UtahRails.net - Salt Lake, Garfield & Western Railway

Salt Lake, Garfield & Western Railway
Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway

This page was last updated on October 14, 2007.

Additional Sources:

George Pitchard's research — Locomotive information for Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway. (Removed at author's request) #
Interurbans of Utah — Extract of Salt Lake, Garfield & Western portion of Ira Swett's Interurbans of Utah.
Corporate information — Index data from the Utah Secratary of State.

This road was incorporated in September of 1891 as the Saltair Railroad Co., the name being changed in 1892 to Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway, and again changed in October 1916 to Salt Lake, Garfield & Western Ry. Starting out as a steam railroad, it electrified in 1919 (the 'official' date being August 4, 1919), and appears to have ended electric operations in 1952 or 1953. In its steam years, the railroad owned a total of three (3) steam locomotives, two bought new in the early days of the road, the third bought second-hand in 1906; all were of the 4-4-0 type. (George Pitchhard)

Chronology History

January 1, 1893:
Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway operations began. (Poor's 1896 Manual of Railroads, page 346)

May 8, 1918:
The Utah PSC denied SL,G&W’s application to cross the tracks of WP, LA&SL, and B&G at Garfield. An amended application was filed on March 7, 1918 asking for permission to use the B&G’s sand spur crossing of the WP and LA&SL. That application was also denied. The SL,G&W was only permitted to cross the B&G’s sand spur. (Thus the railroad was barred from reaching its namesake city.) On September 1, 1916 $300,000 in bonds were sold to improve and electrify the railroad. (Public Service Commission of Utah, Case 14; Grade Crossing Permit No. 22.)

(no date):
SL,G&W and the Inland Railway received Utah PSC approval to increase rates. “Inland Railway little more than an industry track, operated to facilitate the movement of salt to the market, no outlet, but merely connects the industries it serves with the SL,G&W.” Balance sheet for the Inland Railway shows $6,840.00 investment in steam locomotives and $10,000.00 in capital stock. (Public Service Commission of Utah, Case 135)

October 18, 1930:
SL,G&W received Utah PSC approval to discontinue passenger service to Garfield. Garfield Station on the SL,G&W is located about one mile from Garfield Townsite. (Public Service Commission of Utah, Case 1196)

August 1940:
SL,G&W received Utah PSC approval to install a grade crossing over North Temple at 21st West for a spur to the new U. S. Army Air Base being built on 166 acres to house a Bomber Squadron. Project No. FAP 120-C, at the expense of the U. S. government. Application was filed by Salt Lake City for the U. S. government. (Public Service Commission of Utah, Case 2404)

1947:
Depot on Second South was sold.

July 1954:
Head-on collision; leased U. S. Steel GE center cab number 17 until Christmas 1954.

1962:
Depot on North Temple was sold.

August 1972:
SLG&W received its new D.S. 3 switcher, a GE 45-ton center cab (Extra 2200 South, Issue 38, January-February 1973, page 28)

[Photo Caption] The military's recent policy of selling equipment of a certain age, regardless of make (a troublesome 15 year old Davenport, etc., may be retained over a GE in better running condition but 30 years old), has put a number of drop-cab Caterpillar 17000 powered four motored GE 45-tonners built in 1944-1945 on the used locomotive market. Salt Lake Garfield & Western bought U. S. Army 8519 (27597, 5/44) as their D.S. 3 at Salt Lake City, shown here on January 18, 1973, joining two standard 44 ton units, D.S. 1 and D.S. 2. (Photo by Ken Ardinger)

October 1985:
SLG&W received its new D.S. 7 SW9 switcher. (CTC Board, December 1985)

The SLG&W has purchased a used locomotive to help out with their motive power problems. The "new" locomotive is former BN- 160, which is an SW9. This unit had a few minor mechanical problems when deli- vered in late October by the UP, but was ready to go to work about a week after delivery. This unit will be numbered D.S. 7, and is the largest locomotive on the former interurban diesel roster. It will be painted similar to their Alco S6, the D.S. 4, but with a few modifications. The body will be white, with blue and red stripes and lettering.

