Chasing Union Pacific 844: Ogden to Green River

 This is now the Desert Empire Project facebook banner, and for good reason - on one end we have an FEF-2, UP 833, and on the other an FEF-3, UP 844, two classic Union Pacific Northerns in preservation.

In case you haven't followed our recent articles, Jacob covered April 2017's "Boise Turn" from Pocatello Idaho to Ogden Utah in the last post; I took up the baton and followed the 844 on its return journey all the way to Green River, Wyoming. The journey began on Wednesday, April 26th while the 844 was still on display at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden. A Union Pacific Engineer's Special was passing through over the ex-D&RGW Soldier Summit route (today's Provo Subdivision) so I had to chase it from Provo to the Red Narrows before heading north to meet up with Jacob and Schon for a Desert Empire Project party (having our four editors spread between four cities and two states means that we usually only coordinate via internet chat).

 I met Schon and Jacob near Salt Lake City so we could drive to Ogden together; waiting for them gave an opportunity to photograph UTA's Trax system.

The reason for being in Ogden on Wednesday was that I, as a director for the Golden Spike Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society (the group behind the restoration of D&RGW 223), was invited to the Steam Crew Banquet hosted by the Union Station Foundation to thank Union Pacific for bringing the 844 to Ogden. This is a tradition that stretches back decades, and in fact we have heard from several past and present Steam Team members that Ogden is their favorite place to stop because of the hospitality and friendliness. The banquet was attended by representatives of both government and rail preservation groups, including the Promontory Chapter NRHS, Golden Spike National Historic Site and Dynamic Rail Preservation.

Then it was off to bed - after confirming that the crew would be up and preparing the locomotive at 5:00 am the next morning, I knew that if I wanted to beat the crowds and get some good early-morning shots I needed to be up by 4:00. Seeing the 844 alone, yet alive, in the post-rainstorm night really set the clock back. Replace the crew's reflective jackets with normal overalls and the scene could have been any day at the Junction City in 1955. Once the sun came up the people started pouring in so I hurried to stake out a spot at 26th Street where I hoped the bulk of the crowds would not be. There I met with Mitch Harvey, who is developing a digital simulation of the entire Salt Lake and Evanston Subdivisions of the Union Pacific System for Railworks. He was my copilot and official out-the-window photographer for the trip; this was a good opportunity for him to perform field research for his project. Unfortunately, and perhaps it was because of the lack of sleep, I made several mistakes throughout the day that eventually struck me out from my plan of filming the entire trip.

After watching the 844 leave the Union Station (after minor problems with the electrical system) we raced to Peterson on the other side of Weber Canyon to catch it on the curve just before the highway bridge. I somehow messed up the settings on the video camera and overexposed the image there. It was also there that we realized the sheer magnitude of the crowds that also were chasing as I-84 became a parking lot within minutes of the locomotive passing us. Traffic was stop-and-go all the way to Emory and it was impossible to catch up. Here is an important lesson for photographers - NEVER PACE THE TRAIN ON A FREEWAY. The train was going 15 mph under the speed limit, and both lanes were trying to stay alongside, completely blocking traffic. Those idiots really made a lot of people angry (myself included) and the traffic was held up almost ten miles back until the I-80 junction where most of them jumped ship. Common courtesy is one commodity that is almost always absent from railroad related events.

Two shots of the traffic near Morgan.

Basically, the first four stops that we had carefully planned two weeks in advance were out of the question. Once past Emory the traffic cleared enough for us to arrive at Castle Rock with time to set up and wait as a westbound freight inched its way by before the 844 arrived. The canyon isn't called Echo for nothing, and the sound of the steam locomotive pounding the iron on an upgrade was incredible. Luckily the extra time there gave me the chance to find and fix the exposure problem for the remainder of the day.

This westbound freight entertained us and the dozens of other photographers perched on the edge of the bluff at Castle Rock. Spencer Peterson of UCrail.com was alongside us although we didn't recognize it until after we began posting our individual photos on our respective sites.

The Boise Turn passes the freight at Castle Rock

Then the traffic held us up again, preventing a stop at Wahsatch and forcing us to arrive in Evanston at the same time as the 844. Union Pacific shut down both east and westbound mains for the duration of the 844's half-hour stay there, effectively holding back several freights.

