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)

Winds of Change

January 2017, this has been the last SP-patch unit I have photographed so far. Although I did see one patch up in Pocatello during the 844 trip I couldn't really get close to get a nice view. Since then I haven't seen any patch units. The last patch unit to enter the State of Utah a few days ago was as celebrated as the unpatched units were a few years back... Its a dying breed for sure.

It has been stated that there only certainty in life is "death and taxes." A world of constant change and flux definitely effects the world a railfan sees trackside, as favorite locomotives disappear, flags fall, and traffic patterns ebb and flow in the economic tide.

From a rather young railfan as myself, it seems rather strange to be complaining about changes. The only major American railroad mergers to happen in my lifetime were the UP-CNW-SP mergers, and the formation of BNSF; I was to young to notice any of them. I have never had the experience to go trackside and railfan a Class 1 railroad, only to come back and find that area completely changed due to mergers or abandonment. The only piece of railroad I have seen a train on to later have it go out of service was oddly enough the "Yrigoyen Branch" (officially known as Ramal C16) in the Ferrocarriles Argentinos rail system, a line I witnessed in action but never photographed a train on. The small branch which once extended to Oran before being scaled back to Yrigoyen, was dramatically cut in two by a flash flood on the Rio Colorado on March 6, 2015. However seeing that line is half a world away from where I am now, I have never had the chance to go back and assess the damages. For all I know that bridge has been rebuilt and trains still run the line to this day, yet considering the lack of railfans in rural north-western Argentina, I have found no sources on that line's fate. Furthermore considering that the branch had only one active customer, I find it likely the line was killed by the sudden flood.

Photos of the Ramal C16 bridge fall in Argentina courtesy of Conner Thompson (used with permission). The dramatic collapse suspended operations on the line. It is the only line I have ever seen in action which was later abandoned due to natural disaster. I don't know if it will ever be rebuilt due to the lack of customers on the route.

June 2016, I was pleasantly surprised to catch this ex-CNW unit in the consist of a westbound manifest passing through Tooele, Utah.

I know Schon, myself, and several other local railfans speak ad-nausea about our encounter with SP 343 in April of 2016; but I hope our readers forgive our indulgence on the subject. SP 343 is the ONLY non-patched Southern Pacific unit I have photographed in my life outside of a museum. My brief chase of it from one end of Erda, Utah to another was my last chance to catch a memory of my childhood; when SP painted locomotives dominated the local railfan scene.

UP 6379 (ex-SP 333) was on the outskirts of Pocatello in February 2016 on a waiting train.

Despite this I feel as if the SP, CNW, and DRGW were part of my life. There was a brief era in the early 1990's and 2000's where UP rostered a large fleet of post-merger locomotives that had not yet visited the paint booth. My parents have almost always lived in viewing range of the Lynndyl Subdivision, and I could see the trains in the distance climbing through the valley. UP's fleet was colorful and vibrant, new bright yellow engines decorated in the post 9-11 American Flag paint scheme; trailed by gray and black engines of SP/DRGW heritage. I was oblivious to the histories to the respective railroads, as a kid it seemed as if real life trains were as colorful as what I had seen in children's literature. If Thomas, Toby and Percy dominated my childhood thoughts, so too did their American diesel friends "Rio Grande","Southern Pacific" and his brother "Union Pacific." If it seems like a sweet and somewhat optimistic view, it is an appropriate description of how I felt as a child then.

While on the subject of vanishing locomotive paint schemes; BNSF has taken a far more slow approach to repainting its pre-merger paint schemes. I just have the poor luck that every time I catch one of BNSF's predecessor schemes in action I am either in a moving car or there is some form of obstruction in the way blocking my view. The photos above seem to demonstrate my bad luck! While not nearly as endangered though as the SP units on the UP, BNSF is slowly but surely deadlining and retiring many of these ATSF/BN units.

By the time I began going trackside to railfan and was studying the real histories of American railroads, the vibrant era of post-merger paint schemes was already on the wane. Union Pacific's bright American Flag units had grown weathered, tired and beaten. DRGW 5371 had already retired, and the only patched DRGW unit left had been banished to switching service in Texas. The Southern Pacific and its fleet of General Electric units brought only a few years prior to the merger were the last bastion of color on the Union Pacific trains, with the occasional CNW unit popping in as an additional splash of color. By 2015 though that era began to close too. The subject of the disappearance of the remaining SP patch units was discussed in greater detail by Schon Norris on this blog last year. Since his post was published I have only seen one or two patch units, a constant reminder of the fast work of Union Pacific's North Little Rock shops. Just like the DRGW, I fear my only chance to see a SP unit in the near future is to travel to a museum or a shortline such as the Kyle Railway which has delayed painting its units.

