UtahRails.net Copyright 2000-2008 Don Strack

Utah Railway History, After 1960

Compiled by Don Strack

This page was last updated on March 9, 2005.

(Incomplete — research continues.)

At the Provo terminal, the large engine house was torn down in 1981. Also, although there was still a track known as the "brick shed", the matching brick structure that the track name referred to had been torn down in the early 1970s. (email from James Belmont, December 31, 2004)

Utah Railway's parent company, United States Smelting, Refining & Mining over the years diversified its business interests. In 1972 the corporate name was changed to better reflect, for potential investors, the company's mission. The name chosen was UV Industries, using the ticker tape symbols for the company. In 1979 control of UV Industries was purchased by Vincent Posner's Sharon Steel Corp. Posner remained in control until Sharon Steel's bankruptcy in December 1990. The strongest component of the former UV Industries interests in 1990 was Mueller Industries, formerly Mueller Brass. Mueller Brass had been a major component of the United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Company, along with both United States Fuel and Alaska Gold. The interests of United States Fuel have passed to a new component of Mueller Industries called Arava Natural Resources (including the management and operation of Utah Railway) who is in the process of reclaiming its former coal mining activities. The coal mined by United States Fuel, beginning in 1915, was taken under lease from U. S. government lands, called "C" coal. By 1993, Mueller made the business decision to end their coal mining activities and pursue other interests more closely associated with brass. (telephone interviews on October 31, 1994 with John West, general manager of Utah Railway, and Mike Watson, general manager of Arava.)

Utah Railway received regulatory approval to remove its automatic block system on two segments of trackage, from milepost 1.4 to milepost 4.3, near Martin, and from milepost 17.8 to milepost 18.4, near Wattis, consisting of the removal of nine signals. The reason given was that the signals were obsolete. (DOT-FRA Block Signal Application BS-AP 3359, service date August 4, 1995, published in Federal Register, August 9, 1995)

Utah Railway received regulatory approval to abandon its Spring Canyon Branch on December 1, 1995. The trackage involved was from milepost 0.0 at Jacobs to milepost 3.6 at Spring Canyon. No traffic had moved over the line for at least two years. (ICC Docket AB-310X, service date October 26, 1995, published in Federal Register, November 1, 1995)

Utah Railway received regulatory approval to abandon its Wattis Branch on December 1, 1995. The trackage involved was from milepost 0.0 at Wattis Junction to milepost 2.4 at Wattis. No traffic had moved over the line for at least two years. (ICC Docket AB-310, sub 1X, service date October 26, 1995, published in Federal Register, November 1, 1995)

After the Union Pacific/Southern Pacific Merger

As a result of the 1996 merger of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific, in January 1997, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway contracted with Utah Railway to operate its coal and local trains along the UP Central Corridor, over which BNSF was given haulage rights. To handle the new business, Utah Railway will lease an additional eight locomotives, bringing its fleet to 21 locomotives. new coal cuntomers that Utah Railway will serve include Savage Coal Terminal near Price, and Cyprus Amax's Willow Creek mine near Castle Gate. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 4, 1997)

"Utah Railway serves the central Utah coal fields." (UP Online, Volume 2, number 24, posted February 1, 1996, "Around The System")

Utah Railway Agreement — An agreement to allow Utah Railway to expand its operations, if the Union Pacific/Southern Pacific merger is approved, was announced today.

Under the agreement, UP/SP will: grant Utah Railway overhead traffic rights across the SP's line between Utah Railway Junction and Grand Junction, Colorado; allow Utah Railway access to the Savage Coal Terminal near price, Utah; and allow Utah Railway access to the Cyprus Amax's Willow Creek Mine near Castle Gate, Utah.

As part of the agreement, Utah Railway agreed not to raise any objections to operations by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation between Utah Railway Junction and Provo.

This agreement addresses concerns Utah Railway had about the Union Pacific/Southern Pacific merger and it removes a potential obstacle to effective trackage operations by Burlington Northern Santa Fe between Denver and Salt Lake City,' said Dick Davidson, Union Pacific Corporation President.

Gary Barker, Utah Railway president, said, "This agreement directly addresses our concerns with the UP/SP merger. The expansion of Utah Railway's operations will ensure our continued ability to serve the Utah coal industry."

Union Pacific/Southern Pacific combination will provide stronger rail transportation competition throughout the Western states through creation of a rail system with direct routes, service capabilities and financial resources to compete with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation.