The Evanston yard, with both mains shut down, was flooded with people, many of whom followed the train from Utah.

Mitch and I decided to continue on to find a good spot; after much thought, some confusion, and multiple last-minute decisions, we chose a spot called Leroy, the site of a now-demolished section house. Only the trees planted by the railroad and a small dugout mark the site as having once been inhabited. It was here as well that the wind really picked up, blowing over my tripod which luckily was caught by another photographer who Mitch had met a year ago in Salt Lake City.

From Leroy it was a mad dash down a muddy dirt road to reunite with the interstate and reach Granger before the train, which luckily we did. The gentleman at Leroy advised us to run straight through Granger to the bridge just west of town, which was some of the best advice I have ever received. We had the location all to ourselves as the 844 slowed from track speed to enter the town, where it stayed for another half hour. Unfortunately I set up the tripod on a stack of ties which turned out to be very unstable and with each gust of wind pushed the camera further and further to the side.

The bridge at Granger. Note I was not on the bridge or the track but took this photo from a distance with a zoom lens.

Then on to town to find a sudden and unexpected population explosion as the little town was invaded with people who were there to see it the 844 despite strong winds and alternating hail/snow/rain/sun that hit us every five minutes or so. Granger's existence depends on the junction between the Transcontinental mainline and the ex-Oregon Short Line Pocatello subdivision to Idaho so rail traffic is heavy through there. As temperatures dropped I realized I didn't bring a jacket, so the emergency raincoat was pulled from the back of my car to improvise. Two westbound freights passed through, one of them a Herzog ballast train, while we waited, and then it was on to Green River where the real party began.

 A westbound ballast train approaches Granger

UP 844 highball Granger!

Winds kept getting stronger the further we went until they exceeded 40 mph; when we reached Green River we thought the pedestrian overpass spanning the yard would be a great place to film the train coming in, but the wind was strong enough to sway the bridge enough to cause nausea and vertigo. In addition, a long line of freights and intermodal trains were backed up in the yard so the 844 was held for hours as one westbound after another pulled out.

The 844 was held here for several hours while westbound freights poured through Green River. Dozens of people were crowded on the pedestrian overpass waiting for it to move which it never did.

 A yard job passes under the overpass. Extremely strong winds caused the bridge to sway back and forth, yet this tenacious crowd stuck to it for hours despite the 844's lack of activity during that time.

One of many freights that passed through while waiting for the 844.

After waiting for more than two hours we decided to head back to Ogden, where we caught one more freight in Echo Canyon before parting ways for the day.

This was a great chase. Upon returning to Utah, several friends remarked that we were crazy for going all the way to Green River. In a way we are, I guess. You need to be crazy to devote so much time and effort into following a steam locomotive.

You can watch the video from this trip here:

And my video from the last time UP 844 passed through Utah here:

-Josh

Snow and Water and Floods, oh my!

by Joshua Bernhard

I was told by the park rangers at Arches National Park that water is the most destructive natural force in existence; even if not absolute in that sense, it is still the bane of transportation and settlement in desert and mountain locales. The winter of 2016-2017 has been very strange, dumping snow at much higher levels than the average in the Rocky Mountains. Then, suddenly in late January, temperatures in the Great Basin soared from below freezing during the day to 65 degrees, weather more suited for March or April. Sudden spikes in temperature melt snow too quickly for it to settle, making snowpacks unstable in addition to simply increasing the amount of flowing water. Then, to make matters worse, rain hit the valleys, adding an extra layer of fresh snow at higher elevations; every variable was perfectly in line for catastrophic floods.

Everything collapsed at once it seemed. On February 7 there was a washout just east of Wells Nevada on the Shafter Sub; Amtrak's California Zephyr was reroute on the Lakeside Sub over the Lucin Cutoff through Ogden on that day. The following morning, though, conditions became worse and Amtrak suspended service, turning the eastbound CZ to return to California at Wells and the westbound CZ to return to Chicago at Salt Lake City. 21-Mile Dam near Montello, Nevada, burst under the sudden weight of floodwaters, and the stored water rushed out, wiping out roads, railroad, and inundating the town of Montello. This dam break shut down both the Lakeside and Shafter subs while UP began placing ballast trains in sidings in preparation for the repairs. Meanwhile, mudslides in the Sierra Nevadas (including at Doyle, California) shut down much of northern California and flooding in Central California caused a derailment of several cars. By Thursday November 9 the Lakeside, Shafter, Fresno and Roseville subdivisions were all closed; UP apparently gave up on trying to reroute trains out of Salt Lake City and let them pile up at Garfield.

