Historic Western Mining Railroad In Helper, UT
Donation accepted at this museum. I spend over 2 hours here. Shared a little with you on my second trip though. :)
Forgotten Canyon/Secret Mesa - Western Mining & Railroad Museum
Day trip to the Western Mining & Railroad Museum (Price, Utah) and (round two) Forgotten Canyon/Secret Mesa Canyon.
Yes, it is a long video. I tried to make it as short as possible but there was a lot to cover.
Western Mining & Railroad Museum:
Forgotten Canyon/Secret mesa Canyon:
In Search of The Utah Railway - From Midvale to Helper
We follow the tracks of the Utah Railway from Helper to Midvale and wander through the shops. A fun look at Helper, a 1950 era gas station and a Rockolla juke box! A bit of Utah railroad history, the coal mines of Carbon County and some major screwing around!
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Utah Railway has operated coal trains from mines in east central Utah to a connection with Union Pacific at Provo, Utah, since 1917. Many writers over the years have assumed that since Utah Railway operated Union Pacific-design locomotives, cars, and cabooses, Union Pacific must have been either full or part owner of this coal hauling line. This has never been the case. Utah Railway was organized in 1912 as the Utah Coal Railway, and construction began immediately. Utah Railway's parent company was United States Fuel Co., a subsidiary of United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Co., which owned extensive coal lands in east central Utah. The line was completed in 1914, and between 1914 and 1917 the railroad was operated under contract by Denver & Rio Grande.
In 1917, Utah Railway took over its own operations due to the company's dissatisfaction with the level of service that D&RG was providing. The main difficulty was D&RG's inability to provide sufficient empty coal cars to fill the shipping needs of Utah Railway's parent company, United States Fuel Co. Union Pacific's involvement came because Utah Railway was a major source of interchange traffic for UP subsidiary San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake at Provo, Utah. To replace the D&RG operations, Utah Railway approached Union Pacific for help in setting up its operational and maintenance organizations, including designing and purchasing rolling stock.
When Utah Railway began operating its own trains on November 1, 1917, after giving a one year notice as required under the D&RG contract, its new operating department put into use six 2-10-2 and three 2-8-8-0s built to Union Pacific design. The new equipment also included 1,500 Utah Coal Route drop bottom gondolas, jointly owned between Utah Railway and the newly renamed Los Angeles & Salt Lake (then still jointly owned by UP's OSL subsidiary, and the line's original organizer, Senator William Clark).
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See more at
eBay store Toy Man Television
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Please watch: The Trains of Santa Cruz California
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Utah State Railroad museum
A tip to the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden Utah
300th Video ~ Doc's & Boothe Farm Pt. 2
Finishing up my tour of the museum, and travelling into Prattville, AL
Revisiting the Great Thistle Landslide on the Denver and Rio Grande Western
In 1983 the mountain above the small railroad town of Thistle slid into the canyon, severing two major US highways, cutting the mainline of the Denver and Rio Grande, and flooding and destroying the small town and causing the abandonment of the historic Marysvale branch.
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We are screwing around this week looking at the remains of the town, the slide, and revisiting the Utah floods of 1983, one of the most expensive natural disasters in US history. (OK it was no Katrina but... ) Then on to the abandoned Marysvale branch next week.
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The first railroad track laid through Thistle was a narrow-gauge spur line servicing coal mines near today's Scofield Reservoir, built in 1878 by the Utah and Pleasant Valley Railway. By 1890, the Denver and Rio Grande Western, which acquired the line in a foreclosure sale in 1882,[18] had rebuilt the line to standard gauge. The D&RGW connected this line with one they had built west from Colorado, completing a link from Salt Lake City to Denver.
The railroad built several facilities in Thistle to service and prepare trains for the change in grade and curvature of the line. The railroad placed helper engines on eastbound trains at Thistle for the ascent to Soldier Summit. The town provided a meal service for the trains until the use of on-board dining cars eliminated the need for meal stops.(Wikipedia)
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Rio Grande's westbound train 17, the Rio Grande Zephyr (scheduled to be replaced by Amtrak's California Zephyr 10 days later), running late, passed through Thistle and gingerly treaded the shifted track across the slide area late Thursday evening after waiting for an eastbound empty coal hopper train to clear. The RGZ would be the last train through for months.
By 1 a.m., now Friday, April 15, the rising river water had inundated the highway and the tracks, forcing their closure. Not only was the D&RGW affected, but so was the coal-hauling Utah Railway, which shares the Rio Grande main line (Utah has trackage rights from a junction just above Helper to Thistle and owns one of the two main tracks from Thistle to Provo).
