Western Pacific in Utah

Everything WP, East of Wendover.

Compiled by Don Strack

This page was last updated on June 23, 2007.

(This is a work in progress since 1978 — research continues.)

Chronology History
Station Summary (including branch lines)

CHRONOLOGY HISTORY

March 3, 1903:
Western Pacific Railway was organized in California to build from Salt Lake City to Oakland, Calif., and incorporated also in California on March 6, 1903. (Gilbert H. Kneiss "Fifty Candles for Western Pacific" in Mileposts [Western Pacific employee magazine], March 1953; see also LeMassena, Rio Grande to the Pacific, p. 265)

May 24, 1906:
Construction of WP began in Utah, matching the initial construction of WP at Oakland on January 2, 1906. (LeMassena, p. 265)

Late 1907:
Freight service began on WP between Salt Lake City and Shafter, Nev., interchanging with the Nevada Northern Railway, owned and operated by the new Nevada Consolidated Copper Co. (LeMassena, p. 267)

November 1, 1909:
WP completed between Salt Lake City and Oakland, with the last spike being driven at Keddie, Calif. (LeMassena, p. 267)

December 1, 1909:
Freight service was started between Salt Lake City and Oakland. (Gilbert H. Kneiss "Fifty Candles for Western Pacific" in Mileposts [Western Pacific employee magazine], March 1953)

August 1, 1910:
Passenger service began between Salt Lake City and Oakland. (LeMassena, p. 267)

June 1916:
Western Pacific Railway reorganized as the Western Pacific Railroad Company. This was a California corporation fully controlled by Western Pacific Railroad Corporation, a Delaware holding corporation. (LeMassena, p. 269)

WP's original mortgage prevented construction of branch and feeder lines until the mainline was completed. The reorganized company did not have that limitation and construction of branchlines soon began. (Gilbert H. Kneiss "Fifty Candles for Western Pacific" in Mileposts [Western Pacific employee magazine], March 1953)

December 1916:
News item about Utah Construction Company having been awarded the contract to build the Western Pacific's Tooele Branch. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 18, number 17, December 15, 1916, p.34, "Trade Notes")

December 28, 1917:
Western Pacific came under federal USRA control. (Gilbert H. Kneiss "Fifty Candles for Western Pacific" in Mileposts [Western Pacific employee magazine], March 1953)

1918:
WP completed a branch from Burmester to Tooele Junction, to interchange with the newly completed Tooele Valley Railway. (LeMassena, p. 269)

1918:
WP completed a branch from Ellerbeck to limestone quarries at Dolomite and Flux. (LeMassena, p. 269)

May 13, 1919:
WP received Utah PSC approval to close the agency at Low. Used primarily for water and feed shipments for sheep ranchers, along with occasional ore shipments. (Utah Public Service Commission, Case 179)

June 1929:
D&RGW's Roper Yard in south Salt Lake City was designated as WP's Salt Lake City freight terminal. (Track and Time, Jeff Asay, page 140, based on date of WP employee Eastern Division timetable 12, dated June 9, 1929)

December 17, 1929:
WP received Utah PSC approval to close the agency at Salduro, located 8 miles east of Wendover. The agency was opened in 1917 to serve a potash and salt plant, which has since closed. (Utah Public Service Commission, Case 1147)

(circa February 1932):
State Road Commission received Utah PSC approval to construct a concrete overpass over the Union Pacific Railroad and the Western Pacific Railroad for a new state highway, called the Garfield Cut-off. (Utah Public Service Commission, Case 1263)

February 11, 1944:
The D&RGW AFE for the line change that resulted in the Grant Tower automatic interlocking was approved. The documentation to support the AFE shows that there was a 17-lever mechanical interlocking at the combined WP/D&RGW and LA&SL/D&RGW crossing along 700 West and South Temple streets. The formal completion date for the line change was December 20, 1952, and for the tower building itself, the formal completion date is shown as May 20, 1950. (D&RGW AFE records on file at Colorado Railroad Museum) (more details are on this D&RGW page)

