What's New at UtahRails.net
All changes and updates are shown below.
You can find the most recent changes at UtahRails.net by using the special Google searches below, which look at each page's "This page was last updated on..." date. (A new tab or window will open.) (Please be aware that it may take Google 5 to 20 days to show all updated pages.)
- Changes during April 2024
- Changes during March 2024
- Changes during February 2024
- Changes during January 2024
- Changes during December 2023
- Changes during November 2023
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What's New at UtahRails
[Most recent entry listed first.]
April 25, 2024
Ogden Union Stock Yards Photos -- An online album of photos of Ogden Union Stock Yards, including a series of 305 photos obtained from the family of Kenneth Knowles in 1996.
April 23, 2024
Footboards and Uncoupling Levers -- Updated the section on the UP Locomotive Features page, discussing when Union Pacific removed the footboards on its locomotives beginning in 1974. Includes links to the FRA rule changes as published in the Federal Register.
April 22, 2024
Castle Gate Photos -- Added a new photo album for a group of photos of Castle Gate and Sunnyside in the late 1930s. These photos came from Linette Hutton and came from her maternal grandparents, Iver and Lura Iverson, who lived in Helper in late 1930s to the end of World War II.
April 10, 2024
End Of Steam On UP -- Added a new page with information about the end of steam in regular service on Union Pacific.
April 2, 2024
D&RGW Dome Observation 1250 -- Updated the information for the former D&RGW Observation-Dome car to update its present status at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.
March 31, 2024
New York Locomotive Works -- Added a new section to the Steam Locomotive Builders page, covering the New York Locomotive & Machine Company of Rome, New York, which built 700 steam locomotives between 1883 and 1893.
March 29, 2024
UP Steam Classes -- Updated the section about Union Pacific's steam locomotive classes and classifications (C-1 vs. C-57 for the company's 2-8-0 steam locomotives).
March 10, 2024
D&RGW Lark Branch -- Added a new Google map showing the D&RGW Lark Branch, built in 1903 as the Dalton & Lark Branch; partially changed in 1955 to serve the new Bingham-Lark tunnel.
March 7, 2024
Farmers Grain Cooperative -- Added a new section about the large Farmers Grain Cooperative grain storage silos in West Ogden. This was in relation to the demolition of the facility in March 2024. The original facility was completed in 1941, with additions in 1942, 1947 and 1949.
March 3, 2024
Utah History Encyclopedia -- Added links to the two articles Don Strack wrote about Railroads In Utah, and Utah's Canning Industry, for the Utah History Encyclopedia in 1994, published to celebrate the state's centennial in 1996.
February 24, 2024
Anaconda's Carr Fork Project -- Updated the section of the Anaconda In Utah page to include more detail about Anaconda's Carr Fork Project, its underground mine that had its center of operations at the top of Pine Canyon, east of Tooele. The mine opened in late 1979. Due to Anaconda's, and its parent ARCO's, financial problems, the Carr Fork Project was shut down just three years later. Kennecott bought all of Anaconda's property and rights in 1985, and the entire site in Pine Canyon was reclaimed by mid 1989.
February 23, 2024
Letterhead -- Added 50 new examples of letterhead to the existing album of 91 images, bringing the total to 141 examples of letterhead. All have been scanned from the letterhead collection of Don Strack.
February 20, 2024
State Road Map, 1932 -- Added a Utah State Road Map for 1932, which shows railroads at the time.
February 19, 2024
UtahRails Site Map -- Added a 2-page HTML site map of all pages at UtahRails. This is an auto-generated site map that changes as pages are added or removed.
February 15, 2024
Highland Boy Mine -- Added a new page about the Highland Boy mine, located at the top of the Carr Fork branch of Bingham Canyon in Utah. The Highland Boy was the basis of the Utah Consolidated Mining company, which later built the International smelter on the Tooele side of the Oquirrh range, and the 20,000 feet long aerial tramway between the mine and the smelter. A successor company built the Elton tunnel between the same two locations to replace the aerial tramway.
Stewart Mines -- Added a new page about the Stewart No. 1 and Stewart No. 2 mines, located in lower Muddy Gulch in the Carr Fork branch of Bingham Canyon, Utah. The Stewart mines were the basis of the formation of the Boston Consolidated Mining company in 1898.
Nast Tunnel -- Added a new page about the Nast tunnel in Muddy Gulch in the Carr Fork branch of Bingham Canyon, Utah. The Nast tunnel, and the Benton tunnel immediately above, formed the basis of the Bingham Metals company, which later moved its surface facilities down to the Armstrong tunnel in Carr Fork.
The above added pages included changes to the following three pages where brief comments had previously been included prior to additional research being completed.
February 14, 2024
A History of Ogden, 1940 -- Added a PDF of the 1940 history of Ogden, Utah, prepared by the Works Progress Administration and the Utah Historical Records Survey Project. The book contains 79 pages, with the first 48 pages covering the history of Ogden before the arrival of the railroad in 1869. As a service to future researchers, the book also includes excellent footnotes and a complete nine-page bibliography. (PDF; 79 pages; 8.8MB)
February 4, 2024
Eureka Hill Shay #1 Wreck -- Added four photos of the wreck of the former Eureka Hill Shay #1, in July 1915 while in service on the Nevada Shortline. Photos were shared by Deb Phillips.