(Photo and commentary courtesy Jacob Lyman) "When possible I try and chase every Amtrak train I get the opportunity to, especially since daylight Amtrak runs through Salt Lake City are such a rare occurrence. On February 9, 2017 I rushed from my classes at the university to get down trackside to watch as Amtrak Train #6, the eastbound California Zephyr departed Salt Lake. The delays were a result of the flood waters though out Nevada. I didn't stop to think though that it was going to get even worse over the next few days."

(Photo and commentary courtesy Jacob Lyman) "The full extent of the flood damage though became apparent the next day (February, 10) as I traveled with my sister driving home. I sat from the passenger seat of the car and declared to my sister I could see a traffic jam; however realizing that she thought I saw a jam up ahead on the road I had to quickly clarify I was seeing a traffic jam of trains. Here in the northern reaches of the Lynndyl Subdivision right before entering the Shaffter at Garfield Junction; where five trains lined up in a row, as a sixth train trundled past them. I had no doubt they were being held due to the flood waters, and I snapped a few pictures from the passenger seat with my cellphone. I was astonished, I had never before seen such a system delay concentrated all in one place. I learned later in the day the Shaffter was operating in limited capacity, as I saw a railfan post a video online of a stack train racing through the route (stack trains have been a rare sight on this route since the UP-SP merger). On Saturday (February, 11) when I passed through the area gone were the idle freight trains, but instead two ballast trains resting in the sidings. They were facing eastbound, and it made me wonder if they were called up from the ballast quarry near Milford. Either way the two ballast trains in the area made it clear, the railroad was preparing to go to war with nature itself."

By late that night the Shafter sub was reopened briefly although the condition of the route through the Sierras is still questionable. The Lakeside saw considerable damage on both the Nevada and Utah sides of the border; Box Elder News Journal posted pictures of minor washouts at Lucin that took out a grade crossing and signaling equipment on February 10. That same day BNSF made the decision to reroute their trackage rights trains south over the Sharp Subdivision rather than try to push them through Salt Lake City and the floods to the west; the Provo, Utah to Stockton, California Manifest (FHPVOS-10) left Provo on the morning of February 11 but rather than going to Stockton was forced to terminate at Barstow.

BNSF trains are never seen on UP's Sharp Subdivision, but it took catastrophic floods to make it happen. Here the FHPVOS-10 passes through Benjamin, Utah, rerouted to Barstow rather than its normal terminal of Stockton due to the closure of both the Lakeside and Shafter subdivisions out of Salt Lake City where it is normally routed. Even before making it all the way out of Provo it was met by floodwaters.

Another freak storm passed through on the night of the 10th however, dropping about an inch of snow in Utah Valley overnight but then warming up through the morning. Just before the FHPVOS pulled out of Provo Yard at 9:00 am it was met with a report that the Hobble Creek Bridge, less than a mile out, was blocked and flooding almost to the rails. The train was able to make it over the bridge on slow order, but water kept rising and after UP was able to push two more coal trains through right after the FHPVOS the water covered the railhead and the Sharp sub was closed for a few hours just before noon until Springville City could position heavy equipment to start fishing out the log jam that was causing the water backup. Even with water flowing under the bridge again by 12:30 the surrounding land was still 1-2 feet under water and nearby roads and industries were closed.

 This was the condition of the Hobble Creek Bridge at 9:30 am, just outside of Provo Utah on the Sharp Subdivision. The water had risen above the bottom of the bridge deck and was still rising; luckily Springville City, after the county sheriff, local police and a volunteer fire department had all responded to reports of the potential for damage. This location features four bridges in rapid succession: a street, the Sharp subdivision, Intermountain Power's car repair yard, and another street.

Once the water on the road reached two feet the street was closed.