Industry Events

June 17, 1947 — The federal Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) ordered all railroads to install automatic block signals on all lines where freight trains operated at 50 mph or more, or where passenger trains operated at 60 mph or more. The ICC order required the installation of either an automatic block system (ABS), or a centralized traffic control system (CTC) for lines (Track and Time, Jeff Asay, page 76)

A further clarification of this ICC order comes from Mark Hemphill: "Actually the ICC order required the initiation only of a block system, manual or automatic, in order to exceed 49/59 mph. Automatic block signal systems include ABS, CTC, and various types of cab signal systems. Manual block systems persisted in the U.S. after this date and in fact I dispatched Manual Block-DTC on the KCS in 2000, where we operated freight trains at 60 mph in dark territory." (Mark Hemphill email, October 20, 2007)

1944-1951, Grant Tower Interchange

Between 1944 and about 1951, D&RGW, UP, and WP worked together to construct a new interchange in downtown Salt Lake City. (click here for a separate page about the "Grant Tower Interlocking", located just west of UP's Salt Lake City passenger depot.)

April 1953:
WP installed centralized traffic control (CTC) between Wendover and Pollard Junction in Salt Lake City (Pollard Junction was where WP freight trains turned south at about 100 South and 700 West, to travel along D&RGW's main line to Roper Yard.) (Track and Time, Jeff Asay, page 140, based on date of WP employee Eastern Division timetable 52, dated April 26, 1953)

1959
WP joined Trailer Train, the national trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC) pool. In that same year, WP started TOFC service, better known as "piggyback" service, between Salt Lake City and Oakland. WP, along with GN and AT&SF, had started piggyback service between Seattle and Los Angeles via the Inside Gateway by way of Bieber, Calif., in 1954. Competitors SP and UP joined Trailer Train in 1960, and WP's connecting road at Salt Lake City, D&RGW, joined in 1963. (The Tioga Group, Intermodal Timeline, 1954 to 1966, http://www.tiogagroup.com/page22.html )

October 2, 1960:
Last day of operation for WP's Zephyrette, the self-propelled single-unit rail diesel car (RDC) between Salt Lake City and Oakland. The RDC was operated as WP train 1 and 2. (Track and Time, Jeff Asay, page 140)

1965:
Southern Pacific and Santa Fe each attempted to control Western Pacific. The action was begun in 1960 and ICC took until 1965 to hand down its decision against SP and AT&SF. (ICC report re. Southern Pacific request for control of Western Pacific, 1965, ICC Finance Docket 21314)

May 1967:
WP and UP completed a line change to allow the construction of today's I-80, west of Salt Lake City. Included was a new line for WP from about 1000 West, paralleling UP's LA&SL line west to Gladiola Street, at about 3200 West. WP's mainline was abandoned upon completion of the line change, which included a new location called "WP-UP Junction" at about 1100 West. The original WP/LA&SL diamond crossing at Navajo Street was abandoned and the tracks between the new WP-UP Junction and Smelter, 15 miles to the west, were operated as joint trackage. (Track and Time, by Jeff Asay, page 94)

WP-UP Junction, a double crossover at about 1100 West, was added in 1967 to replace the "Navajo Street" diamond-crossing at about 1400 West. As noted above, Jeff Asay wrote that the change was to put the WP and UP(LA&SL) lines west from Salt Lake City, on a common alignment in preparation for what today is I-80, and the new superhighway's crossing over the two rail lines at Cheyenne Street (about 1550 West). With the common ownership of both UP and WP lines after the 1983 merger, the need went away to crossover to WP-owned tracks before the ownership changed at the Jordan River, and the double crossover was moved several miles west to Orange Street, about a mile west of Redwood Road. (click here for a Google map.) The map shows that the abandoned WP route was used as the location for Interstate 80, including the later interchange between I-80 and the later I-215 Belt Route, completed in 1985-1986.

December 21, 1970:
Western Pacific Industries was organized to control Western Pacific Railroad as a subsidiary. By June 17, 1971, the holding company had acquired about 95 percent of the outstanding stock of the railroad company.

December 1, 1970:
Alfred E. Perlman became president of Western Pacific Railroad.

January 1, 1973:
R. G. "Mike" Flannery became President and CEO of Western Pacific Railroad. Mr. Flannery had come to WP from Penn Central along with A. E. Perlman as Perlman's first Executive Vice President.

