UP and Los Angeles & Salt Lake in Utah
Index For This Page
This page was last updated on September 15, 2025.
(Return To the Union Pacific In Utah Page)
Overview and Timeline
LA&SL In Utah, South of Salt Lake City (1901-1936) -- Tracks owned by LA&SL; all UP lines south and west of Salt Lake City
- Built by OSL and its predecessors, 1870 to 1899; sold to LA&SL in 1903; leased to UP in 1936; merged with UP in 1987
LA&SL Locations
(Salt Lake City and South)
LA&SL at Garfield
- shows depot location and size
- shows stockyards, just east of highway overpass
(from LA&SL drawing 1512-D, Company Lands at Garfield, Utah, September 1909, examined during August 1981)
- shows a wye (tail track to south) at what is now Smelter
- shows partial location of Utah Western narrow gauge
- shows Black Rock Island location
- shows Lake Point dancing pavilion
- shows 35.05 acres deeded to Western Pacific Railway on August 28, 1906
- shows Salt Lake and Pacific grade location at curve around Lake Point
LA&SL at Stockton, Utah
- Depot was 24 feet, 3 inches by 80 feet, 5 inches, located at engineering station 1224+61
LA&SL at Faust
- 70,000 gallon water tank
LA&SL at Lynndyl
(from LA&SL CE drawing 54626, dated February 20, 1946)
- Depot was 24 feet, 5 inches by 73 feet, 10 inches
- Located between mainline and Provo sub-division, with a bay window on each side
- The bay window on mainline side was located 38' from south end
- The bay window on Provo sub side was located 41' from south end
- Each bay window was 11 feet, 6 inches long
LA&SL at Delta
- Passenger depot was 24 feet, 5 inches by 110 feet
- Freight depot was 30 feet, 4 inches by 120 feet, 5 inches
LA&SL at Milford
(from LA&SL CE drawing 80773, dated November 25, 1953; also LA&SL drawing 5236, dated December 1902; both examined during August 1981)
- Shows Utah & Pacific engine house south of Oregon Short Line yard tracks in Milford
- Shows line to Frisco and line to "Calientes"
- 80 acres in NE-1/4 of SE-1/4 of section 7 and NW-1/4 of SW-1/4 of section 8
- Sold to Utah & Pacific on June 10, 1901, filed on June 27, 1901, Book P, page 623 (in Beaver County?)
LA&SL Branches
(listed alphabetically)
LA&SL Cedar City Branch
Completed in 1925; expanded to additional iron mines in 1934; portions in Cedar City abandoned east of I-15 in 2013.
LA&SL's Cedar City Branch -- Information about LA&SL's Cedar City and Iron Mountain branches in southern Utah, built in 1923 and operated by Union Pacific.
(Read more about the iron mines at Cedar City)
LA&SL Delta Branch
Built in 1915-1916; abandoned and removed in 1932-1934.
LA&SL's Delta Branch -- Information about LA&SL's Delta Branch, built in 1915-1916; abandoned and removed in 1932-1934.
LA&SL Fairfield Branch
Built in 1882 by Salt Lake & Western Railway; became part of OSL&UN in 1889; to OSL in 1897; to SPLA&SL in 1903; to LA&SL in 1916.
(Read more about the Salt Lake & Western Railway)
LA&SL's Fairfield Branch was abandoned in three segments:
- Topliff to Boulter, 1927
- Five Mile Pass to Topliff, 1938
- Cutler to Five Mile Pass, 1952
LA&SL's Fairfield Branch -- Information about LA&SL Fairfield Branch, built in 1882; abandoned in three segments: Topliff to Boulter, 1927; Five Mile Pass to Topliff, 1938; Cutler to Five Mile Pass, 1952
LA&SL Fillmore Branch
Built in 1922; abandoned and removed in 1983-1984.
LA&SL's Fillmore Branch -- Information about LA&SL's Fillmore Branch, built in 1922 and operated by Union Pacific; abandoned and removed in 1983-1984.
LA&SL Frisco Branch
Built in 1880; abandoned and removed in 1942.
LA&SL's Frisco Branch -- Information about LA&SL's Frisco Branch, built as part of the original Utah Southern in 1880; abandoned and removed in 1943 (includes the Newhouse Extension, built in 1904; abandoned and removed in 1937).
LA&SL Hinkley Branch
Built in 1918; abandoned and removed in 1932-1934.
LA&SL's Hinkley Branch -- Information about LA&SL's Hinkley Branch, built in 1918; abandoned and removed in 1932-1934.
LA&SL Iron Mountain Branch
(see Cedar City Branch, above)
LA&SL Nephi Plaster Mill Spur
Purchased from D&RGW in 1948, upon the abandonment of their San Pete Valley Branch, Nephi to Ephraim.
Nephi to Plaster Mill, 1.9 miles
Retired by LA&SL in December 1953, Work Order 5272
UP operated the line as its Nephi Plaster Mill Spur until October 1953, when it was retired and removed. The spur ran down the middle of Nephi's main east-west thoroughfare, First North Street, which was also designated as Utah Highway 132. The state highway department wanted the tracks removed to allow improvements along the state highway.
LA&SL Newhouse Extension
- Frisco (end of Frisco Branch) to Newhouse
- Godbe Spur built in February 1925 for M. C. Godbe at MP 17.63 on Newhouse Extension of Frisco Branch, to load tailings from the Horn Silver Mine dump. Spur was 857 feet long. (AFE 30-2633, dated January 30, 1925; Work Order 5432, 100 percent complete on February 19, 1925)
- Godbe Spur retired on July 2, 1927. (Work Order 7300; 100 percent complete on July 2, 1927)
LA&SL Tintic Branches
- Silver City Branch
- Eureka Branch
- Mammoth Branch
- Northern Spy Branch
- New East Tintic Branch
- Silver City Branch
UP-LA&SL Tintic Branches -- A list of the Tintic Branches, including their mileposts and stations.
UP's Tintic Branches and Shay Locomotives -- An updated version of the original text used for an article published as "UP's Tintic Subdivision" in The Streamliner, Volume 19, Number 3, Summer 2005, published by the Union Pacific Historical Society. The article in The Streamliner includes 32 photos (three in color, plus the color cover), and seven maps, along with locomotive diagrams, timetable entries, and track profiles of the branches where UP ran its Shay locomotives.
Sources
Compiled from handwritten notes, dating from 1978-1988, with recent updates from other material.
Most of the original information here was transcribed from handwritten notes taken while doing research in the files of UP's engineering department during 1982-1983, then compiled as a computer file in 1988, with additions through September 1994. Other updates and additions made after creation of web page in 2015.
The notes from the early 1980s were completed prior to the closure of UP's engineering office in Salt Lake City in about 1984. All files and most personnel were moved to Omaha in 1983-1984. The office was located in the Utah Division offices in the former depot annex building, just south of Union Pacific's Salt Lake City depot. The building was demolished in 1999 to make room for The Gateway Project.
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