The "Saltair Route" is currently in a motive power crunch due to the leasing of some of their power, and the problems with finding parts for their old GE's. The Argee Corporation, which is the contractor cleaning up the radioactive waste from that site adjacent to the ORGW's Roper Yard in Salt Lake City, is using two of the SLG&W's locomotives in their oper- ations. At the site in Salt Lake City, ex-Army 65-ton centercab D.S. 5 is being used to shove hopper cars around. This replaces the D.S. 2, which is a former New York, Ontario and Western GE 44-ton locomotive, which was having engine problems. At Clive, which is along the former WP mainline west of the Great Salt Lake, and where the UP is hauling this waste for disposal, the 65-ton centercab D.S. 6 is being used. This left only the other 44-tonner, the D.S. 1, and the D.S. 4, which is former SP-1207, for power. The Salt Lake, Garfield and Western operates every weekday, starting about 08:00. Now with the SW9, they will use it and the Alco in a rotating schedule to switch the on-line industries, which include the large Morton Salt plant at the end of the line. Also, once or twice per week, the D.S. 4 and the new D.S. 7 will team up to haul a 30 car unit coal train from the DRGW interchange to the Utah Power and Light power plant on South Temple Street. (Ryan Ballard)

July 1988:
SLG&W D.S. 7 was sold to Simplot at Don, Idaho, shipped on July 19, 1988. (Locomotive Notes II, Number 116, page 7, reported by Ryan Ballard)

2007:
Union Pacific's web site shows the following information for SLG&W:

Nature of Firm: SLGW operates freight service from a connection with UP and BNSF at Salt Lake City, UT. The main line system is 10 miles with 5.23 miles of secondary track. Traffic includes plastic, frozen juice, rolled aluminum, furniture, waste water, waste oil, scrap metal, pulpboard, asphalt and polystyrene.
History: The Salt Lake & Los Angles Railway was incorporated September 21, 1891, and opened in February 1892. The present name was adopted October, 1916. In 1988, the railroad merged with the parent company, Hogle Group.

2007:
SLG&W's current operations have been summarized by Ryan Ballard on February 26, 2007:

SLG&W has three SW units, including two ex UP SW10's and a ex SP SW1200 2254, leased from Omitrax but stored at present out of service. They have good customers in an area northwest of Salt Lake in the International Center, and do switching there on Monday thru Friday. The D.S. 9 is used for the mainline train while D.S. 10 does the yard work, and is used for the mainline when D.S. 9 is down. I've never seen them MU'd together but it could happen one day if the trains get heavy enough.

Steam Locomotives (Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway)

Road Number	Wheel Arrangement	Builder	Builder Number	Builder Date	Date To Saltair Route	Date Retired	Notes
1	4-4-0	Rhode Island	2650	May 1892	May 1892	1 Jul 1919	1
2	4-4-0	Rhode Island	2930	Apr 1893	6 May 1893	8 Aug 1921	2
3	4-4-0	Pittsburgh	732	24 May 1884	22 May 1906	8 Aug 1921	2

General Notes:

a.	SL&LA No. 1 was purchased new in May 1892. (16x24 cylinders, 62 inch drivers, engine weight 114,600 pounds, locomotive and tender 154,600 pounds)
	Additional notes about SL&LA No. 1 from George Pitchard: No. 1 had been ordered by late March of 1892 (Salt Lake Tribune, March 29, 1892), and had been received in Salt Lake City by May 23rd, 1892 (Salt Lake Tribube, May 23, 1892), and set up; however, since the SL&LA hadn't the track, this engine's trial trips were run on the Rio Grande Western Ry. An item in the Tribune of May 28, 1892 reports the engine as having 17x24-inch cylinders and 62-inch drivers, which were painted red. "Final Report Loco. No. 1 Permanently Retired From Service Account Of Defective Boiler And Will Not Be Used By This Company Again. Dated At Salt Lake City July 1st, 1919." (ICC Final Report, August 15, 1919) "Final Report Locomotive No. 1, Boiler No. 2650 Permanently Retired From Service Date Retired, July 1, 1919 Account Of Defective Boiler Locomotive Has Now Been Scrapped And Sold For Junk. Dated At Salt Lake City, Utah, April 7, 1920." (ICC Final Report, April 9, 1920)
b.	SL&LA No. 2 was purchased new in May 1893. (16x24 cylinders, 62 inch drivers, engine weight 114,200 pounds, locomotive and tender 154,200 pounds)
c.	SL&LA No. 3 was built new as Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad No. 37, later "Vandalia" No. 404; sold May 18, 1906 to James T. Gardner, a dealer, for $900; sold by Gardner to SL&LA for $2,800, it arrived in Salt Lake City on May 22, 1906. (18x24 cylinders, 64 inch drivers, engine-only 123,000 pounds)
d.	Source: ICC Form 51, Valuation of Steam Locomotives, and from Poor's 1896 Manual of Railroads, page 346.