As a provision of the September 1996 merger between UP and SP, BNSF was allowed trackage rights along the central corridor between Denver and Stockton, Calif. To operate its local and switching service between Ogden and Provo, BNSF contracted with Utah Railway in April 1997. (Deseret News, April 9, 1997)

Utah's operation of BNSF trains into Ogden began in September 1997. After BNSF contracted with Utah Railway to operate its local service as a provision of the UP-SP merger in September 1996, Utah Railway hired 40 additional employees and leased 13 additional locomotives. During September 1997, Utah's operations consisted of running a train between Provo and Ogden three times each week, delivering cars set out by BNSF at Provo - as many as 20 cars per week. Included in the contract service was regular operation west to Great Salt Lake Minerals at Little Mountain over the former SP line. At the time, Utah was operating with leased GP10 locomotives. (Ogden Standard Examiner, September 26, 1997)

Purchase of Salt Lake City Southern

On September 30, 1999, Utah Railway purchased the Salt Lake City Southern Railroad from RailTex, of San Antonio, Texas.

On August 24, 1999, the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) approved Utah Transit Authority's (UTA) request to take away Salt Lake City Southern's status as a common carrier, subject to another carrier being named to take over freight operations along the UTA line. Salt Lake City Southern (AAR reporting Mark: SLS) had been operating under a lease with UTA to offer freight service on the UTA-owned line since April 1993, after UTA's purchase of the line in March 1993. SLS had been operating under trackage rights donated to it by Union Pacific in 1993. These trackage rights were canceled by the STB, and Utah Railway was allowed these rights with this August 1999 agreement. (STB Finance Docket 33803, service date October 18, 1999)

On August 30, 1999, the STB approved Utah Railway's application to offer freight service over Utah Transit Authority's former UP line between Salt Lake City and Draper. (STB Finance Docket 33785, service date August 30, 1999)

The sale of Salt Lake City Southern to Utah Railway was made final after RailTex had placed its Salt Lake City Southern holdings under the ownership of a new RailTex subsidiary Utah Rail Co., the assets of which are what Utah Railway actually bought.  (San Antonio Business Journal, October 7, 1999)

The new Salt Lake City Southern Railroad (SLCS) operated upon 24.95 miles of trackage owned by Utah Transit Authority, but over which Union Pacific had retained freight train rights. UP had assigned its rights for freight train operations to Salt Lake City Southern, extending from milepost 798.74, at 900 South in Salt Lake City, south to milepost 775.19 at Mount, at the Salt Lake County/Utah County line, including the 1.4 mile Lovendahl Spur at milepost 790.52. The sale was made final on September 30, 1999.  (STB Finance Docket 33803, service date October 26, 1999; Mueller Industries, Form 10K, 1999)

Utah Railway purchased Salt Lake City Southern Railroad from Railtex, Inc., of San Antonio, Texas for $675,000. Railtex operated 30 shortline railroads in 15 states, operating over 3,500 miles of trackage. Railtex had earlier, in 1998, attempted to negotiate the sale of Salt Lake City Southern to Sierra Pacific Rail Group, operators of California & Northern Railroad and Arizona & California Railroad, but the negotiations fell through. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 8, 1999)

(Click here for additional UTA - Salt Lake City Southern information.)

On October 15, 1999, UP granted trackage rights to the new Utah Railway-controlled Salt Lake City Southern Railroad over 2.1 miles of rail line between [D&RGW] milepost 735.8 and [D&RGW] milepost 737.9, on the former D&RGW portion of UP's Provo Subdivision.  The trackage rights included the Midvale siding and crossover track, and would allow Utah Railway access from its Midvale yard to the former SLCS yard on the UTA trackage at Pallas. This was in addition to the almost 25 miles of trackage rights obtained by Utah Railway a month earlier, when it took over the trackage rights previously owned by Salt Lake City Southern. (STB Finance Docket 33808, service date October 18, 1999)

During the motive power changes of late 2001, Utah Railway was operating three coal trains per day, including trains to the IPP plant in Delta. (Ryan Ballard, 29 September 2001)

Sale Of Utah Railway to Genesee & Wyoming

On August 28, 2002, Utah Railway's parent company, Mueller Industries, sold the railroad to Genesee & Wyoming, a company with several other shortline railroad properties nationwide. The stated sale price was $54 million. Utah Railway, and its Salt Lake City Southern Railroad subsidiary, added 45 miles of owned trackage and 378 miles of operated trackage to G&W's existing over 8,000 miles of owned and leased trackage and 2,700 miles of operated trackage. (STB Finance Docket 34235, service date September 16, 2002; Deseret News, August 20, 2002; Salt Lake Tribune, August 21, 2002)

Genesee & Wyoming controlled the following other railroad companies:

G&W also operated freight railroads in Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, and Australia.

G&W's Rail Link subsidiary controlled the following other railroad companies: Carolina Coast Railway (CLNA); Commonwealth Railway (CWRY); and Talleyrand Terminal Railroad (TRR). (GWI purchased Rail Link, Inc., a noncarrier holding company, on November 8, 1996 - STB Docket 33291)

G&W's Emons Transportation Group subsidiary controlled the following railroad companies: York Railway and St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad.

G&W would operate Utah Railway under its Rail Link subsidiary, and named James Davis as the general manager of the new Utah operations. (Railway Age, September 2002, page 20)

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