) and Oregon-Washington & Idaho Railroad (later Union Pacific Railroad). (Jeff Asay, Union Pacific Northwest, page 130)

August 27, 1998:
UP CEO Davidson announced changes in the railroad's operations. The railroad, which included the merged SP/D&RGW/SSW and the merged C&NW, was split into three regions, each to be headed by a new Regional Vice President. The new Western Region was to be headed by Jeff Verhaal, headquartered out of Roseville, Calif. Tom Murphy was to be the Assistant Vice President-Operations. Lynn Jensen was to be the new Chief Engineer. Rick Phillippie will be the new General Superintendent Car Maintenance, and Paul Johnson will be the new General Superintendent Locomotive Maintenance.

The new Western Region was to encompass all of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, along with part of Colorado (to Grand Junction), New Mexico (to Lordsburg), and Wyoming (to Green River).

As part of the new Western region, the new Utah Service Unit was to encompass the routes from Grand Junction to Provo, and from Provo to Lynndyl, along with the former LA&SL line from Smelter to Yermo. This new service unit was created to manage the flow of export coal to the Port of Los Angeles, along with the many intermodal trains that operate across the South Central Corridor. The new Salt Lake City Service Unit was to encompass the former WP and SP lines from Portola and Sparks, east to Salt Lake City and Green River, north from Salt Lake City to Pocatello, and east from Pocatello to Granger, along with the line north from Pocatello to Silver Bow, Mont.

Management of the new Utah Service Unit would come under Field Superintendent Ken Ratcliff, and the Salt Lake City Service Unit was to be managed by Field Superintendent Greg Workman.

September 30, 1998:
Union Pacific received federal Surface Transportation Board approval to abandon 3 miles of rail line within Salt Lake City. (STB Docket AB-33, Sub 116X; initially filed on June 12, 1998; decided September 28, 1998)

The trackage to be abandoned included:

The four existing shippers served by the trackage all supported the abandonment:

Portions of the written testimony from the abandonment application:

UP states that the commodities transported over these line segments consist of wheat, flour and other milled grain products, pulpboard or fibreboard, portland cement, railway equipment, and scrap paper. In 1996, 4,068 carloads of traffic moved inbound and 1,877 carloads moved outbound over the line, totaling 5,945 carloads; in 1997, the numbers were 3,347 carloads inbound and 1,649 carloads outbound, totaling 4,996 carloads. UP states that the wheat, flour, and cement traffic will continue to move by rail to and from the area after abandonment. UP indicates that the Provo Subdivision currently consists of 133-pound rail, the Passenger Line Industrial Lead consists of 131-pound rail, and the Provo Subdivision Running Track Passenger Line consists of 115-pound rail.

Petitioner states that the line segments are located on Salt Lake City streets within a city project area which is commonly referred to as the "Gateway Project." UP is seeking authority to discontinue operations and to abandon the segments because the underlying right-of-way is required for other public purposes, i.e., for the Gateway Project. The project requires, in part, the shortening of the viaducts at ground level at 500 West Street and construction of an intermodal transportation facility in the Gateway area. According to UP, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) plans to: (1) reconstruct a segment of Interstate Highway 15 which requires demolition and reconstruction of the viaducts; and (2) shorten the viaducts in order to accommodate the Gateway Project. UP indicates that the shortening of the viaducts and the redevelopment will require removal of portions of the trackage proposed for abandonment here.

UP states that it wants to promptly convey the right-of-way underlying the line segments to UDOT and the City.

The abandonment of the above trackage forced Amtrak to move (in July 1999) from the former D&RGW passenger depot to a temporary intermodal facility directly to the west and located adjacent to the former D&RGW freight line along 600 West. Trains magazine's "NewsWire" reported the following on September 30, 1998:

Thanks to the 2002 Olympics to be held there, Salt Lake City will be getting a new Amtrak station. Presently Amtrak's daily California Zephyr uses a small portion of the former Rio Grande depot. The impetus for the change is that several overhead street crossings that now go over the Union Pacific passenger line and the former Rio Grande station line have to be rebuilt as part of a major highway project before the Olympics, and if those lines can be removed, the new bridges will be much shorter (and less costly). Without the long approach bridges the area around the two lines can more quickly be redeveloped.

The city has had a team of consultants working on the project for the past two years, and has selected architect Eli Naor of VBN Architects of Oakland, who designed the Jack London Square station there. The new Salt Lake City station is to be located on a triangular plot of land where the original D&RGW station was located in the 19th century. It is on the east side of the freight line leading south from Grant Tower interlocking toward Roper Yard. Some little-used freight tracks and sheds will be removed at the site. The station will be centered on the east-west street that the current D&RGW station is centered on, but about 2 blocks farther west. All this change will remove tracks of the former UP Provo Sub, and will leave both the Rio Grande and UP depot buildings with no tracks. The former Rio Grande freight line through the area will remain, as will the current UP main lines that head west.