February 16, 1978:
Western Pacific Railroad was sold to Newrail Company, Inc., a company organized by Western Pacific's management and officers, including the road's president and CEO R. G. Flannery, to buy the railroad from its parent holding comapny Western Pacific Industries, Inc. The parent company had announced in 1977 to sell its railroad subsidiary. The federal ICC approved the sale on January 26, 1979. (see also: Newrail Co. -- Purchase -- Western Pacific R.R. ("Newrail"), 354 I.C.C. 885, 899-901, 1979) The sale was approved by the railroad's shareholders on November 1, 1978. Included in the sale was the assets and business of Western Pacific Railroad, Sacramento Northern Railroad, Tidewater Southern Railroad, and non-railroad subsidiaries Standard Realty and Development Corp., Delta Finance Company and the WP Transport trucking company.

April 4, 1979:
The sale of the assets and liabilities (but not the stock) of Western Pacific Railroad to Newrail took effect. On the same day, Newrail changed its name to Western Pacific Railroad, and the previous railroad company controlled by Western Pacific Industries changed its name to OldWestCo. WPI then owned only a railroad company with no assets.

January 23, 1980:
Western Pacific's board of directors announced that they had accepted an offer from Union Pacific Railroad for the control of WP by UP. UP had announced on January 8, 1980, its intention to buy the Western Pacific.

September 15, 1980:
UP and WP filed their request for UP control of WP with the federal ICC. The ICC accepted the application for merger and control on October 15th. Initial plans were for WP to remain indepent and become UP's fourth operating district (along side UP's existing three districts: Eastern, Northwestern, and South-Central).

June 9, 1982:
Robert C. Marquis became president and CEO of WP after R. G. Flannery left to become president and CEO of Missouri Pacific Railroad.

October 20, 1982:
The federal ICC approved the control of WP by UP. The decision had been announced on September 13th.

January 1, 1983:
Union Pacific's purchase and control of Western Pacific became effective. The sale cleared its last legal challenge and was approved by the U. S. Supreme Court on December 22, 1982, the date that is usually given as the date of the UP-WP "merger".

January 11, 1983:
WP's board of directors met to confirm that Western Pacific's status as a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad Company.

(See also Western Pacific History, WP Lives)

(All events on former WP trackage and locations after January 1983 are covered as part of the coverage for Union Pacific in Utah. Click here for UP in Utah.)

WP IN UTAH, STATION SUMMARY (West to East)

Utah/Nevada state line (MP 805.5)

Wendover (MP 806.3)

Siding, 6,215 feet long, double ended
Five-track yard
Wye
Depot building

Longest straight and level track in the U.S.

Between Wendover (mile post 806.3) and mile post 850, about midway between Knolls and Clive, lies the longest straight and level railroad track in the U. S.

Blair (MP 808.6)

Industrial spurs

Silsbee (MP 811.6)

Retired after 1937

Salduro (MP 815.4)

Siding, 6,140 feet long, double ended
Agency closed, December 1929

Arinosa (MP 825.16)

Siding, 6,140 feet long, double ended

Barro (MP 834.9)

Siding, 6,160 feet long, double ended

Knolls (MP 845.16)

Siding, 6,150 feet long, double ended
Depot building

Clive (MP 854.20)

Siding, 6,160 feet long, double ended

Argonite (MP 861.5)

Siding, 440 feet long, connected to mainline at east end

Low (MP 866.1)

Siding, 6,145 feet long, double ended
Agency closed, May 1919
Depot building

Low Hill

Marblehead (MP 870.8)

Siding, 1,735 feet long, double ended
Connection with Marblehead Branch, 4.7 miles long

