Railfanning the Yellowstone Branch / Eastern Idaho Railroad

By Josh Bernhard
(Click on the links embedded in location names to see them on Google Maps.)

Right at the border of Yellowstone National Park is this monument to the railroad's influence in the development of the park.

Among all the states in the union, Idaho is one of the least represented states as far as railfanning. If you follow our Facebook page, the first photo I posted there of the Eastern Idaho Railroad received a slew of comments from Idaho natives who apparently took light-hearted offense at this idea. Apparently some thought that I meant that there are no trains in Idaho but I meant quite the opposite. It's true that there are great locations to photograph trains in Idaho but the state is on nobody's bucket list as far as places to visit, giving way to the Colorado narrow gauge, or Pennsylvania's East Broad Top, or California's dozens of excellent preserved lines. I think this is a shame considering Idaho has some amazing scenery and while daily traffic may not be on par with the Arizona Transcon, once you find a train, it is more than worth the effort. This is especially true of the old Oregon Short Line Yellowstone Branch, the line that opened the west side of Yellowstone National Park, established the town of West Yellowstone and brought thousands, if not millions, of people to enjoy the world's first national park before the age of the automobile.

The branch was built by the Oregon Short Line from 1905 to 1907 to tap into the growing tourist traffic that exploded in the late 1890s. Yellowstone National Park had railroad access via the north entrance from the Northern Pacific so the OSL sought to break open the NP monopoly and allow access for tourists from the southern half of the country. The west entrance and the town of West Yellowstone themselves are the direct product of the railroad and would probably have never existed without it - before the railroad began construction from Ashton, West Yellowstone was simply unsurveyed Forest Service land. Unfortunately Passenger traffic on the Yellowstone Branch ended in 1960 and the rails were torn up from West Yellowstone to Ashton. Today the remainder of the branch, from Idaho Falls to Ashton, is operated by the Eastern Idaho, a Wabtec company with the reporting mark WAMX. The line is fairly well known for its fleet of GP30s and safety cab Canadian GP40-2LWs, most of which are stationed on the western portion of the railroad. The northern portion, which operates the Yellowstone branch, uses mostly GP35s.

The Eastern Idaho Railroad operates the Yellowstone Branch using these smartly-painted black and yellow geeps.

If perchance you find your way to the old Yellowstone branch on the way to the park, the bad news is that trains are few and far between. In the four years that I worked in the Yellowstone area, I only saw one train on the branch, running North to Ashton in the late afternoon. Over the week that I was there in 2017 I saw two trains, one coming off the branch into the yard at Idaho Falls on a Friday afternoon and one leaving Idaho Falls on a Wednesday morning. In speaking to locals in some of the towns along the way they all agreed that trains run simply as needed, with no guarantee of when or how far they will run when they do. In addition the Yellowstone Branch has two smaller branches that break off, one at Orvin on the north end of Idaho Falls going to Newdale, and the other at Ucon going towards Menan. Neither of this smaller branches parallel a road for any good measure of distance apart from where they pass through towns so photographing a train on these lines is even more difficult.

The good news is that the main branch runs almost due north, so sunlight is good almost all day, depending on whether you take Highway 20 (afternoon) or the old Yellowstone Highway (morning). The downside to the Yellowstone Highway is that it is no longer an uninterrupted road but rather appears and disappears at random every few miles, so chasing a train will require hopping back and forth between it and Highway 20 where on ramps are available. Traffic on the Yellowstone Branch consists of three main commodities: grain, potatoes and fuel oils. Tank cars, hoppers and those white Union Pacific ARMN refrigerator cars are the staple rolling stock seen. Since agricultural traffic is largely seasonal, traffic levels fluctuate through the year as harvests wax and wane.

Potato packing plants are equally as common as grain elevators on the branch, playing well with the Idaho stereotype. Cruddy, rusty ARMN reefers are used for this service.

Your tour begins at Idaho Falls, where the Eastern Idaho Railroad interchanges with Union Pacific. A few daily UP locals from Pocatello terminate there and EIRR switching traffic is fairly constant throughout the day. The best time to see the yard is in the morning from the northern end, where a parking lot and street parallel it on a bluff giving a slightly elevated view. In the afternoons you can see the other side of the yard in sun from Centre Avenue (the Union Pacific end) and Emerson Avenue (the EIRR end).

The Idaho Falls yard sees a lot of traffic as EIRR and UP trains switch local industries as well as prepare trains to head out on the Yellowstone Branch. Here the Yellowstone turn pulls out of the yard while another GP35 switches in the background and an SD24 rests near the yard office.