Grant Tower, which is still standing, is the key junction where UP's two western routes (former Los Angeles & Salt Lake, and Western Pacific) connect with the former Rio Grande and the UP line north to Ogden, and in a related project, Grant Tower trackage will be modified to provide higher-speed curves. Also, a single double-track route west will replace the current separate UP and WP single-track alignments, thus reducing the number of grade crossings.

The new Amtrak station will be a full-service facility with three wide passenger platforms that can accommodate Amtrak and commuter service at the same time. It will include Greyhound and transit district bus routes, as well as the future commuter service. Salt Lake City will remain a service facility for the California Zephyr, and two platforms will be long enough to accommodate the train even with a string of express and mail cars.

September 1998:
During the last week of September 1998, UP operated an average of 43 trains per day between Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah. (UP Update Line, October 1, 1998)

November 2, 1998:
The new Salt Lake City Service Unit and Utah Service Unit each took over the operations from the previous service units, known as the "cut over" date. (UP Online, Volume 4, Number 179, August 27, 1998; Volume 4, Number 180, August 28, 1998; Volume 4, Number 189, September 11, 1998)

April 26, 1999:
UP's tracks along 400 West were officially removed from service when the turnout leading to the trackage was spiked shut at the north end, at Grant Tower. (interview with Rick Durrant, UP operating official)

May 1999:
The removal of UP's tracks along 400 West at 400 South, 500 South, and 600 South was begun by crews of Wasatch Constructors, the contractor for Utah Department of Transportation's rebuilding of I-15 and its approaches to Salt Lake City. The agreement between UDOT, Salt Lake City, and Union Pacific, for the removal of UP tracks, were completed in October 1997 "after many months of tough negotiations". The changes were to remove 66 grade crossings and a total of 4.3 miles of track. The removal of tracks along 500 West (the former D&RGW passenger line) was to begin in June. (Deseret News, May 3, 1999, "End of 400 West Tracks in sight")

July 31, 1999:
Amtrak trains (Train 5/6) left the former D&RGW depot in Salt Lake City for the last time. Amtrak had completed a new, $100,000 temporary station at 350 South 600 West. The move to new station quarters was to accommodate the removal of both the former UP Provo Subdivision along 400 West, and the former D&RGW passenger line 500 West, both as part of the new Gateway Project. Arrivals and departures for Amtrak had been averaging 15 to 25 persons in each direction. (Flimsies, Issue 269, August 13, 1999, pages 9, 10)

Amtrak's Train 5, the westbound California Zephyr, on Saturday July 31, 1999, was the first train to depart from the new Salt Lake depot. (Deseret News, August 7, 1999, "S. L. transit center gets its first tenant")

August 3, 1999:
UP demolished the smokestack at the former Salt Lake diesel shops. (Trainorders.com, August 3, 1999; Flimsies, Issue 269, August 13, 1999, page 8)

September 1999:
During late September 1999, UP operated between 33 and 38 trains per day between Salt Lake City and Ogden. (The Overland, Issue 6, October 1999, p. 11)

Summer 2000:
The rail was being removed from the Marysvale Branch during the summer of 2000. (Roger Zuerlein, email to D&RGW Yahoo discussion group, March 22, 2001)

February 5, 2001:
UP reached an agreement with UTA that granted UTA to share a 20-foot corridor adjacent to UP's mainline between Salt Lake City and Ogden on the condition that UTA acquire a "fee interest" in the UP's mainline corridor between Ogden and Provo. The corridor was not uniform in width, and for UTA to acquire a consistant width for its own tracks, it would have to acquire small strips of additional land from 189 property owners in 60 jurisdictions by way of eminent domain. Senate Bill 256, then before the Uath legislature, would grant UTA the needed power of eminent domain and condemnation to proceed with the needed acquisitions. (Utah League of Cities and Towns, Meeting Minutes, February 19, 2001)

April 20, 2001:
UP received STB approval to abandon the Syracuse Industrial Spur. This trackage extended from Clearfield, Utah, west to 2000 West in Syracuse, a distance of 1.08 miles. This spur was the last remnant of the original Ogden & Syracuse Railway, incorporated and completed in 1887 from Syracuse Junction (later Clearfield) to the shore of the Great Salt Lake. In its application, UP stated that there had been no traffic on the line for the past two years. The last known traffic was boxcar shipments of onions and other vegetables from the C. H. Dredge warehouse, located in the cannery building of the former Kaysville Canning Company. (STB Docket No. AB-33, sub 177X, decided on April 10, 2001)