(Read more about the four Eureka Hill Shay locomotives)
January 25, 2024
Views of Ogden, 1901 -- Added a new photo album of 32 images from a souvenir book. Includes a view of Union Depot, and a distant view of the original 1897 UP roundhouse.
January 24, 2024
Emery County Coal Mines -- Rearranged and updated information on other coal pages and and made extensive additions to the information on the Emery County coal mine page. Added a new page for the Trail Mountain mine, with a link on the Emery County Mines page. The highest producing coal mines of Utah's Emery County became the source for Utah Power & Light's coal-fired power plants. Also updated the page for C. V. Spur coal-loading site to add the source for the Acco name.
(Updated from January 18, 2024)
January 14, 2024
Portland Rose -- Updated and rearranged the page for Union Pacific's Portland Rose passenger train, which ran from Portland to Omaha from 1930 until 1954, then from Portland to Kansas City from 1954 until Amtrak in 1971.
January 9, 2024
About UtahRails -- Updated the About page for UtahRails.
January 7, 2024
Wildcat Locomotives -- Updated the histories of the four locomotives used by Wildcat Midstream Partners (UTWX) at the oil transloading facility at Wildcat on Utah Railway.
January 5, 2024
Corporate Index -- Added links to the master list, in nine parts, of railroads incorporated in Utah. The main benefit of a list of railroads incorporated in Utah is that each entry shows the original organization date, the original organizers, and the original purpose and route of each company. Admittedly, obscure information, but a necessary part in understanding the history of railroads in Utah. This was one of the first group of web pages available from UtahRails.net, but links were not provided due to the obscure nature of the information.
January 1, 2024
Gas Turbines In California -- Added comments about UP using its large GTE 8500 three-unit gas turbines in California. Also added comments about the tender trucks on these locomotives not being motorized.
December 28, 2023
Utah Rock Asphalt -- Added a new page about the Utah Rock Asphalt Company, and its asphalt rock quarry six miles north of Sunnyside in eastern Utah. Crushed asphalt rock from many sources was used from the 1890s into the 1920s to pave streets all across the nation. A large deposit near Sunnyside began production in 1910 to serve this growing market. The Utah Rock Asphalt company was organized in 1928 to resume production, and built a 3-1/2 mile aerial tramway that remained in service from 1929 to 1947. The aerial tramway was used to move asphalt rock from the company's open-face quarry at the head of Water Canyon (reported as being the largest deposit in the nation), down to the mouth of Water Canyon where it met Whitmore Canyon, six miles north of Sunnyside. The asphalt rock was then trucked two miles to a crushing mill that was served by the far north end of D&RGW's Sunnyside Branch. Included are brief remarks description the variety of products used for early street paving in Salt Lake City.
December 20, 2023
10,000 Horsepower -- Added a section to the Union Pacific Diesel Story page, about Union Pacific's three-unit gas turbines being rated at 10,000 horsepower. This is in answer to a recent question received by email.
December 17, 2023
UTA Comet Cars -- Updated the Comet cars section of the UTA equipment page, to include the sale of 13 Comet cars in 2022 and their movement to Kansas in 2023.
December 16, 2023
Cement and Flour Mills -- With the recent end of rail service to Cereal Food Processors and Mountain Cement, both located in downtown Salt Lake City, I have updated the web pages for the Cement Industry in Utah, and the Flour Milling Industry in Utah.
Mountain Cement (as part of the Cement Industry In Utah)
Cereal Food Processors (as part of the Flour Milling Industry In Utah)
Both of these sites were switched by Utah Transit Authority by special arrangement, after the completion of the Frontrunner South commuter line in 2012, with the Frontrunner mainline blocking access by Union Pacific, which had previously provided the service.
Cereal Food Processors mill (owned by Grain Craft after 2014) was closed in early 2018, so there was no need for switching of rail cars after that time. Updates for the CFP section of the flour milling page include recently researched history of the flour mill on the site, which was built in 1923-1924 originally for the Husler Milling & Elevator Company.
The Mountain Cement distribution facility two blocks to the south stopped receiving rail cars in late 2021. The TrackMobile that had been in use by Mountain Cement since about 2006, was sold in mid 2022 due to lack of use.
December 4, 2023
Scanned Drawings -- Rearranged the online folder where the scanned drawings and maps were held. Since its original availability in 2017, the number of images has been added to, bringing the total from the original 276 images, to the current 291 images. Among the newest additions are the following four maps.
- Ogden 24th Street Viaduct Extension (details of the 1925 proposal to extend the 24th Street viaduct in Ogden)
- SP Lucin to Ogden Track Profile (compares the 1903 Lucin Cutoff with the Promontory Branch)
- UP Bridge Junction in Ogden (a portion of the changes in Ogden in 1942, showing the vicinity of Bridge Junction, including adding the Ogden Balloon track)
- UP in Ogden in 1919 (from the ICC Valuation series)
December 2, 2023
D&RGW "Official Roster" -- A digital version of the 1923 issue of D&RGW's "Official Roster," produced by the railroad's auditing department to comply with rules of the federal ICC to account for all assets as part of the overall valuation of the railroad. The 162-page book includes a listing of all stations on the railroad, along with listings of all equipment and other facilities. (PDF; 162 pages; 49MB)
November 25, 2023
Wilbur Smith "Smelters In Utah, 1854 to Present [1978]" -- Added three new pages about smelters in Utah, compiled by Wilbur Smith. Includes a chronological list of smelters in Utah, and a reference list of his sources.