Rio Grande track crews immediately began removing track and switches up the canyon. The Marysvale Branch, which follows Thistle Creek south, was also submerged, as was U.S. 6 to the east. All residents of Thistle-22 families-were evacuated, and by Monday, April 18, the entire town was under water, with only a few rooftops visible here and there.
Workers and heavy equipment of the Rio Grande, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), Utah County (Provo), and four private contractors labored feverishly to stem the steady advance of the mountain, but it was a losing battle. By Monday morning, the slide, advancing at the rate of 3 feet per hour, had buried the canyon with the creation of a natural dam some 600 feet wide and 50 feet high. The dam continued to grow, and water depth behind it reached 80 to 85 feet. The railroad subsequently estimated that 3.3 million dollars' worth of its equipment and property were lost underwater.
The Rio Grande Zephyr, trapped in Salt Lake City, detoured home to Denver over the Union Pacific via Laramie on Friday, April 15, with UP GP40X 9003 (UP requires cab signals on lead units) piloting the Grande's F9's. The RGZ finished out its D&RGW career running as a Denver-Grand Junction (Colo.) turn, with the railroad providing bus service between Grand Junction and Salt Lake City, via Salina.
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See more at
eBay store Toy Man Television
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Please watch: The Trains of Santa Cruz California
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The Rio Grande Railroad in The Desert Empire (1948)
This is another one of my railfan cuts of an old railroad promotional film. In this case, the railroad is the Denver & Rio Grande Western, and the film is promoting Utah tourism. I've removed most of the non-rail parts of the film, leaving only scenes of railroading and mining.
The original film comes from the Prelinger collection at the Internet Archive (archive.org/details/prelinger)
Helper, Utah - A town with a past, and now a present and likely a future.
What can we learn from a rural town in the central Utah mountains? I say quite a bit! Based upon what I saw in 2012 which looked very much like the epitome of America in decline - and now just 7 years later, a town with strong signs of renewal everywhere! What happened to turn things around and who are the heros of this story? Allow me to introduce them...
Join me here - rvAcrossAmerica.net/helper for the rest of the story!
AMAZING O SCALE Logging & Lumber Railroad ~ Clear Creek Train Layout
Chris Holombo's Great O scale standard gauge Logging Layout - Clear Creek Lumber Company ! 22' x 26' point to point model train layout, represents lumbering operations from woods to mill. Steam's reign is challenged by Baldwin Diesels. Layout was featured in Model Railroad 7/94. Certainly one of the best model railways I've ever seen !
Union Pacific AC44CWCTE 5887 and empty coal train northwest from Atchison, Kansas
Union Pacific AC44CWCTE 5887 and AC44CW 7197 lead an empty coal train northwest out of Atchison, Kansas while Union Pacific AC44CWCTE 5651 and Kansas City Southern SD70ACe 4108 work the tail end.
Super Realistic HO Train Operations on Lee Nicholas’ Utah Colorado & Western
We return to the scene of the screwing around to review Lee Nicholas’ Utah Colorado & Western. This time taking a train over the line for Salt Lake to Denver as the dispatcher controls signals and train movement.
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Lee uses a CTC Control System to control the main line and follows realistic operating rules including switch lists. The railroad is an amazing layout as well, now 50 year old!! Spangler backdrops, amazing structures and track work.
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Locomotives are individually radio controlled, only a fixed voltage is on the rails. A unique now system just installed. AND Lee is now installing true scale HO switch stands!!
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From the web site:
The history of the HO scale UCW, located in my basement, started in 1970. The layout and the basement have endured a number of rebuilds over the years. The layout now occupies an area 30 x 33 feet (roughly the original size of the basement), and the crew lounge, dispatch office and shop area occupy a 14 x 25 foot space excavated after we added on to our house in the late 70's. It would have been easier to excavate before we built onto the house but not nearly as much fun. I highly recommend completing all that before starting the railroad building process. Anyway, the UCW survived and it now occupies the entire downstairs.
The last major modifications started in October of 1995, when two of the four peninsulas, Crusero to Cobre, were completely removed and rebuilt. This was a tough decision to make because the prior layout was about 98% complete, and had operated in that state for a number of years.
The overall foot print, of the layout, would not change so what were the driving factors in making the changes? A new staging/fiddle yard (MOLE), improved modeling skills, the chance to try out some new construction techniques, increase the layout height, add a helper district, more closely define the operating principals of the UCW, add new lighting and the opportunity to include some of my good friends and operators in the remodeling process were all the factors that were considered.