August 22, 2001:
Utah Central Railway leased from Union Pacific the following Ogden area trackage:

Ballast Sources on former D&RGW:
Smelter slag was loaded at Eilers (AS&R Spur), Leadville, Midvale, Murray, and Garfield, at least in the last 50 years.  If it has a high iron content, it makes excellent ballast.  Those smelters were lead-silver or copper smelters, which typically produce high iron-content slag because the ores contain high quantities of pyrite (iron disulfide, or FeS2). When pyrite is reduced in a reverberatory furnace, the sulfur combines with oxygen and eventually is recovered at the stack and made into sulfuric acid, and the iron becomes slag.  Blast-furnace slag from steel mills is of course intended to contain as little iron as possible (it's mostly silica), which isn't nearly as good a ballast as lead-silver-copper smelter slag. (Mark Hemphill, email to D&RGW Yahoo discussion group, March 5, 2001)

UP's "Dirt Train" on former D&RGW: (from Jim Belmont)
As of March 2001, the UP symbols for the "Dirt Train" were:

Train names on former D&RGW, as of March 2001: (from Jim Belmont)

January 5, 2002:
The first operational train to travel over the reinstated 900 South line was the westbound Wendover Local on January 5, 2002, at 11:25 am. The train was made up of 36 cars, with SD40-2s 3778 and 3686 as motive power. There was a signal crew (Wayne Stewart and John Carter) on hand to ensure the newly installed signals worked properly. (from Chuck Panhorst, via a June 24, 2002 email from Jim Belmont)

February 5, 2002:
Union Pacific donated SP's first SD45 locomotive to the Ogden Union Station railroad museum in Ogden, Utah. (Union Pacific press release)

March 2002:
The Salt Lake City Council approved the closure of 4800 West at 700 South to allow UP to construct its new intermodal facility, situated along its mainline. Access to the new intermodal facility would be from 5600 West, at about 700 South. The new intermodal facility was needed to allow the closure of the existing facility at Beck Street and about 2000 North after UP sold the land there to UTA for its new commuter rail project. (Salt Lake City Council meeting minutes)

May 22, 2002:
Union Pacific received approval from the federal Surface Transportation Authority to sell the following properties to Utah Transit Authority, for use as part of a commuter rail project:

September 2002:
UP sold the former D&RGW mainline between Salt Lake City and Ogden to Utah Transit Authority. By 2005, UTA was well along on plans for the right-of-way's interim use as a trail. (see "Rails To Trails", by Lynn Arave, Deseret Morning News, May 27, 2005)

December 2, 2002:
Union Pacific received approval from the federal Surface Transportation Board to abaondon 3.23 miles of the UP Provo Subdivision from milepost P-772.00 at Cutler (near Lehi) north to milepost P-775.23 at Mount (Point of the Mountain -- at the Utah/Salt Lake County Line). This section of track has been used infrequently for freight car storage. This trackage had been sold to Utah Transit Authority, but UP had retained "perpetual easement and common carrier obligation to conduct freight operations", and this action allowed UP to abandon those rights. (STB Docket AB-33, Sub 192X; notice of intent to abandon published in Salt Lake Tribune, November 8, 2002)

(This 3.23 miles of line was a portion of UP's old Provo Subdivision mainline from Lakota Jct. near Orem, to Salt Lake City's Grant Tower, built as part of the original Utah Southern Railroad in 1872, and shut down as a through route in November 1985. This route once hosted Wyoming's unit iron ore and Geneva's coil steel trains equipped with helpers.)

December 2, 2002:
Union Pacific received approval from the federal Surface Transportation Board to abaondon 2.83 miles of Provo Subdivision (known by this time as the Provo Industrial lead) between mile post 753.27 near Provo (one mile west of Provo) and mile post 756.10 near Gatex (one mile east of Lakota Crossing). There had been no traffic over the line for at least two years. This trackage had been sold to Utah Transit Authority, but UP had retained "perpetual easement and common carrier obligation to conduct freight operations", and this action allowed UP to abandon those rights. (STB Docket AB-33, Sub 193X)

(This 2.83 miles of line was a portion of UP's old Provo Subdivision mainline between provo and the Lakota Crossing with D&RGW, built as part of the original Utah Southern Railroad in 1872).