Utah 5005 in October, 2016; in Provo Yard. This unit along with the other five MK50's are now on the Kyle Railway in Kansas and Colorado.

Speaking of the Kyle Railway is the remaining shock from the loss of Utah Railway's MK50-3's earlier this year. I had not intended to be caught unguarded with a lack of photos of the Utah Railway, like I had been years earlier with the loss of the DRGW units. So as previously recorded in this blog, Josh and I went down to Helper to watch Utah Railway run one of their final coal trains. The snowy mountain scenery was a memorable trip, and I can't think of a more fitting place to watch the MK50-3's in their prime. In spring when rumors came that the MK's would soon be gone I remember sitting trackside until after dusk, to watch a duo of MK's run a Provo-Ogden freight through Salt Lake City.

As the MK50-3's left the Utah Railway, I spoke of my belief the Utah Railway could survive in a post-coal traffic market. I based my thoughts off watching the nearby Salt Lake Garfield and Western shortline revitalize itself and grow its traffic base despite a limited reach and a lack of resources. Many railroads could survive as a local traffic handler, and it had seemed the Utah Railway was prepared to do the same. In a way my original blog post on the topic was also deflecting some of the strange rumors coming from railfans from far out of state, many of whom were taking random guesses to the fate of the Utah Railway despite having no firsthand experience observing it.

January 2017, a Utah Railway train works in the "Small Arms Industrial" park.

I wish I had the same optimistic attitude now. Rumors of great changes began to fly about the Utah Railway, but now they were in the closed circle of Utah railfans. Rumor has always been a part of the railfan community, and most rumors must be dismissed since plans for the future are always up in the air. But then in an embarrassing moment that seemed to validate the rumors, a Provo-Ogden train powered by two aging SD50S units died on the mainline shortly after the MK50's left the property. Since then the rails of Soldier Summit are now rarely graced by Utah Railway's presence. By summer Utah Railway retired two more units, this time a pair of the SD50S units; leaving only three of the aging units on property. Rumors suggest that Utah will receive ex-Norfolk Southern GP units to replace the two SD50S units; but the rumors have yet to materialize.Darker rumors put an ominous date, suggesting the Utah Railway might vanish on the eve of the Golden Spike celebration with BNSF taking over their remaining traffic. Only a year ago I felt assured Utah Railway would be a staple in the local railfan scene, only months ago I figured it could survive on what little luck it had left, and now I am not so sure. As I mentioned I have yet to see any railroad flag fall in my lifetime, so the potential that Utah Railway now rests on the brink has me unsettled. It is a strange prospect indeed, however it is another sign of my youth as surely many older railfans can tout their memories of the fall of the great railroads of their age too. Even if Utah Railway manages to limp along, it is clear the era of its "Cowboys on the Hill" hauling heavy coal over the summit in some of the world's most abused locomotives, is clearly at an end.

A few of the Arrowedges I have seen over the last few months, including the a first and second generation version of the container.

Yet in a brighter thought, the future of railroading has many opportunities which excite me. Where it once seemed SP patch units were common on select trains, now I have begun to discover the same sensation with Union Pacific's newest experiment; the Arrowedge. These intermodal containers, chopped and shaped into a wedge are the newest advance in fuel saving technology for railroads. In the last month and a half I have seen three trains fitted with various Arrowedge models, and photos on Facebook suggest dozens more have passed through the area without my notice. Often leading the trains are the new Tier 4 units. The GE T4 is so abundant I see it now on a regular basis. I have yet to spot EMD's T4 units, but from the photos I have seen of them their high roofs and chiseled cabs remind me a bit of those MK50-3's which have wandered away from the roost...

A new T4 locomotive leads an intermodal freight through the Tintic Junction last November. The large antenna behind it is for PTC, another change coming online which is affecting how railroads are operated across the nation.