I am fortunate to have some very talented individuals associated with the UCW. Kelly Newton, Jim French, Dave Schen, Jon Robinson, Bob Gilmore, Rob Spangler, Gary Waite and Rod Loder have all donated their time and talents to the project. Thanks also goes out to the rest of the UCW operating crew who have contributed and faithfully support the operation once a month.
Kelly for his superb efforts in taking a few hundred pounds of plaster and several yards of cheesecloth and carving away everything that did not resemble rocks. He is also instrumental in providing input into the operational philosophy of the UCW.
Rob as spent many hours painting the beautiful backdrops (See Keller Video #27 about the UTAH COLORADO WESTERN) that grace the layout. He and Kelly worked hand in hand while combing the 3-D and 2-D scenery elements.
Dave and Bob have applied their talents to planting trees, building crib work, pouring rivers and adding hundreds of detail parts to enhance the scenery.
Jim has applied his talents in building some of the kit and scratch built structures and signals, helping with track design and providing input into the operational philosophy behind the UCW. He also spent many hours authoring the UCW Timetable and Operating Rules handbook.
Jon spent hundreds of hours designing, programming and building the first CTC computer interface. He spent untold hours and wore out the knees in more than one pair of pants, crawling around under the layout hooking everything up. Although his efforts provided the UCW with a reliable interface for a number of years we decided to install a system I could maintain and program and converted to Bruce Chubb's C/MRI system in 2000.
Rod has been the inspiration behind the CTC machine's that have been and are in use on the UCW. He is also responsible for suggesting the current lighting source used on the layout.
Confusing Kansas Tolls
I call it confusing, but not impossible. For someone who hasn't been through before, I'm shocked that they have roadblocks with absolutely NOTHING written on the kiosk as far as directions. No pay amount, no instructions. I guessed that I was supposed to take that piece of paper. After that, I still didn't know what to do. It is always confusing when states choose to give no directions or instructions. How hard would it be to put up a sign, Take a slip, turn it into the next checkpoint or exit offramp and pay fee there.
Mill Fork Cemetery Spanish Fork Canyon Utah Spring Time in Memory of Heaven and Earth Graveyard
Mill Fork is a ghost town
located about 12 miles east
of the town Thistle in
Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah.
Named after it's sawmills,
Mill Fork was important
in the development of the
railroad through the canyon.
The arched entrance is to the
Mill Fork Cemetery and is
a landmark on US 6 between
the cities of
Spanish Fork and Price, Utah.
History
The Utah and Pleasant
Valley Railroad, was building
through Spanish Fork
Canyon in 1875–1879.
Sometime during this period
the railroad established three
sawmills at Mill Fork to process
railroad ties.
A small reservoir was constructed
in 1888, soon to be joined
by a general store and housing
for railroad employees.
A helper engine was also
stationed here.
The population grew
as high as 250.
Lots of homes were built here
in its early life.
Some were located across the
river to the south
on the large flat.
Some were built back
in the side canyons.
Some were rock dug-outs.
Farms along the river where
there was a level spot to grow crops.
Beautiful potatoes were grown
up here, also other crops
like hay and grain.
Also Mill Fork had a great charcoal
business in the canyon. Many
Mill Fork residents were employed
in cutting the wood or
working the kilns.
The charcoal business closed down
around 1890, followed by the store,
and Mill Fork was in
a serious decline.
Most residents had left
by 1900.
Located at
US 6 Spanish Fork Canyon
Utah
Between mile-marker
196 and 197
Music By
trac 1
artist
Isolated
song
Countless
soundcloud.com/isolateyourmind
trac 2
artist
Sappheiros
song
Distant
soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic
trac 3
artist
Simon More
song
Happy Vibes :)
(Jon Olsson vlog 238)
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Mill Fork Cemetery
Grave Sites
Durward Atwood
25 Aug 1900 - 14 Sep 1900
son of
Walter Augustine & Hannah E.
