What's New at UtahRails.net

All changes and updates are shown below.

Google

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.)

What's New at UtahRails

[Most recent entry listed first.]

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 City of Los Angeles, City of San Francisco, City of Portland, and City of Denver Streamliner trains.

UP Streamliner Train Conststs -- Added a new album for Union Pacific drawings showing the consists of the railrad'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 colision 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:

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 Pacfic 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 subsiciaries (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

SLG&W diesel locomotives

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 RHMA -- 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

UP Public Timetable, 1939 -- Added a Union Pacific public timetable for June 1939, courtesy of Ralph Gochnour.

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.

###