Utah Railway Steam Era (1917-1957)

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This page was last updated on March 13, 2016.

Operations By D&RG

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.

A photo by G. M. Best in 1933 shows Utah Railway 2-8-0 no. 2 on a mixed train in Provo.

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.

Utah Railway and Union Pacific

The Utah Railway 2-10-2s and 2-8-8-0s 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.

2-10-2s

Utah 2-10-2s 101-105 were delivered from Baldwin in November and December 1917, after UP's 2-10-2s 5000-5009 (Baldwin, delivered July and August 1917).

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.

Utah 2-10-2 106 (Baldwin b/n 53845) was delivered in November 1920, just after UP 2-10-2 5037 (Baldwin, delivered October 1920).

Utah 2-10-2 107 (Baldwin b/n 53910) was delivered in December 1920, after UP 2-10-2 5038 (Baldwin, delivered October 1920).

Utah 2-10-2 108 (Baldwin b/n 56201) was delivered in June 1923, after UP (OWRR&N) 2-10-2s 5409-5414 (Baldwin, delivered March 1923).

2-8-8-0s

In 1918, Utah Railway received three 2-8-8-0 locomotives, ordered in late 1916 by the Union Pacific Equipment Association. Utah Railway had asked for UP's assistance in the design of these locomotives, with Utah Railway soon to assume the operation of its own trains. UP evaluated the available designs, and determined that the design of fifteen B&O EL-series delivered in 1916 was a good match for the projected and similar service slow speed coal drags on Utah Railway. These three Utah Railway locomotives were very similar to later UP's MC-class, but were built by Baldwin and were about 12,000 pounds lighter (weight on drivers) than the sixteen locomotives delivered in 1918 to UP and OSL. Utah Railway used MC-2 as the class for their locomotives, the same as UP's class.

The Utah Railway three 2-8-8-0s, numbered as 200-202, were delivered in April and June 1918, being built by Baldwin rather than ALCo. The first UP 2-8-8-0 locomotives, numbered as UP 3600-3618, were built by ALCo-Schenectady in May 1918.

Summary

2-8-0s

Leased on December 1, 1917; purchased on July 1, 1918

Road Number	Previous Number	Builder	Type	Date To Utah Ry.	Date Scrapped
Utah 1	CVRR 101	Lima	2-8-0	Jul 1918	May 1939
Utah 2	SURR 102	Lima	2-8-0	Jul 1918	Aug 1939
Utah 3	CVRR 103	Lima	2-8-0	Jul 1918	Apr 1942
Utah 4	SURR 104	Schenectady	2-8-0	Jul 1918	Apr 1956

2-10-2s

Delivered new.

Road Number	Builder	Type	Date To Utah Ry.	Date Scrapped
Utah 100	Baldwin	2-10-2	Nov 1917	Oct 1954
Utah 101	Baldwin	2-10-2	Nov 1917	Sep 1952
Utah 102	Baldwin	2-10-2	Nov 1917	Mar 1957
Utah 103	Baldwin	2-10-2	Nov 1917	Jan 1953
Utah 104	Baldwin	2-10-2	Dec 1917	Mar 1957
Utah 105	Baldwin	2-10-2	Dec 1917	Sep 1953
Utah 106	Baldwin	2-10-2	Nov 1920	Oct 1953
Utah 107	Baldwin	2-10-2	Dec 1920	Sep 1954
Utah 108	Baldwin	2-10-2	Jun 1923	Apr 1955

2-8-8-0s

Delivered new.

Road Number	Builder	Type	Date To Utah Ry.	Date Scrapped
Utah 200	Baldwin	2-8-8-0	Jul 1918	Sep 1954
Utah 201	Baldwin	2-8-8-0	Jul 1918	Mar 1957
Utah 202	Baldwin	2-8-8-0	Aug 1918	Oct 1954

Utah Railway received its first diesel locomotives from American Locomotive Company on January 25, 1952. Numbered as Utah 300, it entered service on February 9th. A total of six locomotives were delivered between January and August 1952, numbered as Utah 300-305.

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