Thayne A. ATWOOD
Thayne Alden
06 Nov 1921 - 21 Oct 1924,
son of Walter Augustine &
Hannah E. (Chadwick)
Ida Viola BALLARD
wife of Paris Ballard,
daughter of Aaron & Ida
Viola (Winder) Chadwick
Paris BALLARD
wife of Paris Ballard,
daughter of Aaron & Ida
Viola (Winder) Chadwick
Aaron CHADWICK
son of James Madison
& Hannah (Workman),
wife Ida Viola (Winder)
Ida Viola CHADWICK
03 Jan 1857 - 18 Dec 1914,
daughter of Thomas Harrison
& Hannah (Shreeve)
Winder, wife of Aaron
Philex CHADWICK
son of Aaron
& Ida Viola (Winder)
Ida Viola
CHADWICK BALLARD
wife of Paris Ballard,
daughter of Aaron
& Ida Viola (Winder)
Chadwick
Clara Louisa ELLIOTT
Mill Fork Cemetery
Mill Fork, Utah
Edson W.ELLIOTT
Edison William
04 Mar 1858 -06 Oct 1908,
son of Peter Mack
Elliott & Charlotte
(Alvord),
wife Mary Ellen (Atwood)
Mary Melissa ELLIOTT
daughter of
Edison William & Mary Ellen
(Atwood)
Myrtle ELLIOTT
26 Mar 1896 - 31 May 1905
Mary Ellen JENSEN
daughter of George Walter
& Charlotte Cornelia
(Elliott)
Jensen
granddaughter of
Edison W. & Mary Ellen
(Atwood) Elliott
Clive Franklin LA DAM
Clive Franklin
01 Jan 1914 - 06 Aug 1914,
son of George Franklin &
Caroline (Chadwick),
grandson of Aaron
& Ida Viola (Winder)
Chadwick
Ida Viola WINDER CHADWICK
03 Jan 1857 - 18 Dec 1914,
daughter of Thomas Harrison &
Hannah (Shreeve)
Winder, wife of Aaron
Thayne Alden
Albert A Atwood
Fred Clarence Atwood
11 Aug 1909 – 30 Nov 1978
Donald Clifton Atwood
2 Apr 1919 – 21 Dec 1971
Durward Atwood
25 Aug 1900 – 14 Sep 1900
Frank Lorenzo Atwood
15 Oct 1910 – 28 Dec 1975
George Douglas Atwood
23 Aug 1923 – 20 Jun 2006
Thayne A. Atwood
6 Nov 1921 – 12 Oct 1924
Walter Iliff Atwood
23 Feb 1904 – 1 Apr 1986
Ida Viola Chadwick Ballard
11 Jan 1890 – 12 Sep 1919
James Beagley
1896 – 1896
John Samuel Beagley
29 May 1883 – 4 Dec 1897
Joseph Beagley
1888 – 1888
Mary Ann Beagley
1894 – unknown
Robert Beagley
1882 – 1896
Francis Bona
Aaron Chadwick
19 Jan 1854 – 23 May 1926
David Chadwick
Hanna Ellen Chadwick
Ida Viola Winder Chadwick
3 Jan 1857 – 18 Dec 1919
Philex Chadwick
19 Apr 1894 – 22 Jan 1895
Ray Elliot
Clara Louisa Elliott
1 Oct 1898 – 25 Jun 1904
Edson W. Elliott
4 Mar 1858 – 6 Oct 1908
Mary Melissa Elliott
22 Jun 1902 – 22 Jun 1902
Myrtle Elliott
26 Mar 1896 – 31 May 1905
Edna Eva Finch
29 Dec 1890 – 15 Jun 1893
Effie Finch
1890 – 14 Jun 1893
Georgia Geraldine Finch
31 Dec 1888 – 14 Jun 1893
Ruth Chadwick Griffs
Edna E Hinkley
Mary Ellen Jensen
17 Jan 1903 – 17 Jan 1903
Clive F. LaDam
1 Aug 1914 – 6 Aug 1914
Foster Lay
10 Jan 1891 – 22 Feb 1892
Gordon Leigh
Mary Ellen Lewis
11 Apr 1902 – 11 Apr 1902
Inez Irene Messic
Loren Messick
28 May 1947 – 21 Sep 2011
Ida Mary Pierson
A Lee Steele
1941 – 2007
Dorothy I Steele
A Williams
H Isabelle Williams
Sylvia A Williams
Located at
US 6 Spanish Fork Canyon
Utah
Between mile-marker
196 and 197
Credit
Mill Fork Cemetery
Spanish Fork Canyon
US 6
a looknavigator film
produced by
looknavigator
© 2018
looknavigator
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
4.30.18
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The Worlds Most Crooked Railroad - The Uintah Railway
Ghost tracking the amazing Uintah Railway, From Mack Colorado over Baxter Pass. We are back riding the California Zephyr to Grand Junction, with a side trip in search of the elusive yet amazing Uintah Railway, over the Book Cliffs in search of spikes and other rusty metal as we explore the abandoned grade. Also a quick trip to Cross Orchards which is home to a great collection of old Uintah rolling stock.
