UTAH RAILWAY
Steam Era (1917-1957)
Research Notes
Compiled by Don Strack
At the time of initial operation of Utah Railway by D&RG in November 1913, the motive power of the combined Southern Utah Railroad and Castle Valley Railroad consisted of Southern Utah 102 and 104, along with Castle Valley 101 and 103, all were 2-8-0s.
Southern Utah originally had an additional 2-8-0 with road number 100 which was transferred in February 1916 to another United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Company (Southern Utah's parent company) smelting operation in El Paso, Texas.
Castle Valley had an additional 2-8-0, number 102, which was not on the railroad at the time that Utah Railway formally took over operations in 1917. The disposition of Castle Valley 102 is unknown.
Southern Utah also had a two-truck Shay, number 50, and a McKeen gasoline motor car. The disposition of the Shay is unknown. The carbody of the McKeen car was placed on the ground at Utah Railway's Martin, Utah shops in 1939, and remained there until late 1992 when it was cut in half and moved to private property for use as a storage shed.
The Utah Railway 2-8-0s spent about 84 percent of their time on the mixed passenger train, until March 1926 when all passenger service was abandoned. The 2-10-2s spent about 15 percent of their time on the mixed train.
Because 2-8-0 numbers 1 and 2 were the smallest of Utah's locomotives, they were usually assigned to the mixed train. Number 2 did most of the duties in 1922, but during 1923. 1924, and 1925, number 1 shared the assignment about a third of the time. The 2-10-2s began to be assigned to the mixed train in 1924, with number 101 doing the duty most often of the 2-10-2s. In 1925, numbers 100 and 103 worked the mixed train several times. There is no mention of the use of the former Southern Utah McKeen car during 1922 to 1926.
During 1923 Utah Railway leased Oregon Short Line 4-6-0 1556, and it was used occasionally on the mixed train.
The Utah Railway 2-10-2's and 2-8-8-0's were built using the same designs as Union Pacific locomotives of the same wheel arrangement, and the locomotives were purchased through the Union Pacific Equipment Association.
Utah 2-10-2's 101-105 were delivered in November and December 1917, just after UP's 2-10-2's 5000-5009.
Utah 2-10-2 106 (Baldwin b/n 53845) came in November 1920, just after UP 2-10-2 5037 (Baldwin b/n 53844).
Utah 2-10-2 107 (b/n 53910) came in December 1920, after UP 2-10-2 5038 (b/n 53909).
Utah 2-10-2 108 (b/n 56201) was delivered in the same month, June 1923, as UP (OR&N) 2-10-2s 5409-5414 (b/n 56195-56200).
In the June 28, 1918 issue of Railway Age, page 1573, in an article about new 2-10-2 locomotives for Union Pacific, the following statements are made,
…locomotives of the 2-10-2 type were designed for this division under the supervision of C. E. Fuller, Superintendent of Motive Power and Machinery, and A. H. Fetters, Mechanical Engineer. Twenty-seven of these engines were built last year by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, fifteen for the Union Pacific, six for the Los Angeles and Salt Lake, and six for the Utah Railway.
The Utah Railway 2-8-8-0s were delivered in 1918, being built by Baldwin rather than ALCo, who built the UP locomotives of the same wheel arrangement.
Utah Railway's 2-8-8-0's were built by Baldwin, to Union Pacific design, possibly to maintain similar design, maintenance and post-construction support as the Utah 2-10-2's. All of UP's 2-8-8-0's were built by ALCo in 1918, 1920, 1923, and 1924.
From The Mixed Train, March 1986, page 3:
Utah Coal Route owned 1,986 cars in 1931, 1,984 cars in 1936, and 1,631 cars in 1953.
Utah Railway tonnages:
1930: 1,569,777 tons coal, 10,538 tons misc.
1931: 1,280,318 tons coal, 7,315 tons misc.
1932: 1,097,287 tons coal, 3,936 tons misc.
1933: 895,255 tons coal, 4,528 tons misc.
1934: 721,212 tons coal, 4,087 tons misc.
1935: 1,014,048 tons coal, 4,783 tons misc.
