Great Salt Lake & Hot Springs Railway
Salt Lake & Ogden Railway
(based on original research by George Pitchard)
Great Salt Lake & Hot Springs Railway was incorporated in November of 1890, sold to the Salt Lake & Ogden Railway in October 1896, and name changed to Bamberger Electric Railroad in August of 1917. The SL&O had been created in March 1896 specifically to purchase the GSL&HS.
The GSL&HS started out small, having just a mile of track when it began operations in 1891; initial plans were a bit grandiose - a route from the Utah-Wyoming line to the Utah-Nevada line, via Ogden and Salt Lake City, is said to have been surveyed! Rationality reasserted itself in the name Salt Lake & Ogden, which two points became the endpoints of this road in August of 1908. Planning was already in hand for the electrification of this road, which began electric operations between Salt Lake City and Ogden in May of 1910. Steam was retained as freight motive power for several years thereafter, and there were still steam locomotives in use in 1916; hulks thereof seem to be on the property well into the thirties.
The GSL&HS started out in 1891 with two new Baldwin 'dummy' engines of the 0-4-2T sort; no new engines were to be acquired until the electrics arrived in 1910-1911. Second-hand locomotives, several from a rather obscure dealer in such, were the rule on the GSL&HS and the S.L.& O. As a result, this is about the sketchiest 'roster' imaginable, barely justifying the label 'roster' at all.
Electrified passenger operations began in May of 1910, with 10 rather classic-looking cars, built by the Jewett Car Co., 40-ton baggage-smoking-passenger cars, 55 feet long overall, designed to run a schedule speed of 30 m.p.h., but capable of speeds in excess of 50 m.p.h. A 'builder's photo' exists, of car number 307.
Freight operations clearly continued under steam power for some time after the pasenger operations became electrified; but that was only a temporary thing, and electric freight locomotive "A" was shipped September 27, 1911 from the McGuire-Cummings Manufacturing Co., for which the Salt Lake & Ogden Ry. paid $8,550.00.
| Road Number |
Wheel Type |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
Cylinders | Drivers | Engine Weight |
Date To SL&O |
Notes |
| 1 | 0-4-2T | Baldwin | 11337 | 6 Nov 1890 | 10x14 in. | 35 in. | 14 Jul 1891 | 1 | |
| 3 | 0-4-2T | Baldwin | 12011 | 1 Jul 1891 | 10x14 in. | 35 in. | Sep 1891 | 1 | |
| ? | 0-4-2T? | ? | ? | before 6 Feb 1899 | 2 | ||||
| 11 | 0-4-2T | Baldwin? | ? | ? | 3 | ||||
| 15 | 4-4-0 | Porter | 396 | 1 Dec 1880 | 13x18 in. | 48 in. | 43,000 lb. | ca. Mar 1893 | 4 |
| 17 | 4-4-0 | Baldwin? | 17x24 in. | 56 in. | 77,100 lb. | Apr 1899 | 5 | ||
| 18 | 4-4-0 | ? | 17x24 in. | 56 in. | 5 | ||||
| 19 | 4-4-0 | Baldwin | 17x24 in. | 56 in. | 77,100 lb. | Apr 1899 | 6 | ||
| 20 | 4-4-0 | C&A RR | 1882 | 17x24 in. | 57 in. | 86,600 lb. | Jun 1908 | 7 | |
| 21 | 0-4-2T | Porter | ? | ? | 8 | ||||
| 22 | 4-6-0 | ? | ? | ca. Mar 1907 | 9 | ||||
| 24 | 0-4-0 | TH&I RR | Feb 1887 | ? | ca. Oct 1908 | 10 | |||
| 26 | 4-4-0 | C&A RR | 1886 | 17x24 in. | 57 in. | 86,600 lb. | May 1909 | 11 |
General Notes:
| a. | C&A RR = Chicago & Alton Railroad |
| b. | TH&I RR = Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad |
Notes:
| 1. | Numbers 1 and 3 were bought new, via a dealer in railway equipment, M.M.Buck & Co.; No. 1 had been built for the Ogden City Railway, No. 8, but not delivered, diverted by Baldwin to GSL&HS No. 1 on June 6, 1891. Numbers 1 and 3 were Baldwin class 6/14-1/3C-73 and -74, respectively, and cost $3,850.00 each, and were to be painted Cadmium Yellow, with gold striping and lettering, "G. S. L. & H. S. Ry." above the windows (both of these were, of course, 0-4-2T street railway 'dummy' engines, or 'motors'. No. 3 ordered June 6, 1891, built 'fresh' as GSL&HS No. 3. |
| 2. | Dummy, number unknown, acquired not later than February 6, 1899 - origin unknown, disposition unknown. |
| 3. | No. 11 - in photos, looks like a Baldwin, but not certain; origin unknown, disposition unknown, but appears to be on the property, out of service, for a very long time. |
