Bamberger Railroad
This page was last updated on April 7, 2008.
Additional Sources:
- Bamberger's Alco RS1 number 570 — An expanded article based on an original piece published in Railroad Model Craftsman in 1988.
- Equipment Rosters — Roster listings of Bamberger locomotives and cars.
- Salt Lake & Ogden — Newspaper coverage, as researched by George Pitchard.
- Bamberger Railroad — An excerpt from Ira Swett's "Interurbans of Utah".
- Bamberger Railroad History —An excerpt from the book "Ogden Rails".
- Simon Bamberger biographical notes.
Predecessor Companies
Great Salt Lake & Hot Springs Railway — Organized on November 22, 1890, with a proposed route from a point at or near the Union Pacific Railway depot in Salt Lake City, then through Salt Lake and Davis Counties to a point at or near Farmington. Also from a point on said railroad line westward through Kinney’s and Gorley’s Improved City Plat of Salt Lake City to some point at or near the Jordan River, a total length of about 20 miles. (corporate information) (more GSL&HS information)
Salt Lake & Ogden Railway — Organized March 14, 1896, named changed on August 14, 1917 to Bamberger Electric Railroad. (corporate information)
The Bamberger Electric Railway was built under the leadership of Simon Bamberger, pioneer Utah coal-mine operator and railroad entrepreneur. Bamberger projected the Ogden-Salt Lake City line as a steam line as early as 1891; and in 1908 Ogden was connected to Salt Lake City on what was known as the Bamberger. The line was electrified on 28 May 1910 and renamed the Bamberger Electric Railway. The business of the line included commuter and shopper travel between Ogden and Salt Lake City as well as heavy summer traffic to Lagoon resort. Bamberger had developed Lagoon at Farmington to compete with the Denver and Rio Grande's resort, Lake Park, on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. In 1908 the Bamberger had five daily trains running both directions. The Ogden depot of the Bamberger was located on Lincoln Avenue just north of 24th Street. On 7 May 1918 the Ogden station, car barn, and some of the passenger equipment were destroyed by fire. Replacement equipment was difficult to obtain until the end of World War I. The advantage the Bamberger had over the Union Pacific line from Ogden to Salt Lake City was that it made stops at most of the small towns on the way, while the UP trains did not normally stop between Ogden and Salt Lake City. In 1914 the electrified Utah-Idaho Central was established, connecting Ogden with Preston, Idaho. A branch line of this road was extended to Plain City. (Richard C. Roberts & Richard W. Sadler, The History of Weber County)
The Bamberger was originally almost entirely double track, but the railroad removed most of its second track when it adopted automatic block signals in the late thirties. About ninety percent of America's other interurban lines were built and operated as single track systems. Notable exceptions with double track were the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee and the Rochester, Syracuse and Eastern; the Pacific Electric is also notable because that system had substantial amounts of route with four parallel tracks. Some systems, such as the Indianapolis and Cincinnati, and the Union Traction, constructed rights-of-way suitable for double track, but only laid single track on one side of these grades. (Hilton p.49)
From Pacific RailNews January 1988 article about interurban speeds in the west, comparing them to BART's then-current speeds:
Based on employee timetables (rounding off the figures in the railroad's favor) there is little doubt that the fastest interurban in the west -- and one of the fastest in the U.S. -- consistently was the Bamberger Railroad between Salt lake City and Ogden, Utah. Its "Flyers" (two roundtrips a day) made the 36.25 mile run in exactly one hour, with the average speed thus being 36.25 mph, on a schedule that allowed six intermediate flagstops for passengers. Bamgerger's limited trains averaged just above 30 mph, locals about 27-28 mph.
What is remarkable about this performance is that the Bamberger achieved the "Flyer" speed on a mainline with considerable single track that was crowded with freight and passenger trains. The Bamberger ran both speedy lightweight "Bullet" cars (acquired in 1939 from the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville) and heavy old interurban cars. (Business was so good during World War II the lightweights built in 1932 had to be removed from some of the "Flyer" schedules because of their limited seating capacity, and old cars were speeded up for the schedules).
Bamberger's top average speed is almost identical to the Oregon Electric's 36.8 mph average on the 121 mile Portland-Eugene line in 1932, shortly before the line was abandoned.