November 21, 2023
Bamberger Photos -- Added 106 photos of the Bamberger Railroad, taken by Gordon Cardall. The additional photos include numerous photos of the 400-series trailers, and the 500-series freight locomotives. These additional photos brings the total of Bamberger photos to 318.
Utah Light & Traction Photos -- Added 30 photos of Utah Light & Traction street cars, taken by Gordon Cardall in the 1939 to 1942 period.
November 7, 2023
Evans Tunnel -- As part of the overall project to identify large buildings in Utah's Bingham Canyon that can be seen in photographs, a recently acquired photograph of U. S. Mining's aerial tramway in Bingham Canyon included a caption identifying the Evans Tunnel. This reference forced a couple hours of online research to find out what the Evans Tunnel was, and where it was. This research has been captured in a new page that includes links to photos and a map.
The Evans Tunnel was a transportation and drainage tunnel that connected to the Telegraph mine, in Bear Gulch in the upper parts of Bingham Canyon, Utah. Completed in 1900, the tunnel allowed the U. S. Mining company to move ore from its Telegraph mine to ore bins that were served by the Copper Belt railroad. After 1902, the ore was moved by way of U. S. Mining company's aerial tramway, which had its angle transfer station immediately adjacent to the Telegraph mine ore bins.
The Evans Tunnel had its opening (at its north end) at the junction where Bear Gulch, at the top (south end) of Bingham Canyon, connected with Galena Gulch, where U. S. Mining's Jordan and Galena mines were. The Evans tunnel was announced in late 1900, about 18 months after the U. S. company was organized to take control of the Telegraph, Jordan, Niagara, and Galena mines.
(Updated from October 20, 2023, to create a separate page, and include additional information.)
October 17, 2023
Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Demonstration Run on UTA, 1998 -- Added a news item about a demonstration run of Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) equipment on UP tracks in February 11, 1998, demonstrating UTA's planned Frontrunner commuter rail service. (Courtesy of McKay Ransom)
October 15, 2023
The Utah Copper Story, 50th Anniversary, 1954 -- Added a digital version of the booklet published by Kennecott in 1954. Includes several historical photos, along with history of the Bingham mine and the mills, smelter and refinery, as well as all the other Kennecott facilities in Utah to produce copper. (PDF; 46 pages, with center-spread and separate foldout; 29MB)
September 15, 2023
UPP 5548 "Lake Mead" -- Added a new entry in the listing of Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet, for the newest addition, UPP 5548 "Lake Mead," built in 1954 as UP "Alpine Meadows."
September 3, 2023
Armstrong Tunnel -- Updated and added additional information to the page about the Armstrong tunnel in Bingham Canyon, including its history as the Stewart No. 2 mine dating from the 1870s.
August 28, 2023
SP and Sprint -- Updated the article about Southern Pacific's creation of Sprint, the communications company that later became well known for its pioneering fiber optic technology.
July 27, 2023
D&RG and D&RGW Wood Cabooses -- Updated and expanded the page describing the wood cabooses of D&RG and D&RGW.
RGW Cabooses -- Added a new page about the cabooses of Rio Grande Western, 1888-1907.
July 20, 2023
Photos of UP in Utah, 1930s -- Rescanned 22 photos of LA&SL and OSL in Salt Lake City, OSL and UP in Ogden, OUR&D Ogden depot, and single photos of OSL in Pocatello, Idaho, and UP at North Platte and Grand Island, both in Nebraska. (Scanned from 3x5 negatives)
July 19, 2023
Ice and Cold Storage -- Added a new page about the rail-served ice and cold storage industry in Utah, including rearranging other pages, including the PFE page, to put the information about the industry on a single page. Several hours of online newspaper research has filled in many holes in the story.
July 10, 2023
1909 Souvenir of Bingham -- Added an album of images from an original paper copy of the super-rare original 1909 Souvenir of Bingham book, with 130 pages of "illustrations and descriptions of The Greatest Copper Tonnage Camp In The World." Some of the pages had multiple images, so I separated them as single images, bringing the total from 130 pages to 194 pages. A PDF of the book is also available. (PDF; 194 pages; 115MB)
July 4, 2023
Heber Equipment -- Updated the page for the equipment at the Heber Valley Railroad to include the repainted GP9 5926 that is now in its D&RGW-inspired paint scheme. Also added information about the former VIA FP9 6300.
June 28, 2023
Letterhead -- Added a new album of 91 images scanned from the letterhead collection of Don Strack.
June 23, 2023
Utah Merci Train 40 & 8 Car -- Added a new section about Utah's Merci Train 40 & 8 car. This car was one of 48 rail cars gifted to the citizens of the United States in 1947 by the citizens of France in appreciation of the help the United States provided helping France recover from World War II.