Marblehead Branch

The Operating Department considered it a branch, with a full listing in the employee timetables, while the Engineering Department apparently considered it nothing more than a 4.87 mile long spur. (information from Thom Anderson)
An article in the WP Mileposts magazine stated that the dolomite (lime rock) traffic from the plant began in June 1958, replacing lime rock that had been shipped to U. S. Steel's Geneva plant from Illinois. The name Marblehead comes from the company in Illinois, which located a deposit in Utah, and created a subsidiary company for its new operations. The reason may have been either to reduce the transportation distance and/or charges, or if there was a problem with the deposit in Illinois, such as depletion or degredation of the deposit there. The branch is apparently unused at this point in early 2006, since Geneva Steel has closed. The branch has been used by UP on several occasions for storage of excess intermodal flat cars. The article in WP Mileposts mentioned a rather large deposit at the Marblehead location, and other uses, including railroad ballast. (part from Thom Anderson)
The 1985 branchline summary does show a Marblehead Branch, but only on the profile for the main line. It leaves the main at Marblehead, but no length or date of construction is shown.
Google Map

Delle (MP 878.57)

Siding, 8,080 feet long, double ended
Wye at east end
Connection with Rowley Branch
Depot building
First known as Hog Back Pass, renamed to Delle in (?)

Delle/Rowley Branch

Originally known as Delle Branch; changed to Rowley Branch in about 1972 (shown as Delle Branch in Salt Lake Division employee timetable, dated 1970; shown as Rowley Branch in WP System Employee Timetable No. 1, dated June 11, 1972)
Rowley is named for Edward R. Rowley, one-time CEO of National Lead (NL) from 1968 to 1974. Rowley died in 1982.
WP's engineering department continued to refer to it as the Delle Branch in the profile books until the sale of WP to UP in 1983.
Located at the north end of the Rowley Branch is the Rowley plant of Magnesium Corporation of America (MagCorp), known as U. S. Magnesium Corp., after a 2002 reorganization. This plant was completed in 1972, and was notorious during 2001 as being the largest single point to generate air pollution in the nation. MagCorp was the oldest primary magnesium producer in the United States, and the third largest in the world. The Rowley plant was built by National Industries for its National Lead subsidiary, and was sold to Amax Magnesium in 1980. Amax sold the plant to MagCorp in 1989.
Constructed in about 1965 (no listing in one of the 1965 employee timetables; shown as Delle Branch in Salt Lake Division employee timetable, dated 1970)
The 1985 UP branchline summary shows the branch from Delle as the Rowley Branch, without a year of construction.
Google Map

Timpie (Quarry) (MP 885.77)

Siding, 3,600 feet long, double ended

Ellerbeck (MP 892.9)

Connection with Ellerbeck/Dolomite Branch

Ellerbeck/Dolomite Branch

WP completed the Ellerbeck/Dolomite branches in 1918 to serve limestone quarries at Dolomite and Flux. (LeMassena, p. 269)
The 1985 UP branchline summary shows the Ellerbeck Branch as connecting with the main line at Ellerbeck, and terminating at Flux, and built in 1917.
A spur leaves the Ellerbeck Branch at Dollomite Junction and terminates at Dollomite. This spur is shown as the 'K' Line, and was built in 1917-1918.
Stations:
- Ellerbeck (MP 0.0)
- Wye (MP 2.7)
- Flux (MP 3.7) siding, 8 cars capacity
- Dolomite (MP 4.7) spur, 3 cars capacity
Google Map

Solar (MP 893.3)

Connection with Solar Salt Spur

Spray (old location; MP 896.7)

Renamed to Burmester before 1937

Burmester (MP 896.7)

Siding, 6,165 feet long, double ended
Three-track yard
Wye at east end
Connection with Warner Branch
Moved to MP 897.1 in 1983
Small wooden depot removed circa 1974 (Trainorders.com, March 22, 2003)
Site of abandoned salt works (Trainorders.com, March 22, 2003)

Warner/Tooele Branch

Warner Branch was shown in UP's Timetable No. 7 (the first post merger timetable), dated July 17, 1983, but not in Timetable No. 8, dated November 20, 1983.
Warner Branch was shown in the 1985 UP branchline summary, leaving the main from Burmester, but by 1985 UP had reclassified this as a side track.
Tracks from Marshall to Tooele/Warner were removed circa June 2003. (Trainorders.com, June 21, 2003)
Stations:

Burmester (MP 0.0) sidings, 125 cars capacity
Marshall (MP 7.0) siding, 22 cars capacity
Tooele Ordnance Depot Connection (MP 13.5)
Warner (MP 15.5) sidings, 77 cars capacity

Google Map of Tooele-Warner area

Grants (MP 896.9)

Depot building

Spray (new location; MP 902.4)

Siding, 40 car capacity

Garfield Pavilion (MP 909.55)

Retired in (?)

