Utah Idaho Central Railroad Branchlines
Index For This Page
This page was last updated on July 31, 2024.
Overview
A summary of the branchlines and spurs of the Utah Idaho Central Railroad in northern Utah.
Harrisville Branch
The Harrisville Branch was about eight miles long, from the connection at Harrisville, westward eight miles to Warren, in the western part of Weber County.
(1947) A branch line from Harrisville to the end of the branch at Warren, 8 miles.
Quinney Branch
(1947) A branch line from Lewiston to its terminus at Thain, 12 miles.
Quinney – In 1916 a branch line was built westward from the Sugarton area of Lewiston where the sugar factory spur went east of the main line, and was named the Quinney Branch after Joseph Quinney, Jr., whose family and he personally had a long close relationship with the family of David Eccles, the brains and money behind the interurban line. Joseph Quinney, Jr., served as the general superintendent of the sugar factories in Cache County in 1910s and held other important sugar related positions, including being district manager of the Amalgamated Sugar Company in 1920s. (Towns of Cache County, Utah, Rootsweb.com)
Quinney Branch Line - The work of building this branch line was done by the Cache Valley Railroad Company, another of the many Eccles enterprises. The first portion of the line went directly west just over two miles to the Cunningham area were a 19 car spur was located for the placement of a beet dump. The line continued west another mile to Kent where a 32 car siding was established.
In 1918 a north-south "T" section was added to the line running from Mills at the the Utah-Idaho border where a 23 car spur was constructed, and going directly south a mile and a half to the facilities at Kent. It continued southeast another mile and a half to the Wheeler area where a 14 car spur was placed, and on just over half a mile to Bullen where a 34 car spur was built. Another mile and a half and the line crossed Bear River over a substantial steel bridge east of Trenton. A mile south of the river bridge at Litz the company established both a 13 car spur and a 23 car siding. Continuing south just less than a mile brought the line to the Hurren area where a 24 car siding was made. The branch line went south another two and a half miles to where a three-quarters mile spur was built to the Amalgamated Sugar Factory adjacent to Bear River. This sugar factory spur had a capacity for 30 cars. Later the line was extended south another two and a half miles to Thain where a 6 car spur was constructed at this terminus of the Quinney Branch of a little over fourteen miles. With this last addition the junction with the sugar factory spur was labeled incorrectly on a map as the "Alta Jct." It should have read the "Alto Jct." after the initial name for this area. At each of the spurs and sidings there was a sugar beet dump. The original concept for this branch line was to haul freight only, almost exclusively sugar beets and refined sugar. In 1919 the Cache Valley Railroad Company was consolidated with the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad and the Quinney Branch became part of the UIC Railroad. Thereafter a two-car school train ran over the line during the school year which ran at cost, providing no profit for the UIC. The service on the branch line was greatly reduced and sporadic after the closing of the Amalgamated Sugar Company factory and the financial troubles of the Utah -Idaho Central Railroad beginning with the first receivership in 1926, and it stopped completely long before the UIC went out of business in 1947. The tracks of the Quinney Branch were scrapped out soon thereafter. (Towns of Cache County, Utah, Rootsweb.com)
Quinney Sugar Factory – the name made it onto at least one map and may have been a common nickname for the factory on the Quinney Branch Line but probably was never officially the name of the facilities, just an easy location name. (Towns of Cache County, Utah, Rootsweb.com)
Amalga - a small agricultural community three miles west of Smithfield. It was first settled in the 1860s by one family who lived on a sagebrush plain not far from Bear River. In time it became part of a large area known initially as Alto and in the 1890s was organized into the Alto School District. With the construction of the Amalgamated Sugar Company factory (sugar beet processor), the name was changed to reflect this short-lived business that only operated from 1914 or 1915 through as least 1923 (some having the closing of this factory in 1919). An old map showing the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad (UIC) in northern Cache County has a "Quinney Sugar Factory" near Bear River west of Smithfield, and an Ogden newspaper in a November 1923 article cited "The Amalgamated Sugar company factory at Smithfield is now operating at capacity." By 1923 newspapers in Ogden and Salt Lake City started using the name "Amalga" for the settlement on Bear River west of Smithfield. Today it is the location for the Cache Valley Cheese plant which in 1942 purchased and retooled the old sugar factory and become the largest Swiss cheese factory in the world. (Towns of Cache County, Utah, Rootsweb.com)
Brigham City Town Spur
The Ogden, Logan & Idaho "Town Spur" in Brigham City ran east, from 5th West, along Forest Avenue to Main Street, then south along Main Street.
North Ogden Spur
December 13, 1944
UIC received Utah PSC approval to abandon the North Ogden Line. (Utah Public Service Commission Case No. 2818)
The change was necessary because on September 21, 1942 Ogden City had revoked Union Pacific's franchise to operate over its tracks along Second Street. Utah Idaho Central had used the UP line to access its North Ogden Spur along Washington Avenue to North Ogden. Union Pacific had contested the change, taking the matter to the courts. Ogden City extended the franchise until December 1, 1944 to allow a decision by the courts. On September 26, 1943 the Utah Supreme Court affirmed Ogden City's right to revoke the franchise. After the franchise ended on December 1, 1944, Union Pacific removed its tracks along Second Street, thus making it impossible for UIC to continue the operation of the North Ogden Spur.
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