The three 450-class trailers came to Bamberger in 1910 after the original owner, the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railroad, had converted to shorter cars to allow operations of their cars over all parts of their system. Bamberger bought the 62-foot long cars and removed the motors and control equipment, making trailers out of them. The three ex-W,B&AE Niles-built trailers closely matched Bamberger's already existing, eight 56-foot, Niles-built, 310-class motors, and six 400-class trailers, also 56 feet long. (Hilton pp.60, 61, Swett pp.24, 26, 29)
ELECTRIC RAILWAY DEVELOPMENTS IN UTAH— "...the Salt Lake and Ogden Railway (Bamberger line) has purchased during the past year eight new electric motor cars, one 40-ton electric locomotive and fifty box, brick and flat cars, and has built in its own shops one high-speed emergency line car and one caboose. Other improvements include large expenditures to secure better power supply. The company has also announced its intention of building carhouses at Ogden large enough to hold all equipment of the system." (Electric Railway Journal, Volume 43, number 5, January 31, 1914, p.240)
Chronology History
March 23, 1900:
"J. E. Jennings yesterday transferred to S. Bamberger for $2,000.00 the lot on Third West street, now occupied by the shops of the Salt Lake & Ogden. This property is that on which Mr. Bamberger recently instituted condemnation proceedings." (Pitchard, Salt Lake Daily Tribune, 23 March 1900)
September 20, 1920:
Bamberger received Utah PSC approval to construct a single track spur along the west side of 4th West, between Beck Street and 10th North, to connect its railroad with that of the Utah Light and Traction Company on 4th West. (Utah Public Service Commission case number 133)
Early 1927:
Bamberger received Utah PSC approval to operate less-than-carload (LCL) truck service between Salt Lake City and Ogden. (Utah Public Service Commission case number 944)
August 24, 1932:
Bamberger received Utah PSC approval to relocate tracks near Glovers Lane to accommodate construction of the new state highway between Bountiful and Farmington (Project No. FAP 112-A). (Utah Public Service Commission case number 1283)
March 2, 1934:
Utah State Road Commission received Utah PSC approval to construct a concrete subway for U. S. Highway 91 under the Bamberger Railroad in south Bountiful (now the 200 West crossing of 500 West). The crossing was where the most intense highway traffic in the state, at five-thousand cars per day, crossed the most intense railroad traffic in the state, at thirty trains per day. Bamberger called the station "Parkins". (Utah Public Service Commission case number 1512)
July 1938:
Bamberger receivership, F.D. 12017, approved July 8, 1938. (ICC Finance Reports, Volume 228, p.267)
Bamberger Railroad acquisition of Bamberger Electric Railroad, F.D. 12356, approved June 7, 1939. (ICC Finance Reports, Volume 233, p.301)
Bamberger Electric Railroad sold to H. L. Balser, reorganization manager, on October 20. 1938. He then assigned and transferred all his rights to the Bamberger Railroad. The sale was ordered by the court on March 23, 1938.
January 1941:
Bamberger received Utah PSC approval to construct a spur to serve the new Ogden Arsenal. (Utah Public Service Commission case number 2440)
June 1941:
Utah State Road Commission received Utah PSC approval to construct underpass subways for State Highways 193 and 232 (the access roads to Hill Field) at Clearfield and Layton, under the tracks of the Bamberger Railroad. (Utah Public Service Commission case number 2470 and 2471)
May 2, 1945:
Utah State Road Commission received Utah PSC approval to construct an underpass subway for the entrance road to Ogden Arsenal, at Sunset, under the Bamberger railroad. Federal Access Road Project No. DA-WR 156 (1). (Utah Public Service Commission case number 2832)
October 1946:
Bamberger to acquire SL&U tracks in Salt Lake City. F.D. 15449, approved 10/22/46. (ICC Finance Reports, Volume 267, p.806)
December 31, 1946:
Bamberger Railroad and the Salt Lake Terminal Company receive Utah PSC approval to construct a spur at 100 South near 500 West. (Utah Public Service Commission case number 3071)
January 27, 1947:
Bamberger received Utah PSC approval to construct a spur at 800 North and 400 West. (Utah Public Service Commission case number 3084)
April 1947:
Bamberger Railroad acquired by Julian Bamberger. F.D.15644, approved 4/22/47. In F.D. 15643 he also acquired Salt Lake Rail and Bus Terminal, approved 4/22/47. (ICC Finance Reports, Volume 267, p.826)
August 27, 1947:
Bamberger received Utah PSC approval to close and remove the grade crossing at 1500 North in Salt Lake City. The railroad is operating thirty-eight passenger trains per day over the crossing, along with twenty freight and switching movements per day. (Utah Public Service Commission case number 3090)
