In the meantime, the Utah and Pleasant Valley Railway (U&PV) had built a 3-foot (914mm) narrow gauge line from the coal mines in the Pleasant Valley to Provo on the Union Pacific Railroad-controlled Utah Southern Railroad. The company was incorporated on December 11, 1875, under the general laws of Utah[6] by owners of land in the valley. The company began grading in April 1877 and track laying on August 29, 1878, driving the last spike between Pleasant Valley and Springville on November 5, 1879. The short distance in the Utah Valley from Springville to the larger city of Provo, which closely paralleled the Utah Southern, opened in October 1880. Investor Charles W. Scofield of New York, who was already in control of two other narrow gauge mining roads - the Bingham Canyon and Camp Floyd Rail Road since 1873 and the Wasatch and Jordan Valley Railroad since 1875 - acquired the U&PV in October 1878.[7]
The U&PV began at a mine in the Pleasant Valley south of Scofield,[8] heading north along the present Pleasant Valley Subdivision to the Scofield Reservoir. The old grade has been flooded until it leaves the lake to the north, rising to an elevation of 7,967 feet (2,428m)above sea level before descending, via a pair of switchbacks, to Starvation Creek. The valley of that creek took the railroad to the Spanish Fork Canyon, and the later D&RGW, at Tucker. The remainder of the U&PV is now, for the most part, still operated, as it follows Spanish Fork Canyon into the Utah Valley.[9]
Associates of Palmer incorporated the Sevier Valley Railway in Utah on December 7, 1880,[6] with a route paralleling the Union Pacific's lines from the railroad center of Ogden south through Salt Lake City and Provo to Nephi, and then continuing through Salt Creek Canyon and the Sanpete Valley to Salina in the Sevier Valley. There it would split, one line continuing south to the Arizona state line, and the other turning east through Salina Canyon and across the Castle Valley to the Grand (Colorado) River, following it to meet the westward-building D&RG at the Colorado border. To counter this threat to its monopoly, the Union Pacific set up the Utah Southern and Castle Valley Railroad less than two weeks later to extend its Utah Southern through Salina Canyon to the Castle Valley. In another week, when UP workers reached the canyon, the Sevier Valley had already begun grading.[7]
On May 26, 1881, D&RG interests incorporated the Salt Lake and Park City Railway,[6] a branch from Salt Lake City east to Park City and Coalville.[10] The lines of this company and the Sevier Valley were included in the far-reaching charter for the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway, incorporated on July 21, 1881[6] and immediately consolidated with the others. Palmer knew that it would be important to first complete the line to Ogden, where the Central Pacific Railroad extended west to California. It was rumored as early as April 1881 that the D&RG had gained control of the U&PV and would bypass Salina Canyon, instead using a shorter route northwesterly from Castle Valley to a connection with that road,[11] and Palmer confirmed this in September. (The original grading through Castle Valley was never used for a railroad, although in the 1910s it was briefly part of the Midland Trail, now US-6.) The D&RGW bought the assets of the Wasatch and Jordan Valley Railroad, which had merged with the Bingham Canon and Camp Floyd Rail Road, at foreclosure on December 31, 1881, adding to its system two profitable branches from Midvale to Bingham and Little Cottonwood Canyons.[7]
The D&RGW similarly acquired the U&PV's property on June 14, 1882, and at about that time began operating trains between Salt Lake City and Pleasant Valley, using new trackage north of Provo. The D&RG of Colorado leased the D&RGW of Utah on August 1,[12] allowing the former to operate the latter for a payment of 40% of gross receipts. The difficult double switchback on the original U&PV was bypassed by a new connection to the under-construction D&RGW at Colton on November 23, 1882, as well as the new line from Colton over Soldier Summit to Tucker.[13] D&RG and D&RGW crews met at a point now known as Desert, 14 miles (23km) west of Green River, on March 30, 1883, and trains began running between Denver and Salt Lake City several days later.[14] (Although the D&RG built the line from the state line to Desert, it was owned by the D&RGW.[15]) Final completion to Ogden in May was delayed for several days by the Union Pacific's refusal to let the D&RGW cross, but on May 19 the D&RGW was complete.[7] Palmer soon resigned as D&RG president, since the directors were opposed to further expansion, but remained in control of the leased D&RGW.[16]
Retrenchment and turmoil: 1883 to 1901