June 15, 2023
Banning Coal Loadout -- Rearranged and edited several Utah Coal pages to clarify coal properties owned by Coastal States Energy, and later by Canyon Fuel Company, and added a new page for the Banning coal loadout at mile post 5.5 on D&RGW's Sunnyside Branch, where the branch passes under U.S. Highway 6 at what is known on the highway as Sunnyside Junction. Completed in 1979 and operated by the Soldier Creek Coal Company until 2000.
(see also Coastal States Energy)
(see also Canyon Fuel Company)
June 12, 2023
UP Diesel Diagrams -- Added an album of 47 pages of folio diagrams of Union Pacific diesel and turbine locomotives for the years 1954-1959.
June 9, 2023
Barney's Canyon -- Added a new page about Kennecott's Barney's Canyon heap-leach gold mine, located about four miles north of Bingham Canyon. The mine was active from 1989 to 2001, with leach solution processing continuing for another five years. Reclamation began within a few years as the mine continued to expand, and continues today.
May 16, 2023
UP Numbered Trains -- Rearranged the Streamliner Timeline page and the Numbered Trains page for Union Pacific's early Streamliner passenger trains. The two pages now have links to eight new pages, each dedicated to one of UP's 1st through 8th Trains that entered service between 1934 for the 1st Train and 1938 for the 8th Train. These eight trains were all assigned to one of UP's famous Streamliner trains (City of Los Angeles, City of San Francisco, City of Portland, and City of Denver).
UP Streamliner Train Consists -- Added a new album for Union Pacific drawings from Dick Harley, showing the consists of the railroad's "City" Streamliner passenger trains.
May 9, 2023
UP Wreck at Carp, July 1943 -- Added a new page about the Union Pacific wreck at Carp, Nevada, on July 13, 1943. The head-on collision destroyed UP E6A LA-4 by shearing off its cab. There were no serious injuries and no deaths.
May 6, 2023
Burning Coal on SP in Utah -- Added brief remarks describing the use of coal as fuel on the SP in Utah, during the control of SP by UP from 1904 to 1912, allowing the use of Wyoming coal on SP.
April 22, 2023
Rio Grande Zephyr, 1971-1983 -- Rearranged information from three pages to create a new section showing the timeline of the Rio Grande Zephyr, which operated between Denver and Salt Lake City from 1971 to 1983.
April 16, 2023
EMD's Cleveland Plant No. 3 -- Added a new page about EMD's Cleveland Plant No.3, where EMD built switchers and GP7s from 1948 through 1954. Includes a link to a production list of EMD locomotives built at Cleveland.
April 15, 2023
D&RGW/RGW Abandoned Grades -- Combined three previous Google maps into a single Google map showing the three abandoned grades in eastern Utah:
- Original 1880-1882 grade along the south rim of Cedar Mountain, abandoned in 1882 when D&RGW decided to build north along the Price River (56 miles)
- Original 1882 narrow gauge line between Mack, Colorado, crossing the Utah/Colorado border to Whitehouse, Utah, replaced in 1890 by the standard gauge line (54 miles)
- Original 1882 narrow gauge line along the Price River between near Woodside and near Cedar, replaced in 1890 by the standard gauge line. Includes the location of the only narrow gauge tunnel in Utah (15.5 miles)
- As a side note, the route between Whitehouse and Green River remained essentially unchanged except for several realignments (line changes) that made numerous curves less sharp. These changes were usually less than one mile (some were as long as five miles) and did not alter the general route of the railroad.
March 31, 2023
Tintic Southern Railroad -- Rearranged and consolidated information from three separate pages, with information about the failed Tintic Southern Railroad, actively planned from 2009 to 2015 to operate over portions of the former D&RGW Tintic Branch.
March 24, 2023
Union Pacific's Olympic Torch Cauldron Car -- Added a new page about Union Pacific's Olympic cauldron car. The car was built as part of Union Pacific's support of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. It was rebuilt and refurbished as part of UP's support of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
March 4, 2023
Uploaded seven new albums of Vic Oberhansley photos. The photos have been scanned from a wide variety of prints of all sizes, black & white and color negatives from 35mm to 616, and 35mm color slides. These photos are made available through the courtesy of Ralph Gochnour, a good friend of Vic's for many years, who has kept Vic's photos safe after Vic passed away in 1987.
Vic Oberhansley SP Photos -- Uploaded 80 photos of Southern Pacific subjects.
Vic Oberhansley WP Photos -- Uploaded 25 photos of Western Pacific subjects.
Vic Oberhansley UP Steam Photos -- Uploaded 67 photos of Union Pacific steam locomotives.
Vic Oberhansley UP Business Cars Photos -- Uploaded 138 photos of Union Pacific business cars.
Vic Oberhansley UP Caboose Photos -- Uploaded 38 photos of Union Pacific cabooses.
Vic Oberhansley UP Depots and Buildings -- Uploaded 69 photos of Union Pacific depots and buildings.
Vic Oberhansley UP Diesel Photos -- Uploaded 47 photos of Union Pacific diesel locomotives.