| 4. | rblt from narrow gauge, 3/93; No. 15 - perhaps the best-attested locomotive on the roster! At least two very good photos of 4-4-0 No. 15 exist, clearly a Porter, and Porter specification book 'B' shows that Porter c/n 396 ended up in the hands of the Salt Lake & Ogden Ry., as a 56-1/2-inch gauge locomotive; the Salt Lake Herald of April 1, 1893 has an item headed "A Hot Springs Locomotive," which reads: "The Great Salt Lake & Hot Springs road has added a thirty-five ton Porter locomotive to its equipment. The engine, which has been in use before, was converted from a narrow to a broad gauge and thoroughly overhauled, the work being done in the company's shops in this city. It will be used in the freight service, the business of the little road having grown to such proportions that something heavier than the motors is required, about twelve carloads of brick being hauled daily." The engine in question, Porter c/n 396, was built as a three-foot gauge 2-4-0 for the Connotton Valley Railroad, their No. 9, "Mogadore," and by that road rebuilt to a 4-4-0 prior to its sale through the New York Equipment Company to John W. Young in 1889 for his projected Utah Western Railway, which was never completed. Whether the engine saw service on Young's other narrow-gauges at that time is unknown, but probably not; date of sale to the GSL&HS is also uncertain, but will have to be sufficiently before April 1, 1893 to allow for the meagre shop facilities of the GSL&HS to rebuild the thing to standard gauge. From Board of Equalization reports, it was the only 'real' locomotive (i.e., the only non-'motor' on the line prior to the arrival of numbers 17 and 19 in April of 1899; it was rebuilt/overhauled again in 1898-1899, and got new cylinders, etc., from Porter in June of 1906. The engine was sold on February 14, 1911, for $1,500.00 to an unknown purchaser. |
| 5. | Numbers 17 and 18 were acquired together, and arrived on the property in April of 1899 - see Salt Lake Tribune, April 8 and 9, 1899, where they are identified by number, road, and said to be 38-ton engines. From whom or how acquired is not found in any existing records or papers, but a couple of photos of the 19 have appeared, and it, at least, was a Baldwin, a 4-4-0, and an old engine, as it has beaded domes, not used after 1882-1883, and an 'omnibus' cab roof, the sort that curves up in the center, which was not used after sometime in the 1870s. |
| 6. | No. 19 last appears on the Board of Equalization report for January 1, 1914, the last report to show any of the steam locomotives, but is apparently on hand at least into 1916; the No. 17 last appears on the Equalization report for 1908, and none thereafter, while a No. 18 appears for the first time in the report for 1909, which may be the 17, renumbered; either that, or the 17 goes away, and another engine appears as the 18. Less is known of this 18 than of the 17. |
| 7. | x-Chicago & Alton #32, via James T. Gardner; No. 20 - appears to be former Chicago & Alton Railroad No. 32, an engine built (or more likely rebuilt) by that railroad in its shops in 1882, and one of several 4-4-0 engines disposed of by that road in the early years of the past century, this one being sold to James T. Gardner, Chicago, who in turn sold it on June 2, 1908 to the Salt Lake & Ogden Ry. It is also one of the eight engines listed by number on the last Board of Equalization report to show steam locomotives on the S L & O, that of January 1, 1914; and this one, too, seems to be on hand at least into 1916. |
| 8. | Dummy No 21 - an ugly duckling of an engine, judging from the one clear photo so far seen; it was a Porter 0-4-2T, looking as though it has a home-made saddle-tank on it, which it very easily could have, as letters and such indicate that at least one engine suffered such treatment. As it happens, there is an illustration in the Salt Lake Tribune, of 17 April 1899, of a Porter 0-4-2RT, but not having a saddle-tank; however, other details of the two engines match, and are sufficiently eccentric that one is likely to conclude that this engine and the saddle-tanked No. 21 are in likely fact the same engine. A paragraph in the article accompanying the picture of the 0-4-2RT (and other entertaining pictures) relates to the engine in question: "One of the funniest-looking engines was found on the sidetracks of the Salt Lake & Ogden. This is a dummy, or motor, and is called 'Morning Side.' It is an interesting relic in several ways, having been formerly run on the line from Kansas City to Independence, Mo. … President Bamberger bought it when the Great Salt Lake & Hot Springs was first built, but the suburban line on which it first operated is now a part of the Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf. Mr. Bamberger is going to have the dummy painted and put under a shed at Lagoon as a curiosity." Another curiosity is that in the January 1, 1914 Board of Equalization report, No. 21 is valued at $250, whilst the other engines are valued at $200 each, or in the case of dummies 3 and 11, 'no value' whatever. |
| 9. | No. 22 - of this engine, little is known, beyond its acquisition around March of 1907 and that it was a 4-6-0 with a Belpaire firebox. Simon Bamberger fronted the money to acquire this engine, and nothing appears in the letters and such that survive to indicate from or through whom the thing was acquired. This engine, too, is listed in the January 1, 1914 Board of Equalization report, and seems to be on hand into 1916. No other reference has yet come to light. |