Between Idaho Falls and Rexburg the branch is pretty straightforward, literally. A clean straight shot north with a siding here and there for potato packers. After Rexburg the tracks get a bit more interesting, curving a bit with more sidings branching off at right angles for sawmills and fuel dealerships. However, they run at an angle through the city so there is no one road that parallels them. Following the tracks involves a zig-zag going from one block to another until the track reaches the other end. Just make sure to stop at every track because Rexburg is the only city I have been to where every single grade crossing is protected with a mandatory stop sign - it is easy to forget this when most non-gated crossings are protected only with crossbucks.

This cluster of elevators in Rexburg looks like it may be built around the old freight depot. The building closest to the tracks looks very much like an OSL standard depot.

  

While in Rexburg, be sure to stop at Smith Park near the hospital to check out the steam tractor there. It is a monster of a machine.

At St. Anthony the elevator districts start cropping up and at Ashton the tiny town is filled and surrounded with a maze of spurs, sidings and a wye servicing Elevator Row right on Main Street. Ashton is in my opinion the most interesting of the towns, being the current end-of-track and former junction with the Teton Valley Branch that ran to Victor Idaho.

Garry, Idaho is a typical example of the scenery seen along much of the Yellowstone Branch between Idaho Falls and Rexburg. A potato packer is served by a spur at this location.

 The spurs at Thornton were being reballasted during my trip.

If you wish to continue from Ashton for a bit of ghost railfanning, the grade for the old Yellowstone Branch has been reclaimed by fields. However, it turns east to parallel the Henry's Fork River until it pops out as the Yellowstone Branch Line trail at the Warm River Campground just off the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. No roads parallel the trail for a long time but it can be hiked or biked through Island Park to West Yellowstone (more on that later). The Teton Valley Branch likewise runs far away from any parallel roads until France Idaho where it more or less parallels the road to Tetonia. The abandoned elevators along this line are as interesting as the railroad grade itself. From appearances where it crosses roads it appears that it is an open access road, but I have not been able to confirm how much is driveable.

Ashton's elevators have their own trackmobile to switch cars when an EIRR locomotive isn't around.

Regardless of whether or not you decide to search out the abandoned grades, the best part of ghost railfanning this line is at the terminus at West Yellowstone. There, the Union Pacific depot, baggage building and Union Pacific Lodge still stand, donated to the City of West Yellowstone. The depot itself is an excellent museum (entry fee $6.00) with a short bit of track relaid along the platform and a car from the Montana Centennial Train representing the once busy passenger traffic on the branch bringing tourists to the park.

Just to the east of the depot are the baggage building, now used by the West Yellowstone Police Department, and the Union Pacific Lodge. Interestingly, the linens from this huge hotel were shipped by train to Ogden Utah where the world's only railroad-owned industrial laundry facility existed. The building still stands and is part of the Utah State Railroad Museum complex although it is closed to the public due to its poor structural condition.

This little stretch of track is a definite bonus to a vacation to the park, so next time you head to the Yellowstone/Teton area be sure to look for it. Maybe you'll be lucky and get some great shots.

Links
Eastern Idaho Railroad website
Eastern Idaho Railroad on Railpictures.net (check out Russell Watson's pictures of the Yellowstone Branch)

Union Pacific 844, April 2017: Pocatello to Ogden

UP 844 Rests on Track 1 at the Ogden Union Station on April 25, 2017; finishing a trip which had it trek across southern Idaho and northern Utah during the day.

When Union Pacific 844 was restored to operation in 2016 many of us in Utah were excited for the prospect that in the coming months the "Living Legend" would visit us in the Beehive State. Early 2017 brought rumors that the 844 would trek west again in a Wyoming-Idaho-Utah tour which would take it through some of the most scenic areas of the Great Basin, including the rare sight of seeing the steamer trekking down the Ogden Subdivision, a stretch of track which runs between McCammon, Idaho, and Ogden, Utah. 

Immediately we began talking about how the Desert Empire Project would cover this trip and I was excited for the chance to follow the 844 down from Idaho into Utah, returning to an area I hadn't been to in over a year. Monday, midday April 24th, my Dad and I left Salt Lake City in my Dad's truck and headed due north, bound for Pocatello. The chance for a road trip was very much an opportunity for me to relax a bit amidst the stresses of the final weeks of the school semester, and for my Dad to celebrate his coming birthday. After copious amounts of candy, soda, and even a quick stop at the quirky surplus store Smith and Edwards (where I found and bought a cool Western Pacific Railroad pin); we finally arrived in Pocatello where 844 was waiting.