Notes:

SL&LA No. 1 was scrapped by April 1920:

"Final Report Loco. No. 1 Permanently Retired From Service Account Of Defective Boiler And Will Not Be Used By This Company Again. Dated At Salt Lake City July 1st, 1919." (ICC Final Report, August 15, 1919)

"Final Report Locomotive No. 1, Boiler No. 2650 Permanently Retired From Service Date Retired, July 1, 1919 Account Of Defective Boiler Locomotive Has Now Been Scrapped And Sold For Junk. Dated At Salt Lake City, Utah, April 7, 1920." (ICC Final Report, April 9, 1920)

SL&LA No. 2 and No. 3 were burned in a fire in SL&LA's car barn on August 8, 1921, and retired:

"Final Report - S.L.G.& W. Locomotive No. 2 and No. 3 - permanently retired from service August 8, 1921 account of fire and will not be used again by this company. Dated at Salt Lake City, Utah, August 20, 1921. Locomotives to be sold for junk." (ICC Final Report, August 20, 1921)

"The fire in question was the one big fire in this road's history, at the Salt Lake car barn, on August 8, 1921; four of the road's new electric motor cars were destroyed or severely damaged, as well as six coaches, five open cars, the barn, and scads of smaller items common to a shop facility. The loss exceeded $65,000, and some of the rolling stock was never actually replaced. Engine No. 3 was not in service at the date of the fire, and, obviously, never saw service again. No. 2 also appears not to have been in actual service at August 8, 1921, but was probably serviceable when needed - until the fire." (George Pitchard)

Electric Car Roster (As of 1946)

Car Number	Notes
1, 2	Ex-Michigan Central open vestibule cars; built by St. Charles Car Company; dismantled.
100	Box car, built for Salt Lake & Utah in 1924; one of a number of cars never received by the SL&U.
102, 103	Tank cars acquired 1946 from Chicago.
104	30-foot flat car.
106	Line car, built on old 30-foot flat; not motorized.
107, SL&U 1005	Flat cars.
---	Water car, for Pavilion and salt factory; ex-UP tender.
201	Passenger trailer; built 1922 by SLG&W; scrapped 1945.
301-313	Open bench, double truck trailers.; built 1922 by SLG&W; of wood and steel construction.
401	Electric freight locomotive; bought 1946; ex-SL&U 104.
500-505	Built 1918 by McGuire-Cummings; steel but wood roof

Six 'steel passenger motor cars' were acquired in mid-1919 from McGuire-Cunmings Manufacturing Co., built at its Paris, Illinois, plant; they were shipped via the 'Big Four' road to St. Louis, thence via Missouri Pacific to Pueblo, and Rio Grande to Salt Lake City. (George Pitchard)

Their exact date of arrival in S.L.C. is not at hand, but it would have been sometime in late May or early June of 1919. These cars were numbered 500-505; three of them, Nos. 501, 504 and 505, were 'destroyed' in the August 8, 1921 fire, and No. 500 damaged. All were eventually rebuilt. We leave the story of the electrics for another to do. (George Pitchard)

Motor cars 500-505 were products of the McGuire-Cummings Car Company; they were ordered in 1917 and delivered the following year. In appearance they were perhaps the plainest of all Utah interurban cars, possessing a short high body with a heavy monitor deck roof. Windows were paired with green glass upper sash. The car bodies and underframes were steel, with wood and canvas roofs. Length of body over buffers was 56'0". Electrical equipment was by General Electric while brakes were Westinghouse. The cars double-end and were geared for a balancing speed of about 45 mph. They originally had a tasteful exterior paint job of dark green trimmed with gold, but in later years this gave way to a garish green body, silver roof, and "Saltair" spelled out in huge orange letters.

Cars 501 and 502 were given flat arch roofs in 1950; perhaps this saved them from being scrapped. They are now de-motorized, being hauled by diesel locomotives. Cars 500, 503, 504 and 505 were scrapped in July 1953 at the American Foundry & Machine Co. in Salt Lake City, along with locomotive 401, the tank car and five open trailers.

Diesel Locomotive Roster

Road Number	Builder/ Model	Builder Number	Builder Date	Previous Number	Date To SLG&W	Date Retired	Notes
D.S. 1	GE 44 ton	15032	15 Aug 1942	NYO&W 105	Dec 1951		1
D.S. 2	GE 44 ton	15028	13 Dec 1941	NYO&W 101	Dec 1951		2
D.S. 3	GE 45 ton	27597	May 1944	USATC 8519	Aug 1972		3
D.S. 4	Alco S-5	81290	May 1955	SP 1207	Dec 1978		4
D.S. 5	GE 65 ton	15889	Feb 1943	USATC 7162	Sep 1980		5
D.S. 6	GE 80 ton	28746	Jul 1946	CC 11	Nov 1982	Jul 1979	6
D.S. 7	EMD SW9	13212	Aug 1951	BN 160	Oct 1985	Nov 1985? Jul 1988?	7
D.S. 8	EMD SW1200	(7696-5)		GWRX 2254	Sep 1997	Jun 2000	8
D.S. 9	EMD/UP SW10			UP 1230	Feb 2000		9
D.S. 10	EMD/UP SW10			UP 1274 (2nd)	Feb 2000		10
G-4	Plymouth ML-3	4161	May 1941	USA 7694	bef 1958	Mar 1958	11