1957:
Bamberger merger et. al., F.D. 19669, decided April 1, 1957. (ICC Finance Reports, Volume 295, p.826)
1958:
Bamberger to abandon entire operation, F.D. 20202, decided November 25, 1958. Embraced in F.D.20338. (ICC Finance Reports, Volume 307, p.802)
D&RGW to purchase portion of Bamberger, F.D. 20338, decided November 25, 1958. (ICC Finance Reports, Volume 307, p.803)
UP to purchase portion of Bamberger, F.D. 20367, decided November 25, 1958. Embraced in F.D. 20338. (ICC Finance Reports, Volume 307, p.804)
Sources include:
The Interurban Era, by William D. Middleton, Kalmbach Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1961
The Electric Interurban Railways in America, by George W. Hilton and John F. Due, Stanford University Press, 1960
Interurbans of Utah, by Ira L. Swett, Interurbans Special 55, Interurbans, Glendale, California, 1974
Simon Bamberger Biographical Notes
Simon Bamberger page at Utah History To Go
Simon Bamberger, fourth governor of the State of Utah, was born at Darmstadt, Bayern, Germany, February 27, 1847. In 1861, at the age of fourteen years he came to the United States, and in 1869 he became a resident of Utah. He assisted in developing the coal mining interests of Utah and in course of time was made president of the Bamberger Coal Company. His business interests were not confined to mining operations, however, as he has held the positions of director of the Salt Lake Valley Loan and Trust Company and director and treasurer of the Bamberger Electric Railway. In 1898 Mr. Bamberger was elected a member of the board of education of Salt Lake City and continued in that body for five years. He was elected state senator on the democratic ticket in 1902 and served for four years. During that time he increased his acquaintance over the state and became recognized as one of the leaders of the democratic party. In 1916 he was nominated and elected governor for a term of four years. He was Utah's first Democratic governor, first non-Mormon governor, and the oldest, assuming the office at age 71. (part from Utah Since Statehood: Historical and Biographical. Volume I.)
Shortly after coming to Utah in about 1869-1870, he settled in Ogden. He remained in Ogden for just a short time before moving to Salt Lake City where he operated the Delmonico Hotel with a partner. In 1872, Bamberger invested in a silver mine, the Centennial Eureka Mine in Eureka in Juab County. A major vein of silver was struck two years later, making Bamberger a millionaire.
In 1875 he was hired to manage the operations of the San Pete Coal and Coke Company, and its subsidiary San Pete Valley Railway. The coal mine was near Wales in Sanpete County, and the railroad transported coal from the mine to a connection with the Utah Southern Railroad as that road built its line south, reaching Nephi in 1879.
He married Ida Maas in 1881 in Cincinnati, and they had four three children, born between 1883 and 1889: Sidney, Helen, Elsa, and Julian.
In 1882 he organised a connecting railroad, the California Short Line Railroad, a small company with grand ambitions. The CSL only built about three miles of track, all within San Pete Valley. Both the railroad and the coal mine fell on hard times by 1888.
In April 1888 the two companies' London owners replaced Bamberger as general manager of the two companies.
In 1890, he organized the Great Salt Lake & Hot Springs Railway to built an excursion line to becks Hot Springs in northwest Salt Lake City.
In 1890, Simon Bamberger was shown as living at 126 S Main, Salt Lake City, working for Rio Grande Western Railway, and was the proprietor of the Bamberger Quarry Company. (Utah Directory, 1890: Salt Lake City, Logan, and Provo, R.L. Polk and Company, 1890)
Bamberger saw the potential for a localized railroad line between Salt Lake City and Ogden, and by 1895 had extended his Great Salt Lake & Hot Springs Railway as far north as Farmington, where Bamberger built his Lagoon resort to serve as a destination for railroad customers. In 1896 the road was reorganized as the Salt Lake & Ogden Railway to extend the line still further, but construction north of Farmington was delayed until 1902. Ogden was reached in August 1908.
The Bamberger Coal Company was organized on May 16, 1898 to purchase assets and business of Halm-Bamberger Coal Co., incorporated May 21, 1898, name changed to Bamberger Coal & Grain Co. on August 5, 1903, name changed back to Bamberger Coal Co. on June 30, 1939, name changed to Castle Gate Coal Co. on January 14, 1949, voluntarily dissolved on August 10, 1950 with Utah Fuel owning all 7,500 shares of stock (Utah #2233)
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