April 24, 2017; having just arrived in Pocatello shortly before us the Union Pacific steam crew was hard at work preparing the 844 for another journey the following morning. The diesel helper which had been with the engine from Pocatello to Boise and back, had been cut out; and the steam crew brought in fuel and water to feed the voracious appetite of a large steam engine.

A Union Pacific steam crew member stands in the open doorway of the Art Lockman support car, staring at the gathered crowd in Pocatello.

UP 6961 which had served as the helper unit on 844's train from Pocatello to Boise the weekend prior, slowly slinks away from the steam special leaving the steam engine to take its coming trip into Ogden by itself. The aged and weathered diesel drew the ire of many Idaho based railfans who thought it seemed a poor working partner for the clean and shiny 844 and passenger cars.

Speaking of clean; UP 844 really was shining when we found it in Pocatello. The last time I saw 844 in 2011 was after it made a massive trek across the southwest through New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. By the time it had reached Utah dust and grime made it look worn and tired. In comparison the short jaunt across Idaho and Wyoming meant the 844 had little time to accumulate road grime and it was looking mighty fine! The rain showers probably also helped keep it clean too. The clean exterior also bore testament to the thorough restoration job the steam crew had performed on the engine in the years prior. 

The steam crew gathers at the drivers of UP 844 preparing to grease the running gear. Another crew is working the running gear on the opposite end of the engine.

I would like to comment on the sense of order Union Pacific was able to bring to the crowds surrounding 844 in both Pocatello and Ogden. Steam trains can sometimes lead to trackside stupidity as bystanders put themselves into risky situations. The display area chosen for 844 in Pocatello was isolated from the mainline on a relatively little used spur. Railroad police, private event security, M.O.W. workers and the steam crew all stood on standby. In Pocatello as soon as the blue flags went up and the blocks were placed under the rails; people were allowed to walk up to the engine, take photos of it from in front, and get close to the Living Legend. It was a jovial feeling with the added security of the railroad insuring things went well on their property. We felt like invited guests, and UP played the part of gracious host very well.

My Dad was excited to find the fuel truck used for the 844 had his name on it! ;)

A westbound manifest departs Pocatello on the mainline, while two railroad police officers stand guard to ensure the visiting steam engine crowds do not cross into the mainline tracks.

Itchy and Scratchy roll by on the manifest freight!

In-between the rainy downpours of the day, bright splotches of sun illuminated the passing trains, such as the two DPU units on the manifest freight engine.

"Work never stops on a steam engine" as crew members continue attending to the drive rods while the 844 is resting in Pocatello.

A modest crowd of onlookers gathered around the engine in admiration and awe. A steam engine feels like a living being in many ways, snorting and hissing even while at rest.

After checking into our hotel room my Dad and I stopped again at 844's Pocatello resting spot. The fires had been dropped for the night, but the engine sat like a Thermos; warm and hot to be ready for the coming day's work. With the maintenance work stopped, we used the opportunity to get closer to the engine and admire it at rest. We left shortly afterwords for a game of laser tag and a late dinner, then we went off to our hotel. I slept very restlessly that night, much like a kid waiting for Santa on Christmas eve, the following day would be the main attraction; getting to watch this beautiful engine roll across the Ogden Subdivision!

Man when will I get an opportunity like this again to take selfies in front of the pilot of a live mainline steam engine?

My Dad snapped this picture of me admiring the tender and cab of 844. It should be worth noting that due to safety photos like this on live rail equipment are rarely recommended. As previously mentioned, the watchful supervision of the UP Police and other private security allowing the crowds to do this is an exception to the rule; not the norm!

Custom Union Pacific shield shaped valve plates on the 844.

An early morning alarm at 6:30 am, and we started our Tuesday back where the previous day ended; on the lone spur in Pocatello where 844 was at rest. At 8:00 am with Steam Chief Ed Dickens at the helm, the shrill whistle blowed and the engine in reverse began to back out of the stub track and onto the mainline. The crowd was ecstatic, and a chain of cars began to follow the engine as it crawled out of the city and into the country side.

A cloud of white vapor envelops the 844 as it reverses out of the yard lead, and onto the mainline.

Trekking through the yard was slow, the 844 crawling along until it could highball on the mainline outside of the city. One of the highlights of this trip was seeing the large amount of older signals on the route from Pocatello to Ogden. Many of the other busy mainlines are being modified with LED signals and PTC control, but the Ogden Subdivision is still ruled by classic target signals and controlling not very different from the technology in place when UP 844 was new to the railroad.