Springville City was proactive and sent down equipment to start clearing out the log jam on the bridge by noon. They were able to bring water levels back down to below the bridge height, although only a few inches below the bottom of the deck.

Westbound freight trains continued to pile up, extending outward from Salt Lake City up the Salt Lake subdivision to Clearfield; however, while the damage caused across the UP system is significant and will take a long time to properly rectify, quick work has been able to prevent further closures and the fact that the Shafter Subdivision was reopened so quickly, even if under very limited operation, is a testament to the railroad employees who dove in to fix the problem. We still have a few weeks to see what else this winter will throw at us but hopefully nothing as extreme as this past week.

BNSF, the Utah Railway, and the Railfan Joys from Anti-Trust laws.

August 9, 2016; five BNSF locomotives stand at the ready facing south in Provo Yard.

Today has been a bit busy on this blog, and depending on when I finally finish this post it might be one of several posts from the different contributors today. As nice as it would be to wait a bit to write another post later this week, my schedule means today is the only day I have time to write anything on here until Saturday. 

Also thinking of different subjects I could perhaps provide insight into, I was met with a myriad of ideas. My longterm goal is to get a nice post (or series) talking about my hometown Tooele Valley Railway, but I want time to polish my ideas before I publish info on a subject I find so endearing. I have also considered a few other ideas, but I just need time to find the info and take photos for those subjects.

Fortunately I decided the subject of the unique relation between the Utah Railway and BNSF is something I have learned and witnessed  a lot of over the past few months. My move from Logan to Salt Lake has meant I am finally within the territory that BNSF and Utah Railway serve. I actually wasn't able to get great photos of the BNSF until recently with this move. While both Schon and Josh are probably a bit more familiar with these trains than I am due to their locations, I hope that my bit of insight will help those curious as to how BNSF operates in Utah; and could perhaps be used as a spring board for future posts from either myself or them.

One of my first photographs of the BNSF was taken on July 30, 2011 in Nevada somewhere paralleling Interstate 80 while on a family vacation. I was riding in the backseat of a car, and for the next few years the only time I would see BNSF trains was either when I was in the backseat of a moving car with my family, or worse; without my camera. It wasn't until the vital help of social media allowing me to contact local railfans that I finally was able to figure out how to track down the BNSF.

Before 1982, Utah was the crossroad point for four vital interstate railroads; the Union Pacific, the Denver and Rio Grande Western, the Southern Pacific, and the Western Pacific. Among them ran regional railroads such as Utah Railway, or Kennecott Copper's massive private electric railroad line. The railroad scene in downtown Salt Lake and Ogden was vibrant, as these different railroads intersected and changed cars with each other. Many Utah towns had access to one or two of these different railroads.

 A sample look at a few of the locomotives representing the railroads of Utah before the mergers that consolidated them all under the Union Pacific name. The first photo was taken on August 1, 2011; and showcases the preserved Western Pacific 805 in Portola California.

The second photo shows the last Southern Pacific locomotive that ran on Union Pacific rails with it's original paint and number; SP 343. This photo was taken in Erda, Utah on April 4, 2016. This day would be both the first and last time I (among with a few other railfans) would see this unit. A few months later, it would be painted into the Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist paint of the Union Pacific.

The third photo showcases two of the preserved locomotives at Ogden Union Station on November 29, 2015. DRGW 5371 to the left, and SP 7457 to the right. Both show evidence of cosmetic restoration on their noses, work which was provided by Kerry and Derrick Klarr, and Chris Fussell.

1982 and 1983 marked the beginning of an era of mergers that would last until 1996. The Western Pacific was consolidated (along with the Missouri Pacific) into the Union Pacific brand. 1989 brought about the merger of the Rio Grande with the Southern Pacific. 1996 brought about the final round of consolidations, as the Southern Pacific was absorbed into the Union Pacific.