March 1, 2023
UP Areas, Districts, Regions and Service Units -- Added a new page with information about the background for Union Pacific's use of Districts, then Regions, then Service Units in the years between 1983 and today. Additional organizational changes in 1998 brought the railroad's use of Timetable Areas as a way to better manage operations and maintenance.
February 27, 2023
Vic Oberhansley UP Passenger Car Photos -- Uploaded 112 photos of Union Pacific passenger cars. The photos have been scanned from a wide variety of prints of all sizes, black & white and color negatives from 35mm to 616, and 35mm color slides. These photos are made available through the courtesy of Ralph Gochnour, a good friend of Vic's for many years, who has kept Vic's photos safe after Vic passed away in 1987.
February 25, 2023
Post Office Annex -- Added a new page for the Post Office Annex building, located immediately south of Union Pacific's Salt Lake City depot. The building was owned by Union Pacific and leased to the U. S. Postal Service until 1975. After that it was used for UP's offices, until it was demolished in 1999 to make way for the Gateway mall project.
January 31, 2023
Radios on UP Steam -- Added a new section to the UP Steam Roster Notes page, with brief notes about Union Pacific's use of radios on its steam locomotives. More research is needed...
January 16, 2023
Full chronologies for Union Pacific's motive power, from 1862 to 2001:
1862-1914 -- Pioneer Steam Era (Steam only)
1915-1933 -- Early Steam Era (Steam only)
1934-1982 -- Late Steam and Classic Era (Steam and Diesel)
1983-2001 -- Early Merger Era, Late Merger Era, and Modern Era (Diesel only)
January 6, 2023
Locomotives Leased By UP (1987-1991) -- Reformatted to make the page mobile friendly, with minor edits and updates; moved to a more useful folder location.
Locomotives Leased To Mexico (1987-1992) -- Reformatted to make the page mobile friendly, with minor edits and updates; moved to a more useful folder location.
January 4, 2023
Farrington Books -- Added a new page about the railroad books written by S. Kip Farrington, including links to PDFs of selected chapters.
December 29, 2022
Lakota Crossing -- Added a new page about the Lakota Crossing, four miles north of Provo, where the Rio Grande mainline (constructed in 1882) crossed the Union Pacific mainline (constructed in 1873). The crossing was made an automatic interlocking in 1931, and was removed in 1985 when Union Pacific began using traffic rights over the Rio Grande between Salt Lake City and Provo.
December 18, 2022
Rio Grande Western Cabooses -- Added some brief roster notes for the 45 Rio Grande Western cabooses known to be operating in 1902.
December 17, 2022
UP 4500 GTEL Illustrations -- Added a photo album of illustrations lifted from two different 4500 GTEL service manuals, showing gas turbine locomotive components including traction motors, traction generators, headlights and Gyralights, as well as general arrangements of the first two series of 4500 gas turbine electric locomotives (GTEL) on Union Pacific.
November 23, 2022
Union Pacific Passenger Train Consists -- Added three PDF files for UP passenger train consists: February 1947; September 1947; and January 1954.
November 21, 2022
UP Corporate Histories -- Added a new section to the main Union Pacific index page with links to PDF corporate histories for each of UP and its three main subsidiaries (OSL, OWRR&N, LA&SL) as of 1914, 1916 and 1919. These corporate histories were completed in response to the ICC Valuation of all U.S. railroads.
November 13, 2022
Steve Swanson Bingham Photos -- Added 49 photos to the Steve Swanson Bingham photo album, including photos of Bingham & Garfield and Utah Copper steam engines.
November 8, 2022
UP 4-6-2 Pacifics -- Updated the information for the five OSL 4-6-2 Pacifics, numbered as OSL 3134-3138. These were the lightest of UP's "Heavy Pacific" engines, and the only 4-6-2s with 69-inch drivers. Also updated the links to include links to a general narrative for UP's 4-6-2 Pacifics, and to UP's Two-Tone Gray Pacifics (14 of 209).
October 30, 2022
UP Commemorative Plaques -- Added a new section to the UP Locomotive Features page, describing the special UP shield plaques, and special rectangular plaques applied to numerous Union Pacific locomotives in the 1990s.
October 25, 2022
Grant Tower -- Updated the page for the Grant Tower Interlocking in downtown Salt Lake City. The update includes brief notes about daylighting City Creek, the city's Folsom Trail, and the proposed railfan viewing site. Also includes links to photos and maps of the Grant Tower area.
October 4, 2022
Wildcat Midstream Partners -- Added known histories for the three locomotives (two GP8s and an SD50) used by Wildcat Midstream Partners at Wildcat near Price, Utah. Wildcat is a coal loadout, and an oil transloading facility. The locomotives are being used on the oil side of Wildcat.
September 18, 2022
UP Calendar Colorphotos -- Added 43 additional images from Union Pacific's iconic annual calendars, bringing the total in the online album up to 181 images covering the years of 1940 (one image), 1943, 1944, and 1947 to 1989. The collection includes all railroad-themed photos, plus various passenger car interior views, and a few city scenes. Included are images of the single-page calendars for 1937, 1938, and 1939, and a low quality image of the 1942 calendar. The calendar for 1945 did not have any railroad-theme photos, and the calendar for 1946 was all-artwork, with a few distant stylized trains visible.