UP 844 is already picking up speed as it runs out of the city.

To be honest, I was caught by surprise with the intensity of the chase to follow the 844. The engine made good speed, often faster than the cars that followed it like ants in a line. I did miss a few of the photo locations I wanted to catch the engine at; although for most of the journey we could usually see the engine up ahead of us in the distance. We found our next spots to photograph the engine in McCammon, Idaho; where we met a few other railfans such as Adam Pinales, and Dale and Karyn Angell. 

 Gray overcast met the engine in McCammon. Crowds of school children, many of whose classrooms were located near the track; had greeted the 844 only minutes earlier; before it arrived at the spot the railfans were waiting.

"The Chase" was an experience of both wonder and frustration, as seen here with 844 blowing through Red Rock Pass. Frustration in the feeling of never being able to quite catch up to the steaming engine. Wonder in the amazing sight of vintage passenger equipment rolling along a green countryside with plumes of steam ascending from the engine up front.

It wasn't long until UP 844 left Idaho and crossed the Utah state line (after passing a waiting manifest freight south of Swan Lake, Idaho). At Cornish, my Dad and I waited at the very first grade crossing south of the state line and watched the Living Legend cross the Emerald State and Beehive State boundaries. A massive mob had descended in anticipation at Cache Junction; where crowds of locals greeted the engine. Steam engines make many who are not a railfan come out and enjoy them, their allure attracting young and old alike.

Having just left Idaho a minute ago, UP 844 blasts past the first grade crossing in northern Utah on its route to Ogden.

Looking over my Dad's window to the distance or looking at the road ahead showed the same thing; the spectacular image of hundreds of cars descending on Cache Junction to meet the 844. This small hamlet of a few homes seemed extremely busy as people rushed to get a chance to see the living legend.

Our next stop was below Cutler Reservoir where the tracks rise above the river bed, passing through two bridges joined by a tunnel. The steam train crawled at slow speed into the canyon, and the whistles bounced off the rock walls mingling with the roaring of the river below the dam. Rhythmic chuffs permeated the air as the engine made a spectacular display crossing the high bridges. A few of the railfans present with us at Cutler were Ben Kuhns, Adam Pinales again, and Parker and Garrett Christensen. Kent Bankhead and Mitch Harv were also at points further west in Wheelon and Collintson. For us, it seemed we had the best seat in the house, as the engine made its spectacular crossing above our heads.

 Parker, Garrett and Adam; admire the scenery while preparing a drone to gain a higher vantage point of this awesome area.

Nothing short of spectacular could describe the stunning awe of seeing steam crawl through this scenic canyon!

As we followed along Highway 89, we watched 844 make its approach into Brigham City passing all the small farming towns nearby on the way. We set up our next opportunity to see the engine in Ogden, where it arrived 20 minutes after we did. Mitch Harv and Jacob Morgan were also there to great the engine; and indeed it had felt that during our jaunt across Utah we had ran into many of the active railfans in the state. 844 arrived to a massive crowd, and as it came to rest in the station platform it was as if the glory days of the station had returned; as the busy crowed bused in and around the train. It was a spectacular finale to a stunning day, one which I do not want to ever forget!

Then vs. now? The UTA Frontrunner flies past the station, almost as a reminder of how the modern age of railroading compares to the gilded age 844 comes from.

The masses gathered in full force to watch 844 make its entrance to the Union Station!

UP 844 chuffs along the Ogden Yard at steam as it approaches the station.

With the train in reverse, the steam crew stood guard watching the track ahead.

Like a wake behind a boat, the crowd follows after the 844 as it enters the grand station platforms. Alongside the 844 are its historic brethren of the past, such as UP 26 a Gas Turbine, and UP 833 a FEF-2 which predated the 844 by a few years.

Railfan Dale Angell takes a break from filming footage for his YouTube channel "Toy Man Television" by chatting with a passerby.

UP 833 stands at the far end of the Eccles Rail Center, while in the distance its sister 844 hisses amidst a large crowd.

The face of 844, at rest in Ogden where it will stay two nights until it departs April 27th along the famous Echo Canyon route (Evanston Subdivision)! Two American flags flank the ears of the engine.

This has been a spectacularly fun adventure. I had a blast chasing the 844 across the area, and I am sure my Dad enjoyed it too! It was a blast seeing so many fellow railfans, and I am excited to see what the coming days bring as UP 844 continues its trek through a slice of Utah! We got some ideas as part of the Desert Empire Project on how to cover the rest of the 844 trip in our state, so stay tuned! Until next time.

-Jacob Lyman