With the line into Utah complete, the D&RG system consisted of a narrow gauge main line from Denver to Ogden, passing through or over Colorado Springs, Pueblo, the Royal Gorge, Salida, Marshall Pass, Gunnison, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Montrose, Grand Junction, Green River, and Salt Lake City. It included numerous branches, but only three west of Grand Junction - to Pleasant Valley, Bingham Canyon, and Little Cottonwood Canyon.[8] The main line began by following the valley of the Grand (Colorado) River west out of Grand Junction, but curved away at Mack to avoid Ruby Canyon. Some steep grades and sharp curves carried the original line over the highlands north of the river, crossing the state line and continuing southwesterly and westerly to Green River, Utah. Curving northwest around the Beckwith Plateau, the railroad crossed the Price River at Woodside, where it began to follow that river through its valleys and canyons. Almost immediately, due to flooding, the railroad had to be removed from the canyon between Grassy Trail (south of Cedar) and Farnham (southeast of Wellington), though it remained alongside the river from Grassy Trail southeast to Woodside until bypassed by the present standard gauge alignment. Continuing on, the line passed through the Price Canyon, including the Castle Gate rock formation, as it rose to the top of the Wasatch Range at Soldier Summit. The Spanish Fork Canyon took the line down into the Utah Valley, with some 4% grades near the top before it met the earlier U&PV at Tucker. Through the Utah Valley and adjacent Salt Lake Valley, connected by the Jordan Narrows, the D&RGW's line closely paralleled a UP line, serving many of the valleys' populated areas. The final stretch generally followed the Great Salt Lake's shore to Ogden, where it connected to the Central Pacific Railroad.[9][17]
The expansion resulted in a large debt that the D&RG was unable to pay the interest on. D&RGW president Palmer and D&RG president Frederick Lovejoy got into an argument over the management and payment of rental for the leased D&RGW. Unable to break the lease, Lovejoy ordered the tracks torn up at the state line in retaliation, costing both railroads the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's through traffic. The D&RG entered receivership on July 12, 1884 and the D&RGW on August 12, with D&RGW superintendent W. H. Bancroft being appointed to the Utah company.[18] The two companies resumed friendly relations, and after the D&RG reorganized on July 14, 1886,[6] it terminated the lease of the D&RGW on July 31, giving the latter company significant amounts of rolling stock.[19] Palmer returned to his position as D&RGW president, the company having been released from receivership.[20]
Now independent, the D&RGW looked to the east, where the standard gaugeColorado Midland Railway was building west from Colorado Springs with the intent of entering Utah. Palmer realized that if he did not widen his gauge and cooperate with the Midland, he might soon have new competition. To raise the money to convert the line, which would require about 100 miles (160km) of new railroad where the existing grade was too steep or curvy, he incorporated a new Rio Grande Western Railway. (Palmer had initially proposed the name "Utah and Colorado Railway" for the new company.[21]) The State Line and Denver Railway was incorporated May 16, 1889[6] with the power to build east to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, then the terminus of the Midland. That same day, it was consolidated with the old Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway, with articles of incorporation filed in both states on June 24.[22]
Construction began immediately, the line being converted from Ogden to Salt Lake City by mid-November 1889,[23] to Provo on March 7, 1890,[24] and the rest of the way to Grand Junction on June 10.[25] The line was completely relocated out of the canyon of the Price River from Grassy Trail to Woodside, and into the Ruby Canyon of the Grand (Colorado) River from Whitehouse to Crevasse, Colorado. Beyond Crevasse, the RGW leased the D&RG track to Grand Junction in December 1889 and subsequently widened its gauge. The Rio Grande Junction Railway, owned jointly by the D&RG and Midland, was completed to Grand Junction on November 15, 1890, and through service began the next day over the RGW and both eastern roads, the D&RG having completed its standard gauge line over Tennessee Pass.[26] All branches were also converted, except for short 3ft (914mm) gauge sections at the ends of the lines into Bingham and Little Cottonwood Canyons.[27]