(Read more about Union Pacific's calendars)
September 13, 2022
Wall Maps -- Added a new photo album with 22 scanned images of railroad wall maps. The railroads include AT&SF (1979), BN (1971), BN (1986), C&NW (1985; 2 sides), Conrail (1986), CSX (no date), N&W (1977; 2 sides), Norfolk Southern (1982), Norfolk Southern (1983), UPRR (1959; 2 sides), UPRR (1965), UPRR (1976), UPRR (1978), UPRR (1982 first merger map), UPRR (1983), UPRR (1984; 2 sides), UPRR (1997; 2 sides).
September 12, 2022
UP Centennial, Report To Shippers -- Added UP's Centennial Report to Shippers, illustrating the services, motive power, and freight cars available to the railroad's shippers during the railroad's Centennial year of 1969. (Download a PDF of this book)
M-K & The Railroads -- Added Morrison-Knudsen's book, "M-K & The Railroads" from 1972, illustrating the services M-K had offered to the railroads over the years, up to 1972. (Download a PDF of this book)
Milwaukee Road...a brief history -- Added a 1968 book by Milwaukee Road about its history up to 1968. (Download a PDF of this book)
This Is Southern Pacific, 1967 -- Added a special issue of Southern Pacific Bulletin for December 1967, about SP's history up to 1968. (Download a PDF of this book)
September 10, 2022
Utah Eastern Railroad -- Added two PDFs of source material for the Utah Eastern Railroad (1879-1887), which ran from Coalville south to Park City, Utah.
Summit County Coal -- Added two PDFs of source material describing the coal mines of Summit County, Utah.
September 9, 2022
Sugar -- Rearranged and added more information to the page for the Sugar Beet industry in Utah, including five PDFs of source material.
Canning -- Rearranged and added more information to the page for the Canning industry in Utah, including a PDF of source material about the canning industry in Weber County, Utah.
August 31, 2022
Baldwin Diesel Electric Locomotive Specification -- Added a PDF of a 1949 Baldwin bulletin giving specifications of their 1500- and 2000-horsepower road-switcher diesel-electric locomotives. (PDF; 10 pages; 8MB)
GE 44-Ton Specification -- Added a PDF of a May 1947 GE specification for their 44-ton switching locomotive.
Power, The horsepower requirements of Diesel Locomotives -- Added a PDF of a booklet published by EMD in the late 1940s, describing the horsepower requirements of Diesel locomotives. (PDF; 14 pages; 5.4MB)
Pull, The tractive effort of Diesel Locomotives -- Added a PDF of a booklet published by EMD in the late 1940s, describing tractive effort of Diesel locomotives. (PDF; 12 pages; 5MB)
Wheels and Axles of Diesel Locomotives -- Added a PDF of a booklet published by EMD in the late 1940s, describing wheels and axles used for Diesel locomotives. (PDF; 15 pages; 4.9MB)
August 27, 2022
Dieselization of the LA&SL, 1947 -- Added a PDF document of a March 1947 95-page study by EMD, for the dieselization of UP's LA&SL subsidiary. Includes data and figures for partial dieselization and full dieselization, as well as a narrative of the then-current steam operations. (PDF; 95 pages; 34.7MB)
August 25, 2022
Miscellaneous Diesel Locomotive Illustrations -- Added a new online album of miscellaneous diesel locomotive illustrations (general arrangement, cut-away, details) copied from diesel locomotive operator manuals.
August 16, 2022
Salt Lake Garfield & Western Locomotives and Equipment -- Separated the SLG&W diesel locomotive roster from the road's steam, electric and other equipment roster. The combined rosters were becoming unwieldy for mobile users, which make up about half of the visitors to UtahRails.
SLG&W steam, electric and other equipment
August 11, 2022
Bingham & Garfield 0-8-8-0's -- Added a new page about the seven Bingham & Garfield 0-8-8-0's. These seven locomotives were very similar, if not identical, to 34 other 0-8-8-0's built by Alco between 1907 and 1922, for seven other railroads.
August 3, 2022
D&RGW Little Cottonwood Branch -- Added a map of D&RGW's Little Cottonwood Branch, from Midvale east to the Sandy Sand Pit. (Read more about D&RGW's Little Cottonwood Branch)
August 1, 2022
SLG&W Diesels -- Updated the diesel locomotive roster for the Salt Lake Garfield & Western to include the two recent additions by Patriot Rail.
July 27, 2022
Union Pacific List of Industries, 1971 -- Added an index page, and 16 PDF files of UP's List of Industries, dated January 1, 1971. (Presented through the courtesy of Dan Holbrook and Bob Trop)
July 10, 2022
Union Pacific Steam Tests -- Added 22 PDF documents covering various tests by Union Pacific on some of its steam locomotives in 1940 and 1947-1949. These test reports and other items come from Richard Flebbe, whose father was Paul Flebbe, UP's Engineer of Road Tests during this period. Included are tests comparing single stacks, double stacks, and various nozzle and front end designs, along with comparing steam injectors. Also included are a series of horsepower curves and tonnage ratings charts across UP's fleet of steam locomotives. Along with the test reports and other items from the Paul Flebbe papers, this series of documents includes Richard Flebbe's biographical notes, "150 Years With Uncle Pete," documenting his grandfather's career from 1898 to 1947, his father's career from 1929 to 1974, and his own career with Union Pacific, as well his own separate history of UP's Omaha shop where he was employed from 1973 to its closing in 1989.