December 2, 2002:
Union Pacific received approval from the federal Surface Transportation Board to abaondon 5.21 miles of the former D&RGW Bingham Branch, which by this time was officially known as the "Bingham Industrial Lead." This section of track runs from MP 6.60 near Bagley (West Jordan Industrial Park) to MP 11.81 near Lead Mine (Copperton). This trackage had been sold to Utah Transit Authority, but UP had retained "perpetual easement and common carrier obligation to conduct freight operations", and this action allowed UP to abandon those rights. (STB Docket AB-33, Sub 194X; notice of intent to abandon published in Salt Lake Tribune, November 8, 2002)

(This 5.21 miles of trackage hadn't seen any regular use since the mid-1990's when Kennocott's precipitation plant closed at Lead Mine. The line extends from West Jordan's Bagley Industrial Park (home of SME Steel and the Interstate Brick Company) west through Dalton Jct. (connection to the abandoned Lark Branch) up Bingham Canyon to Lead Mine at Copperton. This track was a regular assignment for Rio Grande's fleet of SD7/SD9's and later GP30's.)

July-September 2003:
The rail and ties of the D&RGW line between Salt Lake City and Ogden were removed. The line was sold to Utah Transit Authority in May 2002, with UTA announcing plans in May 2005 to convert the former rail line into it a trail. (email from Larry Deppe, July 18, 2003; Deseret Evening News, May 24, 2005)

October 2003:
Operations on the former D&RGW line over Soldiers Summit (just "Summit" after 1983) included moderate traffic between Provo and Helper. Mostly coal trains, some of which load at CV spur at Wellington, east of Price. BNSF usually ran a manifest one way each way per day. UP infrequently ran a manifest across the line. The Skyline Mine on the Pleasant Valley branch (south from Colton) may have already been shut down. The Utah Railway usually ran daily and employed manned helpers, but most other trains used DPU, or distributed power. UP also operated what had become known as the "Dirt Train," which was at that time running with three former D&RGW SD40T-2 tunnel motors, and a UP SD40-2. the Dirt Train usually departed Helper eastbound in mid-morning and returned in mid-to-late afternoon. On Saturday, the train left Helper around 7:00 a.m. (posted by "rivulet" on Trainorders.com, October 9, 2003)

Some Utah Railway trains used UP motive power. An coal empty coming over Soldier with only three units was likely a Utah train. UP empties seemed to run with four or more units. The Utah helpers usually came out to shove their trains and any BNSF train as needed. On Monday through Friday, Utah also ran the IPPX train, supposedly coming out of Provo in the 0600-0700 hour, coming over to either Wildcat or the CV Spur. Once loaded, they grabbed helpers at either Martin or Helper, respectively, and headed on up the hill. Helpers can cut out at Colton or on top. The Utah road train is currently running all MK-5000s with five matched SD-50s for helpers. Utah 5005 was in G&W orange. Also, the power was reversed if they load at Wildcat, and will turn with the train on the CV Spur. BNSF had two freights each way, each day, with occasional extra trains, like the coil steel U-JOLPIT train. (posted by "KoloradoKid" on Trainorders.com, October 9, 2003)

January 2004:
Union Pacific was operating two locals on the Ogden Subdivision, including the Malad Local six days per week between Brigham City and the Nucor Steel plant at Plymouth, 31 miles to the north. The other local was the Cache Valley Local, which was operating five days per week between Cache Junction and Logan, and between Logan and Preston, Idaho. (James Belmont, posted to Trainorders.com, January 30, 2004)

June 22, 2005:
UP received federal Surface Transportation Board approval to abandon its rail operations on the Sugar House Branch between milepost 0.0 near Roper Yard, and the end of the branch at milepost 2.74 in Salt Lake City's Sugar House district. The abandoned line was to become a rail-trail, with UTA reserving the right to reactivate or reconstruct the line for future rail service. (STB Docket AB-33, sub 195X, decided on June 16, 2005)

The Sugar House Branch was sold to Utah Transit Authority in 2002, as part of a package of several other UP properties that UTA needed for future light rail projects.

The last rail business on the branch was apparently in late 2003 to Burton Lumber Co., and to Harbison Walker Refactories, which both relocated their rail business to other sites with access to UP's rail network. UP sought to abandon the line because of the changing nature of the neighborhoods along the line (away from light industrial uses), together with low rail activity and low profitability of serving businesses along the line.