For the next ten years, the RGW operated as an independent standard gauge bridge line connecting Grand Junction to Salt Lake City and Ogden, with branches to sources of valuable minerals. Through its new subsidiary, the Utah Central Railroad, the RGW acquired several Salt Lake City-area lines in 1898, finally adding to its system the branch to Park City through Parley's Canyon that had been chartered in 1881. The RGW teamed up with the Colorado and Southern Railway, which had recently been split from the bankrupt Union Pacific Railroad, and stretched north–south from Wyoming through eastern Colorado into Texas, to jointly buy control of the connecting Colorado Midland Railway. RGW stock prices rose, delaying a takeover by the D&RG until George Gould arrived. Gould, owner of the Missouri Pacific Railroad (MP), wished to create a transcontinental railroad system, and identified the D&RG/RGW as the best route west into Utah. The MP began buying D&RG stock in 1900, and the D&RG did the same with the RGW. Palmer still owned a controlling interest in the RGW, but he came to an agreement to sell the company to Gould, and Gould management, including new president Edward Turner Jeffery, took over on July 1, 1901.[28]
Improvement of the standard gauge main line through Utah to relieve congestion had begun in 1898, when the RGW added a second track to the steep 4% grade to Tucker on the west side of Soldier Summit. The shallower east-side grade was similarly doubled to Colton in 1906, and further to Kyune and from Castle Gate to Helper in 1909. Construction began on a new low-grade line west of the summit in 1912, when the D&RG added a track between Detour (the west end of the realignment) and Thistle. The new line, with a double hairpin curve, was completed the next year, as was a second track between Kyune and Castle Gate, completing a double-track line between Thistle and Helper,[30] with a maximum grade of 2.4% on the east slope and 2.0% on the west.[31] Local competition arrived in 1912, when the United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Company, which owned coal mines southwest of Price, organized the Utah Railway (originally the Utah Coal Railway). U.S. Smelting objected to the D&RG's charging of higher freight rates due to the mines' location on a branch line, and began to build its own line over Soldier Summit into the Utah Valley. The two companies reached an agreement in November 1913, where the D&RG would operate the Utah Railway between a junction near Castle Gate and the mines, and the unfinished line between Thistle and Provo would be completed as a second track.[32] This arrangement began with the completion of the road in 1914, and the D&RG now had a double-track line between Provo and Helper. Three years later, the Utah Railway began independent operations between the mines and Provo under a reciprocal trackage rights arrangement that has persisted to the present, where each company allows the other to use its half of the double-track line.[33]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2008)
A long branch was begun in 1890 as 3ft (914mm) gauge and widened in 1891, extending south from Thistle up Thistle Creek and down the San Pitch River to Manti. It was extended south to Sevier in 1891, via the Sevier River, by the Sevier Railway, and that same year the Tintic Range Railway built from Springville southwest and west to Eureka in the Tintic Mountains. The RGW organized both of these companies to be owned by RGW stockholders, but out of the control of RGW bondholders. The Panic of 1893 stopped new construction until 1896, when the Sevier Railway was extended farther south to Belknap.[37]
The Ballard & Thompson Railroad between Thompson Springs and Sego was purchased in 1913 by the D&RGW and became the Sego Branch.[38]
The Rio Grande obtained control of the narrow gauge Wasatch & Jordan Valley Railway in 1881 which had been built up Little Cottonwood Canyon.[39] Portions of the line would be standard gauged as far as Wasatch station by 1913. Wasatch to the line's terminus at Alta, Utah would remain narrow gauge, the Rio Grande's last narrow gauge in the state of Utah. Rather than operating the line themselves the Rio Grande would lease it to various operators such as the horse-drawn Alta Tramway and later the Shay locomotive powered Little Cottonwood Transportation Company until 1922. Postal service and passenger service on the narrow gauge was provided from 1922 to 1928 by a "jitney" service operated by Elbert Despain on an automobile converted for rail service.[40][41] Following the end of jitney service, the Rio Grande abandoned access to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon in 1933 along with the narrow gauge route up the canyon. Segments of Utah State Route 210 follow the former railroad grade up the canyon. Full abandonment of the surviving segments of the remaining Sandy branch would occur in 1965.