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From Wikipedia:
The railway company was founded in 1903 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Gilson Asphaltum Company. Construction began at a connection with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad at what became known as Mack, Colorado. Twenty-eight miles of track was laid following West Salt Wash Creek upstream to the company town of Atchee, Colorado, named after a chief of the Ute people. Atchee served as a division point with maintenance shops for railway equipment. From Atchee, six miles of 7.5 percent grade were required to climb the Book Cliffs to Baxter Pass at an elevation of 8,437 feet (2,572 m). From the summit of Baxter Pass, there were seven miles of 5 percent downhill grade to Wendella, Colorado, followed by twelve miles of 3 percent or shallower grades down Evacuation Creek to the Black Dragon Mine just west of the Utah border. The Black Dragon Vein of Gilsonite was exposed across the ground surface for a distance of 4 miles (6.4 km), and averaged 6 feet (1.8 m) wide for half of that distance. Trains began hauling Gilsonite from the Black Dragon Mine in October, 1904. Shay locomotives pulled freight trains over Baxter Pass between the Dragon Mine and Atchee, and 2-8-0 engines pulled the freight trains between Atchee and Mack.
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Ten miles of track were laid in 1911 on a one percent grade down Evacuation Creek from Dragon, Utah, to the Rainbow Mine near Watson, Utah. A new 2-8-2 locomotive was built to pull freight trains between Watson and Wendella. The new locomotive was more efficient than Shay locomotives on that section of track, but it could not negotiate the steep grades and sharp curves over Baxter Pass between Wendella and Atchee. The railroad had operated passenger trains since 1905 consisting of a 0-6-2 tank locomotive pulling a single combine car between Mack and Dragon or Watson. This passenger train service was discontinued in 1921
For much of the 1920s the Uintah was headed by Lucian Sprague, a railroad executive who later became well known for orchestrating the dramatic turnaround of the bankrupt Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway.[6] In 1926 the railroad purchased an articulated locomotive, #50, which was specifically designed to handle the extreme curvature and steep grades of Baxter Pass. The idea was that this new locomotive would do away with the need to change engines at Atchee and Wendella. The single articulated locomotive could move as many cars as two Shay locomotives from Rainbow to Atchee, and made the trip in half the time. After some initial modifications, this engine proved to be such a success that in 1928 the railroad purchased a sister locomotive, #51. These were the only narrow gauge simple articulated locomotives sold for use in the United States.
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The railroad lasted until 1939 when trucks took over hauling the Gilsonite. At that time, the rails were pulled up and the towns abandoned. Most of the railway's locomotives were scrapped immediately; the two famous articulateds were sold to the Sumpter Valley Railway in Oregon, and later went to Guatemala, where they were dismantled. Today all that remains of the Uintah are the cellar pits of some of the buildings, the shell of the machine shop in Atchee, a few pieces of rolling stock, and part of the company hotel in Mack
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Also see:
eBay store Toy Man Television
See more at
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Please watch: The Trains of Santa Cruz California
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Meeting of the Two Railroads 1869
We visited Promontory, Utah today. A national Historical Park, it celebrates the Golden Spike driven in 1869 which connected two railroads, the Central Pacific from California, and the Union Pacific from Nebraska. More importantly, it connect the two oceans and two continents
5 Million Views! & “Bertha” The Movie Star!
Jax and I now have over 5 Million views on YouTube. What a milestone! And, it's time to reveal Bertha's movie career. :)
Dwight D. Eisenhower ~ 34th US President
A tour of Eisenhower's hometown Museum in Abilene, KS. Too much small print material to read that I couldn't film, but worth checking out in person. Allow 3 hours for the full experience and the biography documentary in the screening room.
Utah Railway Oil Train - Three MK50-3s in Spanish Fork Canyon
Utah Railway runs an oil transfer train between Martin and Provo, Utah on an as-needed basis under the symbol HUTAHJ. Empty cars go from Provo to Martin and loaded cars from Martin to Provo. On December 19 2016 the train was seen headed down to Provo with three of the railway's unique Morrison-Knudson MK50-3s: UTAH 5005, 5001, and 5004. These locomotives were built as MK5000s as M-Ks attempt to enter the new locomotive market, but were rejected by all railroads that tried them and all six production models wound up on the Utah Railway.
Historic 18th & Vine District & BLOOPERS
This district is full of Jazz history, but on my visit, there was nothing at going on anywhere. Still fun to walk and drive through the place. I ran out of gas on the freeway, and built a sink water drain in the van.