July 6, 2022
UP List of Stations, Northwestern District, 1953 -- Added a new PDF of Union Pacific Form G-23, List of Stations, Northwestern District, 1953. A small 14-page document dated October 1, 1953, showing all the stations on UP's Idaho and Oregon Division mainlines and branches. Provided courtesy of Ralph Gochnour. (PDF; 8 pages; 4.4MB)
This and other similar documents replaced the extensive Form 70, which by 1951 had become difficult to manage by UP's accounting department and other departments within the railroad. A list of stations was always part of the Form 70s, along with lists of officials, equipment, and facilities. (Read more about UP's Form 70s)
June 30, 2022
Tooele Army Depot Rail Center -- Updated the page about the U. S. Army's Tooele Army Depot locomotive shop located at Hill Air Force Base. Opened in 1942, the facility was formally closed in July 2020 when the rebuild of the last three locomotives was completed. The buildings were demolished in October 2021.
June 25, 2022
Newspapers as Sources -- Added a new page with narrative notes and links for using online newspapers as source material for research.
June 12, 2022
Mabey Crossing -- Added a new sidebar narrative of a tragic train-automobile accident at Mabey siding on the D&RGW mainline near Clearfield, Utah. Includes a link to an album with photos of the crossing, newspaper clippings, and annotated aerial photos.
June 9, 2022
D&RGW Provo Canyon Branch -- Added a new page about the D&RGW Provo Canyon Branch, from Provo to Heber by way of Provo Canyon. Rearranged information from other pages, and added new research.
D&RGW Bingham Branch -- Added a new page about the D&RGW Bingham Branch, from Midvale to Bingham Canyon. Rearranged information from other pages, and added new research.
May 29, 2022
D&RGW Orem Branch -- Added a new page of D&RGW's Orem Branch. D&RGW purchased the branch in 1946 after the Salt Lake & Utah interurban line shut down. Includes a link to a Google map.
May 26, 2022
UP Donation To RRHMA -- Added a new section to the Union Pacific Heritage Fleet Notes, describing the equipment in the April 2022 donation to the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America.
Buffalo & Susquehanna 2-8-0s -- Updated the web page about the canceled order for 10 Buffalo & Susquehanna 2-8-0s, including the three that came to Utah. One came to Southern Utah, and later became Utah Railway #4. Two came to Tooele Valley Railway as their numbers 11 and 12. (Includes links to more information.)
May 14, 2022
UP's 1962 Proposed 5000 HP Locomotive -- Added a new section to the Union Pacific Diesel Miscellaneous Notes page, about UP's 1962 proposed 5000 horsepower locomotive. This comes from a post to Trainorders.com in February 2014.
For those with a subscription to Trainorders, here is the link:
UP's 1962 Proposed 5000 HP Locomotive, at Trainorders.com
April 29, 2022
Walschaerts vs. Walschaert -- Added a new section to the Union Pacific steam locomotive page, discussing what to call the valve gear used on so many of UP's steam locomotives.
Whiting Test -- Added a new section to the Union Pacific steam locomotive page, discussing the use of the whiting test for detection of cracks on steam locomotive drive rods.
April 27, 2022
Promontory Locomotives -- Added a new page about the locomotives used at the Golden Spike National Historical Park at Promontory from 1969 to today. This research project began with an attempt to identify the locomotives in several photos of Promontory locomotives taken by Vic Oberhansley. Research found that four former Virginia & Truckee locomotives were used from 1969 to 1978. The two replica locomotives in place today arrived in 1979. Extensive online newspaper research found much information about the locomotives as they arrived and departed from Promontory. Included is a list of the cities that were visited from March to October 1969 by Union Pacific's Expo train. Comments by Kyle Wyatt helped in filling in more of the story.
April 19, 2022
Utah Smelting Company -- Added a new page about the Utah Smelting Company at Hot Springs, north of Ogden. Includes a link to several newspaper clippings that document the brief history of this very small smelter, 1906 to 1914.
April 13, 2022
UP Steam Smoke Lifters -- Rearranged the page about UP's use of smoke lifters on its 4-8-4 Northerns, 4-6-6-4 Challengers, and the single 4-8-8-4 Big Boy.
March 26, 2022
UP Steam Locomotive Diagrams -- Added two photo albums of Union Pacific steam locomotive diagrams. One for 1925, and another for 1936. The later book for 1936 includes the FEF-1 4-8-4s and the earliest Challengers. Both books are presented through the courtesy of Richard Flebbe, whose father was UP's Research and Mechanical Engineer at the time of his retirement in 1974 after 44 years of service.