In the future, a new rail line into the Uintah Basin, currently under study by the state of Utah, may be constructed, branching off the existing line near Soldier Summit.[42]
Presidents
This is a list of presidents (and equivalents) of the Utah company before it was merged into the D&RG in 1908. For post-1908 presidents, see Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Presidents.
The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado, in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic.
A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad or over those owned or controlled by multiple railway companies along a continuous route. Although Europe is crisscrossed by railways, the railroads within Europe are usually not considered transcontinental, with the possible exception of the historic Orient Express. Transcontinental railroads helped open up interior regions of continents not previously colonized to exploration and settlement that would not otherwise have been feasible. In many cases they also formed the backbones of cross-country passenger and freight transportation networks. Many of them continue to have an important role in freight transportation and some like the Trans-Siberian Railway even have passenger trains going from one end to the other.
The Wasatch Range or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about 160 miles (260 km) from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region. The northern extension of the Wasatch Range, the Bear River Mountains, extends just into Idaho, constituting all of the Wasatch Range in that state.
The California Zephyr was a passenger train that ran between Chicago, Illinois, and Oakland, California, via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, Winnemucca, Oroville and Pleasanton in the United States. It was operated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q), Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) and Western Pacific (WP) railroads, all of which dubbed it "the most talked about train in America" on March 19, 1949, with the first departure the following day. The train was scheduled to pass through the most spectacular scenery on its route in the daylight. The original train ceased operation in 1970, though the D&RGW continued to operate its own passenger service, the Rio Grande Zephyr, between Salt Lake City and Denver, using the original equipment until 1983. In 1983 a second iteration of the California Zephyr, an Amtrak service, was formed. The current version of the California Zephyr operates partially over the route of the original Zephyr and partially over the route of its former rival, the City of San Francisco.
The Denver and Salt Lake Railway (D&SL) was a U.S. railroad company located in Colorado. Originally incorporated in 1902 as the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific (DN&P) Railway, it had as a goal a direct connection of Denver, Colorado, with Salt Lake City, Utah. It underwent numerous reorganizations throughout its financially troubled history and by the time the company was acquired in 1931 by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, it had advanced only as far as Craig, Colorado. After the acquisition the line was connected to the D&RGW main, and the eastern half of the line was used to give the D&RGW a more direct route to Denver. The portions of the railroad still in use today are known as the Moffat Tunnel Subdivision of Union Pacific Railroad's Central Corridor. Amtrak’s California Zephyr service from Denver to Glenwood Springs follows much of the old D&SL route.
The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, often abbreviated as the D&SNG, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on 45.2 mi (72.7 km) of track between Durango and Silverton, in the U.S. state of Colorado. The railway is a federally-designated National Historic Landmark and was also designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1968.
The Heber Valley Railroad (HVRX) is a heritage railroad based in Heber City, Utah. It operates passenger excursion trains along a line between Heber City and Vivian Park, which is located in Provo Canyon. The HVRX carries over 110,000 passengers a year.
The Utah Railway is a class III railroad operating in Utah and Colorado, and owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
The Colorado Midland Railway, incorporated in 1883, was the first standard gauge railroad built over the Continental Divide in Colorado. It ran from Colorado Springs to Leadville and through the divide at Hagerman Pass to Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction.
The Rio Grande Zephyr was a passenger train operated by Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad between Denver, Colorado and Ogden, Utah from 1970 until 1983. In operation after the creation of publicly-funded Amtrak, the Rio Grande Zephyr was the last privately-operated interstate passenger train in the United States.