Monorails like the "hyperloop" are a form of innovative rail transportation. Seen here is the "Monorail Red" gliding above guests at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Despite the many promising aspects for rail commuting technology the monorail offered, it never gained much popularity in America beyond tourist heavy areas such as the Disney Parks, Las Vegas, and World Fairs such as the one in Seattle. This treatment of the concept as "an amusement park ride", the lack of a standardized gauge system across different Monorail manufactures (or lack of standardized parts), along with the heavy anti-commuter rail pushes made by automotive companies such as General Motors in the 1950's meant that the monorail never had much chance to catch on. The faster maglev monorail concept sees limited use due to the cost of construction (with no operating example in North America at all). The monorail though due to its brilliant elimination of grade crossing has caught on in congested cities in Asia. If the new "hyperloop" concept proves more successful has yet to be seen.

Then I read the news and hear things about Elon Musk's "hyperloop" concept. Although not rail transport in the traditional sense, I am taking notice all the same since it is reliant on a fixed guideway. Perhaps its impact will be nothing more than that of the Monorail; to be praised as innovative and unique to only be brushed aside by traditionalists and wary transportation planners... Sure Musk has a bit of a habit of promoting strange and innovative concepts which either stick or fade away, yet perhaps the loop will be the biggest advance in ground transportation since the automobile.

If Futurama like speed tubes between cities are a bit to far away from our blog's subject about railroads, I am also excited for future prospects in rail preservation for our historical equipment. In only a few years we will soon see a Big Boy rumbling down Union Pacific rails, taking back its rightful throne as king of Sherman Hill. Locally, it is only a matter of months (if not weeks) until UP 1011 a 1940's vintage EMD NW2 returns to service at Heber; joining the recently acquired GP on property as an accurate collection of the vintage early diesel age of the Union Pacific, and clearing up shop space for the neighboring UP 618 steam engine restoration in the same shop.

July 2015, UP 4012 at rest at the Steamtown Museum in Scranton, PA. Hopefully in a few years its sister engine UP 4014 will be roaring down the tracks of the American West, bringing back what is arguably the steam age's most famous icon.

With changes abounding it is hopeful to look at the positive things we will see in the coming years. With that it would be remiss to omit the exciting prospects the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike will bring in its 2019 celebration to Utah. Our local area will briefly enjoy the focus of the railfan community, as conventions and celebrations are held to celebrate the joining of the nation in the deserts of northern Utah so many years ago. As I look at all the changes that have occurred in the past few years I yearn to see the good that comes out it all too!

-Jacob Lyman

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

Where Did the Western Pacific Go?

National Train Day 2013, Ogden. This photo shows locomotives representing the various Class One railroads of Utah, but one historical Class One railroad is missing from this collection...

3/25/16, Marshall, Utah; the abandoned Warner Branch was part of WP's system in Utah's West Desert. The WP mainline and several other branchlines are still in use as part of the Union Pacific system, although most of the Warner Branch pictured here has been abandoned.

During the heyday of rail transport, Utah was crossed by four famed Class One railroads; the Union Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the Denver & Rio Grande Western, and the Western Pacific. At the Utah State Railroad Museum there is a display meant to represent this era. The Union Pacific is well covered with an FEF class steamer, a 0-6-0 switcher, a DDA40X, and a Gas Turbine. The Southern Pacific has two locomotives on site, a older GP model, and a SD45. The Denver and Rio Grande is represented by a SD40T-2 which was the last unpatched DRGW diesel to run on home rails; and a narrow gauge 2-8-0 (DRGW 223) currently under restoration.

8/1/2011, Portola, California; the WP 805-A is a FP7A. The P in the designation denotes it is equipped with the heating units necessary for passenger service. The WP used different variations of paint schemes to help easily identify if a unit was an FP7A or the similar F7A. Locomotives such as this pulled the California Zephyr between Oakland and Salt Lake City.

8/1/2011, Portola, California; WP 917-D a F7A unit was used for freight service on the Western Pacific. This locomotive has probably made many countless trips between Oakland, California and Salt Lake City during its lifetime. It is now preserved at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum, where this photograph was taken.

There is a noted absence in this collection, the Western Pacific. Not a single one of the units in the Ogden Museum display came from that railroad. Not a single boxcar or other piece of rolling stock is present (compare that to the several DRGW and SP cabooses on property). Inside the museum display there are a few WP timetables and other souvenirs, but not enough to really memorialize the railroad.