| 10. | x-TH&I 147, Vandalia 476; via James T. Gardner; No. 24 - a 'typical' 0-4-0 switcher-type engine, complete with the slope-back tender, bought October 27, 1908 via James T. Gardner. It had been built in the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad's shops in February of 1887 (or 1889), as St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute No. 147 (perhaps it may have been a rebuild of an older engine); it became Vandalia Railroad No. 203, No. 402, and No. 476, in succession, then passed to James T. Gardner, and on to the S L & O. This engine appears on the list of the Board of Equalization's January 1, 1914 report, and likely was still on the property into 1916, after which nothing is known. |
| 11. | x-Chicago & Alton #26, via James T. Gardner; No. 26 - the last steam locomotive acquired by the Salt Lake & Ogden, even as planning for electrification was well in hand, and yet another locomotive acquired through James T. Gardner; this one was formerly Chicago & Alton No. 26, purchased by the SL&O on May 21, 1909. As with No. 20, this engine was built (or rebuilt) by the Chicago & Alton in its own shops, in 1886, and like No. 20, more likely a rebuild of an older engine than an entirely new construction. This engine was not on the January 1, 1914 Board of Equalization report, having been sold on December 31, 1913 to the Salt Lake & Utah Railroad, which road used it in construction work on their then-abuilding electric road south from Salt Lake City towards the center of the state. |
From the Board of Equalization reports show the following (based on research by George Pitchard):
| Date of Report |
Remarks |
| March 1894 | the road added one 'dummy' and one locomotive, the dummy of uncertain origin, but the locomotive clearly being the widened-out Porter 4-4-0, No. 15. |
| March 1897 | the road added one 'dummy' engine (from where?) |
| February 1899 | another dummy was added (see Salt Lake Tribune, March 21, 1898 for probable arrival), and that the one "Locomotive" (No. 15) had been rebuilt (again). |
| February 1900 | two locomotives were added, the report itself giving these additions the numbers 17 and 19. |
| 1901 | three 'Locomotives', numbers 15, 17 and 19 |
| 1906 | one dummy was removed from equipment (which, and why, is of course not stated) |
| 1907 | another dummy was dropped from the equipment. The dummies are not shown by number, but the locomotives are, still as numbers 15, 17 and 19. There are three of the dummies on this report, which may be numbers 3, 11 and 21. |
| 1908 | one locomotive was added, being No. 22 |
| 1909 | one dummy was dropped, and two locomotives were added - numbers 20 and 24; also, No. 18 appears, and 17 does not, so either 17 became 18, or 17 left and 18 came in, two entirely different engines. report shows two dummy motors, numbers not given, and six 'engines, including tenders,' numbers 15, 18, 19, 20, 22 and 24. 15 and 24 are valued at $800 each, the other engines at $1,500 each. The dummies are valued at $400 each. |
| 1910 | one 'engine with tender' was added; it is not identified by number in the report, but clearly it is the No. 26. |
| 1911 | a total of three (3) dummy engines, classes as one 3rd class at $300, one 4th class at $200, and one 'scrap' at $50.00. The now-electrified road did not acquire yet another dummy at this point, but the one sitting around since being dropped between 1908 and 1909, was almost certainly the 'scrap' dummy. |
| 1912 | one 'engine with tender' was dropped; No. 15 was sold in February of 1911, and the 1912 report does show numbers, and 15 is missing. This report shows six 'engines including tenders,' numbers 18, 19, 20, 22, 24 and 26; and, for the first time, numbers the dummys - No. 21, 3rd class, at $250, and numbers 3 and 11, no class or value given. |
| January 1913 | No changes since 1912 report |
| January 1914 | the last report to list steam locomotives of any sort on this road, shows that in 1913 one locomotive (or 'engine including tender) was dropped, and the report specifies that it was No. 26 that was sold. The remaining five (5) 'engines including tenders' are shown as numbers 18, 19, 20, 22 and 24, at a value of $200.00 each; and three (3) Dummy engines, No. 21 at a value of $250.00, and the numbers 3 and 11 at "no value" each. |
| 1915 | The report for 1915 shows no steam power of any sort on the SL&O Ry. |
Other information indicates that seven of the steam engines are still on the property into 1916 (accrued depreciation exceeding $27,000.00 appearing in the accounts in December), and that perhaps No. 21 was sold in 1919; and then we have the recurring tales of derelict locomotives of the steam sort abandoned to weeds and rust well into the 1930s - maybe so.
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