Lakepoint (MP 906.3)

Connection with Leslie Salt Spur

Lago (MP 907.7)

Retired

Garfield Pit (MP 911.73)

Two yard tracks
Loadout of slag from Kennecott Copper smelter
Connection with Union Pacific
Connection with Bingham & Garfield
Connection to Linde Air Products Spur
Known as Smelter on Union Pacific

B&G Crossing (MP 912.1)

Siding, 25 car capacity

Garfield (MP 913.15)

Siding, 6,050 feet long, double ended
Connection with spur to phosphate plant north of tracks
Connection with Union Pacific at east end

LA&SL Connection (MP 913.6)

Siding, 14 cars capacity

Saltus (MP 915)

Siding, 3 cars capacity

Fox (MP 920.8)

Terminal (MP 922.07)

Connection with spur to Utah Power & Light
5600 West in Salt Lake City
Spur, access from west, 20 cars capacity

Buena Vista (MP 924.3)

Connection to Buena Vista Spur, north of mainline, spur crossed by Salt Lake Garfield & Western

LA&SL Crossing (MP 926.3)

A direct main line to main line crossing, without any interchange connection.
Replaced in May 1967 by joint two-track operation between WP-UP Junction and Smelter.
Research from Jeff Asay shows that this location may have had fixed indication distant signals, with special instructions telling the train crews to go to a box at the crossing if the home signal failed to clear. "Since this was just a straight main line to main line crossing, there would be no need for a manned tower."

Jordan River (MP 926.4) (not a formal station)

West of river, north track owned by WP, south track owned by UP (LA&SL)
East of river, south track owned by WP, north track owned by UP (OSL)
Tracks parallel between MP 925.2 and MP 926.7
The Jordan River bridge was also the location of the formal junction between LA&SL and OSL, stemming from the 1903 agreement between Harriman and Clark. The WP track was added on 1906.

OSL Crossing (MP 926.7)

Likely an industrial spur that accessed a shipper on the south side of the south (WP) track at this location

WP-UP Junction (MP 926.7)

not shown on track profile
Added in May 1967
Two connector tracks between north (UP) track and south (WP) track to allow two-way traffic on shared trackage between Salt Lake City and Smelter. The tracks were spaced too far apart (about 100 feet) to have the junction be a double crossover.
Located at 11th West.

Pollard Junction (MP 927.2) (later shown as 8th West)

WP freight line turned south to connect with D&RGW line to/from Ogden

D&RGW Crossing (MP 927.3)

Site of a D&RGW 17-lever manual interlocking to protect D&RGW crossing at 700 West of OSL at South Temple, and WP's crossing of D&RGW at 100 South.
Replaced in 1948 by Grant Tower

End of WP track (MP 928.0) (west curb line of 4th West)

Connection with D&RGW passenger line to Union Station
WP passenger line turned south to run along 4th West
Until completion of Grant Tower in 1948, this trackage was part of the Salt Lake Union Station joint trackage. D&RGW passenger trains used this joint trackage from Union Station to its line to Ogden, running north-south in 7th West. The 1948 construction of Grant Tower moved D&RGW's line east to parallel UP's line, with the connecting and crossing trackage being the purpose of Grant Tower. D&RGW Ogden-bound trains then stayed in 4th West, moving past the tower building itself, which was in the middle of a wye. A new track ownership agreement did away with the joint WP/D&RGW trackage that was long the south leg of the wye, designating the west curb line of 4th West as the separation point.
Train movements controlled by D&RGW's Grant Tower
(click here for a separate page about the "Grant Tower Interlocking", located just west of UP's Salt Lake City passenger depot.)

Sources:
WP track profiles, furnished by John Ryczkowski
UP track profiles, dated January 1985, showing former WP trackage, with WP mile posts
WP Eastern Division Employee Timetable 26, dated December 13, 1936