8/1/2011, Portola, California; part of the extensive preserved collection of WP equipment in California includes these classic freight units which are maintained with meticulously clean paint. WP 2001 on the far end of this photo is a GP20 and the first EMD unit to be turbocharged during production. Many of these GP units worked freights over the WP mainline and branchlines throughout California, Nevada, and Utah.

A trip to Utah's other railroad preservation sites doesn't yield any better results. The Heber Valley Railroad has a large amount of UP equipment, and their ex-military units are painted in honor of the DRGW. Yet there is not a single piece of WP equipment at Heber, with perhaps only a few old timetables on display inside the station lobby. The Tooele Valley Railroad Museum fares only slightly better, with a few WP photos on the walls. Between the photos of the Tooele Valley Railway and the Union Pacific, those few Western Pacific photos are sort of a "blink and you might miss it" type of phenomenon.

8/1/2011, Portola, California; a preserved WP rail speeder.

The most glaring lack of the Western Pacific is at one of Utah's preserved railway stations, the Rio Grande depot in downtown Salt Lake. The neighborhood is known as the "Rio Grande District," people refer to the station as the "Rio Grande Depot," and people go inside to eat at the "Rio Grande Cafe." It is often ignored that the Rio Grande shared their depot with the Western Pacific, in fact it was at this depot that the most famous train to travel either the DRGW or the WP was interchanged, the original California Zephyr. When Amtrak took over WP passenger operations while the DRGW ran their swansong passenger train, the Rio Grande Zephyr; it seems the Grande had the neon Western Pacific signage removed from the building. There remains little evidence in the present day to show that the depot was once used by the Western Pacific.

8/1/2011, Portola, California; the extensive collection of WP artifacts seen in California makes the lack of WP units in Utah pale in comparison.

What makes this lack of Western Pacific history preserved in Utah strange is that the Western Pacific is a rather well preserved railroad, although the majority of the preservation work is almost exclusive to California. The Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola has a large collection of WP units. The California State Railroad Museum also has a WP unit, and so does the Niles Canyon Railroad. Several Sacramento Northern units (a subsidiary of the WP) and a WP 4-6-0 are preserved at the Western Railway Museum (which also interestingly enough houses other Utah railroad related relics from the Bamberger, the Salt Lake Garfield and Western, and the Kennecott mine). There was even a brief time at the Disneyland Resort where a replica of the Western Pacific hauling California Zephyr was on static display. Even one Western Pacific GP unit made it to preservation outside of California at Elko, Nevada along with an ex-Sacramento Northern NW2 engine in Boulder Nevada (more on that engine later...).

So how did Utah get so shorthanded?

Part of it can be that in railfan culture, the Western Pacific is seen as a "California Railroad." Although the Southern Pacific has a similar reputation, and the Denver and Rio Grande is similarly viewed as a "Colorado Railroad," it seems the WP was been affected by this type of view far more-so than the other mentioned railroads. The reasons for this narrow view are two-fold, the scenery along the WP route in California is world famous. The area surrounding the WP route in the Feather River Canyon in Plumas County is dense forest, with sharp ravines and long bridges built to span obstacles. The Keddie Wye, a large two pronged bridge on this route, is world famous as an unique engineering achievement.

The other factor which contributed to the WP being viewed as a "California Railroad" can be attributed to the population centers near the route. The WP routes in California passed through large cities such as Sacramento, Oakland, and San Francisco. Railfans who wanted to chase the WP in its canyon routes could easily drive up from Sacramento and railfan the area (they could also visit the nearby SP Donner Summit route, making the area a magnet for railfans looking for some good mountain scenery).

8/1/2011, Portola, California;WP 725 a GP9 unit; was repainted into UP colors after the merger, but its working life as a UP locomotive was short. It ended up on the Iowa Interstate railroad before it was brought to Portola for preservation.

Utah didn't fare well in those two aspects. The Utah portions of the WP passed only through Tooele and Salt Lake counties. The area surrounding the track is desolate desert, in some cases far away from civilization. Beyond the Garfield and Tooele areas, the rest of the WP was viewed towards the Nevada border as "inaccessible." Once in Salt Lake City, the WP hardly fared better. The moment the WP track hit Grant Tower it was no longer considered WP property, but was instead track that legally belonged to the Rio Grande. The WP ran through borrowed space in Rio Grande's Roper Yard. Local railfans often ignored the WP, focusing instead on the far more enticing UP route through Echo Canyon, or the spectacular DRGW route over Soldier Summit.