UP Steam Locomotive Diagrams, 1925
UP Steam Locomotive Diagrams, 1936
March 19, 2022
D&RGW FS and FT Locomotives -- Added a new page about D&RGW's FS and FT locomotives. An EMD Service Bulletin dated July 15, 1947, designated FT locomotives delivered in four-unit A-B-B-A sets with couplers between each of the cab units and the booster units as FS locomotives. It retained the FT designation for four-unit A-B-B-A sets with drawbars between each cab and booster unit, and couplers between the two booster units.
D&RGW's first eight road locomotives (D&RGW 540-547; 32 units in eight A-B-B-A sets), delivered in 1942 and 1943, had couplers between all units and EMD used the FS destination for these these 32 units.
The later four FT road locomotives (D&RGW 548-551; 16 units in four A-B-B-A sets) delivered in 1944 had drawbars between the cab and booster units, and couplers between the booster units.
Updated roster listings... D&RGW FS 540A
March 11, 2022
Thornton Waite Articles -- Added a new index page for articles by Thornton Waite. These articles come from Thornton himself and are presented here on UtahRails with his permission. Included are articles about UP branchlines in Idaho, about UP's Butte Special passenger train, and a fascinating article about shipping eggs by rail.
February 27, 2022
Vic Oberhansley D&RGW Photos -- Added 162 D&RGW photos by Vic Oberhansley, including 87 photos of D&RGW depots and other subjects, and 75 photos of D&RGW passenger cars. These photos are made available through the courtesy of Ralph Gochnour, a good friend of Vic's for many years, and who has kept Vic's photos safe after Vic passed away in 1987.
Vic Oberhansley D&RGW Photos -- 87 photos of D&RGW subjects, including photos of D&RGW depots.
Vic Oberhansley D&RGW Passenger Car Photos -- 75 photos of D&RGW passenger cars.
February 27, 2022
RGZ Detour April 1983 -- Added a new photo album of the Rio Grande Zephyr detour on April 15, 1983, following the Thistle slide. The detour took D&RGW's Rio Grande Zephyr from Salt Lake City to Ogden on D&RGW tracks, then on Union Pacific from Ogden east across Wyoming to Cheyenne, and south to Denver.
This was the last run of the Rio Grande Zephyr in Utah. D&RGW and Amtrak had already agreed that on April 25, 1983, Amtrak's San Francisco Zephyr would be renamed as the California Zephyr, and begin running over D&RGW tracks across Colorado. The Thistle slide moved the changeover forward by 10 days and Amtrak began running its California Zephyr by way of a detour using UP's tracks across Wyoming. The operation remained in place until October 1983 when D&RGW completed a tunnel bypassing the Thistle slide and Amtrak's California Zephyr began using D&RGW tracks from Denver to Salt Lake City.
February 14, 2022
UP Passenger Cars -- Uploaded 991 photos of Union Pacific lightweight passenger cars, scanned from UPRR company photos previously in the collection of George Cockle prior to his death in 2019. Included are photos of UP lightweight passenger cars completed at the car builders, and in various stages of construction of the car exteriors and car interiors. The types covered include a wide variety of lightweight passenger cars built for Union Pacific. These additional 991 photos have been added to the existing 171 photos already in this online photo album.
January 20, 2022
EMD Model Designations -- Added a 4-page PDF showing EMD model designations, taken from EMD publications.
January 18, 2022
Bingham-New Haven -- Added a new page about the Bingham-New Haven mine at the head of the Carr Fork branch of Bingham Canyon in Utah. The mine was above and up-canyon a short distance from Utah Consolidated's Highland Boy mine, and the small village of Highland Boy. The company was organized in 1902; began shipping ore in 1904; added an aerial tramway in 1905; moved its operations to a lower tunnel in 1907; added a mill at its upper tunnel in 1909; shut down its own aerial tramway and began using the Utah Consolidated aerial tramway in 1912; then was acquired by the Utah Metal & Tunnel company in 1915 as part of a trespass and encroachment settlement concerning apex rights.
This research was completed as part of an overall effort to identify notable and obvious structures and buildings visible in photographs; in this case, its aerial tram and its early ore bins. The upper terminal of the Bingham-New Haven aerial tramway is visible in many early photos of Highland Boy, as well as the towers and cables of its aerial tramway. This is true at least until the change in 1912 when its operations were moved to allow access to the Utah Consolidated tramway. After the change, identifying separate Bingham-New Haven structures becomes almost impossible. The access to the Utah Consolidated tramway was by way of interconnecting underground tunnels, so the only surface structures were offices and support buildings for the company's managers and employees. The Bingham-New Haven structures at the very top of Carr Fork are easily confused with similar structures in the Muddy Fork (or Gulch) area, just one ridge away to the east, and home of the much larger Boston Consolidated company. By the 1930s the area surrounding the upper tunnel had been cleared of buildings, and very soon surface rights were sold to Utah Copper. By the 1940s, the area was buried as part of Utah Copper's N-Level waste rock dump.
January 2, 2022
Truck Shops at Bingham -- Added a new page about the truck shops at Bingham, including the Yosemite (1964-1986), Bingham (1986-2013) and Copperfield (2006-current) shops.
(What's New entries for 2000 to 2021 have been archived.)
October 30, 2000
The UtahRails.net web site first became available.
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