Detour to Wonderland

Here's a neat promotional film sponsored by the Rio Grande, showing the national parks and monuments in southern Utah. Year unknown, but probably early 1950s.

News: Rockslide on the Potash branch

On November 5th a rockslide damaged the Potash Branch in Grand County - and pictures can be found at the KSL.com article here: Massive rockslide damages rail, road

Above, courtesy Moab Times-Independent; below, courtesy Intrepid Potash Inc.

The rockslide effectively disrupted this weekend's outbound potash shipment. According to the article, repairs should be completed this Monday (November 19).

Caboose 01457

The Utah State Railroad Museum holds in its collection a couple of pieces from the Denver & Rio Grande Western, which will be expounded upon in later posts. For this one, here is caboose 01457, built at the Burnham ( Denver) shops in 1947 as part of series 01450-01459. These cabooses were radio equipped, with PRR rooftop induction antennae, and painted black with white "flying Rio Grande" and two horizontal yellow stripes to designate the radio feature.

The windows were originally four-pane wood frames; the car was repainted in 1975 in the all-orange/black lettering “Action Road” scheme that it wears today. The four-pane windows were rebuilt to double pane, then blanked over in September 1985. At some point the interior was stripped of appliances and seats.

In the background of the above picture can be seen the roof of caboose 01504, which will be the subject of a later post when I gather more information.

This caboose currently sits on the Burton-Walker Spur at the north end of the museum, behind a UP CA-3 caboose and 0-6-0 switcher. The Museum has outfitted the interior for events and offers it for daily rent as the "birthday caboose"; it has been fitted with electricity and an air conditioning unit. There are plans in place to repaint the car in its original black paint scheme; money is the only problem.

Sources: Don Strack, Utahrails.net. http://utahrails.net/drgw/rg-cabooses-index.php.   Accessed 25 March 2011

History: D&RG foreign offices on the RGW (1895)

These tables list the Denver & Rio Grande foreign offices on the Rio Grande Western when the two companies were separate. Taken from Official Roster No. 31, October 1^st 1895.

NOTE: B.G. denotes broad gauge (now considered standard gauge)

Foreign Offices, D&RG Express

Rio Grande Western

Station	Agent Name	Station	Agent Name
American Fork	U.G. Merrill	Manti	F. Fouts
Bingham	I.H. Rogers	Mount Pleasant	Web. Green
Bingham Junction	D.W. Ammerman	Ogden	H.A. Lamdin
Castle Gate	J.W. Ray	Payson	W.H. Shermer
Clear Creek	B.W. Rice	Pleasant Valley Jct.	W.H. Sweet
Ephraim	C.J. Fisher	Price	A.J. Mead
Eureka	W. Allen	Provo	W.N. Dusenberry
Fairview	J.A. Todd	Riverton	C.L. Jensen
Fruita	F.H. Barry	Salina	J. Ricks
Goshen	F.W. Cole	Salt Lake City	A.C. French
Green River	F. H. Fike	Scofield	E.W. Pitcher
Gunnison	J.H. Roylance	Silver City	M.A. Boyden
Helper	J.A. Parrott	Spanish Fork	E.R. Hunt
Kaysville	J.B. Lindsey	Spring City	J.D. Simpson
Lehi	W.F. Welsh	Springville	G. P. Thompson
Lower Crossing	W. Allan	Sunnyside	W.R. Olin
Mammoth Mill	W.M. Moss	Thistle	W.H. Mitchell
Murray	C.B. Atterbury	Thompson	C.E. Ingalls

Track Scales – R.G.W. Railway.

Location	Gauge	Capacity	Length
Ogden	B.G.	50 Tons	42 feet
Salt Lake	B.G.	50 tons	42 feet
Salt Lake	B.G.	40 tons	34 feet
Bingham Junction	B.G.	50 tons	42 feet
Thistle	B.G.	50 tons	42 feet
Scofield	B.G.	30 tons	28 feet

News: A Lesson on who wins (Wellington)

An excellent lesson on looking both ways before crossing the tracks, on the old D&RGW main line through Carbon County. On November 2nd a man was filming a train in Wellington and caught a construction truck crossing the tracks in front of it - and the full hit as the truck is ripped in two and tossed aside.

You can read the full story  at the KSL.com Article. So please remember - Stop, Look, and Live. The train will win every time - and the railroad isn't responsible for your own negligence.