The Southern Pacific and Union Pacific merger left a problem that had to be resolved, what to do to prevent a railroad monopoly by the Union Pacific in areas dominated previously by the two railroads? Utah was particularly at risk , as every single interstate railroad that crossed into it, had fallen under the Union Pacific banner. The only other rail competitor in the western USA, the newly formed BNSF railroad didn't have a single piece of track which crossed into Utah (or Nevada for that matter to). A concession granted by the federal government during the SP-UP merger made the Union Pacific grant the BNSF trackage rights into Utah and Nevada over the former Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and Rio Grande routes from California to Colorado; with Utah as the middle ground. With this Utah Railway got the new role of running local freights, allowing BNSF freight dropped off in Provo to make it to industries through out the Wasatch Front and to local shortlines such as the Salt Lake Garfield and Western, and the Utah Central. This critical decision allowed competition to remain in the railroad transportation market in Utah.

On Patriot Day (September 11) 2016; Utah Railway 2008 a GP38-3 locomotive is switching cars for the soon to depart RUT 611 local. The RUT 611 takes cars delivered by the BNSF, and moves them from Provo to Ogden were they can be delivered to industries and transferred to the UCRY industrial shortline railroad. 

Of course most of the time in Provo Yard, rather than use their own GP locomotives; Utah Railway crews tend to switch trains using power brought to them by the BNSF. Few railyards see GEVO's and SD70ACe units working switching jobs, let alone do they often see heritage units taking that job. But such was the case on August 9, 2016 when BNSF 6805 and Norfolk Southern 1073 the Penn Central Heritage unit, alongside NS 8401 were manned by the Utah Railway to switch cars that had just arrived on BNSF's Denver Colorado to Provo Utah train.

The BNSF bases most of their Utah activity in Provo Yard, sharing tracks with the Utah Railway. Their symbiotic relation is evident as Utah Railway crews often man BNSF locomotives to handle Utah Railway switching; and BNSF crews arrive to work in vans marked with the G&W (the parent company of the Utah Railway). While UP let's their aged GP units work yards, the Utah Railway and BNSF often let modern GEVO's and SD70ACe's do their yard switching. BNSF trains are stacked with lots of locomotives, ready to blast through the Union Pacific owned tracks, without causing delays for other trains on the line. 

Look closely at these two photos. Both are the same train (a Provo to Lincoln Nebraska run) as seen on 9/11/16. The first photo was at Provo Yard, the second as seen north of Thistle on the former DRGW line. Taken only an hour and a half or so apart, there is evidence of BNSF's method of using lots of locomotives to a train and running it as fast as possible. The second photo shows on closer inspection that a fourth engine has been added to the consist, and that the addition was apparently fast enough it didn't cause significant delay to the train.

BNSF's process of fast freights running on the former DRGW and WP routes has lead many a railfan to comment that BNSF understand's how to run a railroad better than the often slow and under-powered trains of the Union Pacific. Other than the practical reasons of running fast trains, BNSF has also created a railfanning spectacle, as railfans bored of the monopoly of yellow engines, seek out the fast orange trains of the BNSF. It can be a bit of a race to follow these trains; as Josh can attest to ;)

 Utah Railway 3000 passes Control Point 784 in downtown Salt Lake City, as it makes one of the many local jobs that Utah Railway operates in the area.

Other than their coal and oil trains down the old Rio Grande, Utah Railway's RUT 611 might perhaps be one of their flagship trains. The majority of the large six-axle road power of the Utah Railway continues to display their pre-G&W paint scheme, a unique combination of red and gray. Here the RUT 611 is taking it's train on Union Pacific's Main 3,  formerly part of the Rio Grande mainline to Ogden.

Meanwhile the BNSF partnership has benefited the Utah Railway in a myriad of ways. With coal traffic reaching low levels, the Utah Railway still continues to find work transferring freight from the BNSF to local industries and other local shortline railroads. Many Salt Lake industries have the ability to chose to move their freight over the UP or the Utah Railway. This service provides competition in the railroad market for industries, and for railfans it helps to provide even more variety to the Utah railroading scene. Furthermore the Utah Railway (along with UTA and Savage) helps to operate nocturnal runs over tracks the Union Pacific abandoned after the mergers (but that is a story for another day.)

In conclusion, the BNSF and the Utah Railroad continue to provide competitive shipping to the Wasatch Front area. For railfans who missed out on the grand era of the DRGW, WP, SP and UP all calling Utah home; the Utah Railway and BNSF help to diversify the railroading scene. As these two railroads continue to work, they are defining what will someday be a notable part of railroad history in the early 21st century. 

Nos Vemos

-Jacob