David Halliday Moffat was an American financier and industrialist, who was one of the original pioneers of Denver, Colorado.
The Southern San Luis Valley Railroad is a fallen flag shortline railroad that was located in Southern Colorado. Best known in its final years of operation, it served a connection with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad at Blanca, Colorado. The diminutive railroad in its final form was approximately 1.53 miles (2.46 km) in length. During its life freight traffic included farm produce, fertilizer and volcanic scoria. The railroad, as it was originally built, was 31 miles (50 km) long and besides freight it operated passenger service between Blanca and Jaroso, Colorado, until 1946. The railroad formally ceased all operations December 31, 1996.
Thistle is a ghost town in Spanish Fork Canyon in southeastern Utah County, Utah, United States. During the era of steam locomotives, the town's primary industry was servicing trains for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The fortunes of the town were closely linked with those of the railroad until the changeover to diesel locomotives, when the town started to decline.
The Utah Southern Railroad was built by members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1871-2 to connect Salt Lake City to points south. The line was acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) in 1875. The Utah Southern Railroad name was initially kept as a separate division of the UP, but over time the line was moved around and divided among different UP subsidiaries. While most of the corridor is still used today it is no longer contiguous. The southern portion of the line, from Provo to Lynndyl, remains under UP ownership and is today known as the Sharp Subdivision. The portion through the Salt Lake Valley is today owned by the Utah Transit Authority and used for the TRAX light rail system, primarily the Blue Line. The portion between the end of the Blue line and Provo has had the rails removed, however UTA has retained the right to extend the TRAX system to Provo along the former Utah Southern right of way.
The Chili Line, officially known as the Santa Fe Branch, was a 3 ft narrow-gauge branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW). It ran 125.6 miles (202.1 km) from Antonito, Colorado, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Denver and Rio Grande Railway (D&RG) began construction of the line in 1880 and completed the line from Antonito to Española, New Mexico, but could not build any further because of an agreement with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF). The Texas, Santa Fe and Northern Railroad was incorporated to complete the line, and the line between Española and Santa Fe opened in 1886 and was transferred to the Denver and Rio Grande shortly thereafter. The D&RGW closed the Chili Line in 1941 because of competition from road transportation, and the line was abandoned shortly thereafter.
Denver and Rio Grande Western 223 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type narrow-gauge steam railway locomotive built for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad by the Grant Locomotive Works of Paterson, New Jersey in 1881–82. Number 223 was completed in December 1881, at a cost of $11,553. Rio Grande 223 is the only surviving narrow-gauge engine built by Grant Locomotive Works. D&RGW 223 and the other Class 60 engines were part of the Rio Grande's expansion into Colorado and Utah in the 1880s.
The Central Corridor is a rail line operated by the Union Pacific Railroad from near Winnemucca, Nevada to Denver, Colorado in the western United States. The line was created after the merger with the Southern Pacific Transportation Company by combining portions of lines built by former competitors. No portion of the line was originally built by the Union Pacific; in fact, some portions were built specifically to compete with the Union Pacific's Overland Route. The line is known for significant feats of engineering while crossing the Wasatch Mountains of Utah and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The line features numerous tunnels, the longest and highest of these is the Moffat Tunnel.
The Alamosa–Durango line or San Juan extension was a railroad line built by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, following the border between the U.S. states of Colorado and New Mexico, in the Rocky Mountains. The line was originally built as a 3 ft narrow-gauge line between Alamosa, Colorado, and Durango, Colorado. Portions of the route survive: the now standard-gauged segment from Alamosa to Antonito, Colorado, and a narrow-gauge portion from Antonito to Chama, New Mexico.
The California Zephyr is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area, via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At 2,438 miles (3,924 km), it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall after the Texas Eagle's triweekly continuation from San Antonio to Los Angeles, with travel time between the termini taking approximately 511⁄2 hours. Amtrak claims the route as one of its most scenic, with views of the upper Colorado River valley in the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada. The modern train is the second iteration of a train named California Zephyr; the original train was privately operated and ran on a different route through Nevada and California.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