The Sugar House Branch was constructed by Rio Grande Western Railway in 1900 as a cutoff to allow Park City-bound trains direct access to the Park City Branch which ran east of Sugar House. Previously, access to the Park City Branch was via trackage of the former Salt Lake & Fort Douglas Railway in Salt Lake City, along 800 South, then to Sugar House by way of a route along today's McClelland Street. Continued suburban growth in Salt Lake City's southeast quandrant was making railroad operations difficult, leading to construction of the new Park City Branch between Roper and Sugar House in 1900. Traffic was reduced in 1948 when D&RGW abandoned its line to Park City, at which time the line was reduced from a "Branch" to a "Spur", ending at LeGrand station, 0.4 mile down-canyon from the cement quarry. In January 1956 the line between Sugar House and the cement quarry (about five miles) was abandoned due to Utah's highway department wanting the right of way to expand U. S. 40 in Parleys Canyon. After the 1956 changes, rail traffic was centered in Sugar House itself with customers such as Granite Furniture and their regular "carload" sales.

April 2006:
UP realigned trackage in Farmington to allow the addition of new tracks for UTA's FrontRunner commuter rail, moving Track No. 2 (the west track) to the inside of the curve. UP also began the installation of new signal bridges to accomadate the new triple track, replacing the existing trackside signals on the existing double track. The first new signal bridge was at Centerville, with others at Glovers Lane (about Mile Post 794) and Shepard Lane (about Mile Post 801).

June 2, 2006:
Union Pacific received federal Surface Transportation Board approval to formally abandon the 900 South Line between milepost 780.1, west of Redwood Road, and milepost 782.32, near 400 West, all in Salt Lake City. The line's abandonment was not to actually take place until after the reconfiguration of UP's Grant Tower interchange, which is planned for completion in early 2007 as part of many changes in support of UTA's commuter rail project between Salt Lake City and Ogden. (STB Docket AB-33, sub 237X, decided on May 24, 2006)

The 900 South Line was originally built in 1906 as a direct link with the recently completed San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, to allow passenger trains access to the planned Union Depot in Salt Lake City (completed in mid 1909). The depot was to be sited directly east of the line's route into Salt Lake City from the west, and would have required several difficult train movements to allow trains to operate directly into the depot. By constructing the "Passenger Line", SP,LA&SL trains could enter the depot from the south after traveling along 400 West (then known as 3rd West). The route was used several times a day by UP trains as they proceeded along UP's Los Angeles to Salt Lake City mainline, including UP's City of Los Angeles, Utahn, and Pony Express.

As mentioned above, the passenger line along 900 South was built in 1906. It was actually an extension of OSL's "Enamel Spur" that served an company just east of the RGW passenger line along 500 West. With the soon-to-be-completed SP,LA&SL coming to Salt Lake City, the road needed better access to a planned Union Depot. The Passenger line was a joint project between OSL and SP,LA&SL in which OSL extended its Enamel Spur across both the RGW passenger line and the RGW freight line along 600 West, to a crossing of the Jordan River. From the river west to a new connection called Buena Vista, the line was constructed and owned by SP,LA&SL. In later years, UP used the west portion of the Passenger Line to gain access to the north end of the Small Arms Plant west of Redwood Road. The Small Arms Plant has become a large site for light industry and UP retains access via the former Passenger Line.

Use of the Passenger Line east of Redwood Road was greatly reduced after Amtrak's startup in May 1971, and in 1999, UP suspended service over the portion of the 900 South Line east of Redwood Road (milepost 780.79) to facilitate the Salt Lake City Gateway Area Redevelopment Project and related street improvements. In 2001, UP reactivated the 900 South Line as a freight bypass for through traffic to relieve pressure on its existing routings via Grant Tower.

Elsewhere On UP

July 1, 2006 — Union Pacific reorganized its operating regions to reduce their number from four to three, by doing away with the Central Region. The Central Region covered UP's trackage in Missouri and parts of Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It included the individual service units at Kanas City, St. Louis, Wichita, and North Little Rock. The region was created in 2001 to get regional management closer to daily operations.

The three remaining regions include the (unchanged) Western Region, the Northern Region, and the Southern Region. The former Central Region was divided among the Northern and Southern regions, with the Kansas City and St. Louis service units going to the Northern Region, headquartered in Omaha, and the Wichita and North Little Rock service units going to the Southern Region, headquartered in Spring, Texas. (Houston Chronicle, June 23, 2006; St. Louis Business Journal, June 28, 2006)

September 2006:
Union Pacific employed 1,756 persons in the state of Utah, with an annual payroll of $11.6 million. The railroad operated on 1,333 miles of track, with its operations centered within the Salt Lake City and Ogden terminals, along with a new 260-acre intermodel terminal at 1045 South 5500 West, west of Salt Lake City. (Deseret Morning News, September 24, 2006)

November 2, 2007:
Union Pacific began official use of the new re-aligned Grant Tower trackage. The adjacent right-of-way for Utah Transit Authority's commuter rail was located and partially graded; UTA trackage was laid and in place by December 28, 2007.

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