When the WP was merged into the Union Pacific in 1982 and 1983, there weren't many historical societies which might have been interested in preserving the railroad. The Utah State Railroad Museum wouldn't be founded for another few years. The Tooele Valley Railroad Museum was just barely starting and was focused on the immediate task of preserving the remaining Tooele Valley Railway rolling stock.

The only group in the area that could have taken in Western Pacific equipment was the Heber Creeper (The name was shared by several successive organizations including the Wasatch Mountain Railroad, Heber Creeper Inc, and the Timpanogos Preservation Society). In fact an ex-WP unit did make it to Heber for a time, Sacramento Northern 607 in 1983 (the Sacramento Northern was a regional railroad in California wholly owned by the WP). But the Heber Creeper of this era was financially unstable, and only a few years later the Heber Creeper name fell and the railroad was reorganized as the Heber Valley Railroad in 1990 (which began operation in 1992, with excursions running by 1993). In 1993, the SN 607 was sold to the Nevada State Railroad Museum (Boulder Nevada), where it continues to operate as Nevada Southern Railway 1000 (SN 607 wasn't the only ex-Heber Creeper locomotive to end up in Boulder, Pacific Lumber 35 and UP 6246 are also ex-Heber Creeper equipment that are now on display in Boulder).

So Utah was left without any preserved pieces of WP history in the state.

 8/1/2011, Portola, California; The author posing for a photo inside the cab of an old WP GP unit. No I didn't get to drive it, although this museum famously offers a rent a locomotive program. Maybe someday on a future trip. ;)

We are fortunate though for the work of the California preservation groups that took so much of the old WP under their wings. Without them we might have lost much of the WP to the scrapper's torch. However it is upsetting that so much of the preserved WP is such a long trip for a Utah based railfan.

Could something cause the lack of WP units preserved in Utah to change in the future? It seems at present unlikely. The rail display at Union Station is near capacity, and probably could not accept anymore pieces of equipment. The Tooele Valley Railroad Museum doesn't have any additional capacity. Perhaps the Heber Valley Railway could try and get a piece of WP history in their collection, but between their two 2-8-0 engines under restoration, a 0-6-0 in dire need of a cosmetic restoration, an ex-UP NW2 being rebuilt, and the ex-UP GP now in restoration there too, it seems Heber won't be able to take on many more acquisitions anytime in the near future. Of course, if interest for a piece of WP history ever came to these groups, they could possibly make a trade deal to acquire one of the many WP units currently in California.

Some plans have been considered which might turn this forlorn ALCO S-1 ex-military unit on display at Ogden's Union Station into a representative of the Western Pacific.

Another option to bring some representation of the WP into Utah involves using a locomotive currently owned by the Utah State Railroad Museum. USAF 7277 is an ALCO S-1, a model which was operated by the Western Pacific too. Dan Kuhn a local rail historian (who was highly involved in the acquisition of DRGW 5371) suggested that this unit could be painted in WP colors, to recreate the units once used as switchers at Wendover. While this wouldn't be the most authentic preservation of a unit, it would be the fastest route to getting WP history recognized in Utah.

Utah Railway 3002 might look like another G&W owned locomotive on the Utah Railway; but it started out its life as a Western Pacific locomotive, and is the only ex-WP unit currently working in Utah.

If interest for an authentic WP unit to be preserved in Utah ever surfaced, maybe the search wouldn't have to extend beyond the state borders. The Utah Railway currently rosters an ex-WP GP40 (Utah Railway 3002, ex WP 3525), which is currently working freight service. Perhaps a museum in Utah could petition for the acquisition of this ex-WP unit once it is retired in the far off future. Under this scenario once Utah Railway decides to stop using the unit, this locomotive could be restored to its original WP appearance, and become Utah's first WP unit in preservation. Until then, the Utah Railway 3002 could be perhaps viewed as the WP's sole ambassador in Utah, even if it is dressed in Utah Railway/G&W paint! ;)

Until the current status quo involving WP history in Utah changes, we will have to just wait patiently for the WP name to resurface in Utah; and let our imaginations suffice in the interim.

Until Next Time,
-Jacob Lyman