Kenilworth & Helper Railway
This page was last updated on March 11, 2007.
Additional Sources:
- Kenilworth & Helper Railway — Corporate informaion.
- Kenilworth Coal Mines — A collection of information about the coal mines at Kenilworth.
Chronology History
Grading for a railroad line from the mine in Bull Hollow to a point on the D&RG about a mile east of Helper was begun in late December 1906. (Zehnder, p. 15)
On August 10, 1907 Independent Coal & Coke shipped its first coal, over its new railroad using a leased Rio Grande Western locomotive. Their first Shay locomotive had not yet arrived. (Eastern Utah Advocate, August 15, 1907)
Independent's new locomotive, a Shay with road number 100, arrived in early September 1907, having left the Lima Locomotive Works factory in Lima, Ohio on August 24, 1907. (Koch, builder's record)
By March 1908 the Kenilworth mine was producing about 300 tons per day. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, March 12, 1908, p. 3)
By September 1908, the mine was shipping 600 tons per day and could not keep up with the demand. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, September 24, 1908, p. 3)
The second Shay locomotive had left "the East and would soon be in commission out of Helper hauling coal down for the Independent company." The mine was producing an average of 10 cars per day. (Eastern Utah Advocate, December 31, 1908, page 5, "Of A More Or Less Personal Nature")
During early 1909 the Kenilworth & Helper's Shay locomotive was used to haul water to the mining camp at night, and haul coal down to Kenilworth Junction at Spring Glen during the day. A second Shay locomotive had been ordered. (Eastern Utah Advocate, February 4, 1909, p. 1)
On February 6, 1909, Kenilworth & Helper received a new Shay locomotive, "The new Shay engine arrived last Saturday, as the production of the the mine is becoming so great that one could not handle all the traffic." (Carbon County News, February 13, 1909) Mr. William Griffin, representative of Lima Locomotive Works, builder of the new Shay locomotive, accompanied the new locomotive and returned to Lima on Thursday, February 18. (Carbon County News, February 20, 1909)
Kenilworth & Helper's second Shay locomotive, number 101, arrived in early February 1909, after having been completed by the Lima factory on January 21, 1909. The arrival of the second Shay gave the coal company two 70-ton locomotives to move its coal to the D&RG connection. (HAER: Kenilworth, p. 14)
In August 1910, a depot was built at Spring Glen by the Independent company for use by the Kenilworth & Helper Railroad. (Salt Lake Mining Review, August 30, 1910, p. 38)
By September 1910, Kenilworth's production had reached 1,500 tons per day. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, September 8, 1910, p. 2)
During 1910, the railroad was operated using two 72-ton Shay locomotives. (Higgins: Independent, p. 19)
On June 20, 1911 the Independent Coal & Coke received a new, third Shay locomotive. (Eastern Utah Advocate, June 22, 1911)
The formal completion date for this locomotive, with road number 150, was on May 31, 1911. (Koch, builder's record)
On July 15, 1911 the Kenilworth & Helper Railway was incorporated, in Wyoming, by the owners of Independent Coal & Coke Company. On July 19th the railroad company purchased and commenced operation of the coal company's railroad property, which they had built in 1907. (26 ICC 860)
In 1911 the Independent Coal & Coke Company incorporated the Kenilworth & Helper to operate their already constructed rail line, which remained in operation until it was replaced by the D&RGW's Kenilworth Branch in 1926. (105 ICC 720)
The Kenilworth & Helper Railroad was incorporated in Wyoming and was 100 percent owned by Independent Coal & Coke Company. The railroad was leased for operation for a ten year period to D&RG on December 1, 1914. Shay locomotives were used on a separate tramway by the coal company to bring coal down to the No. 1 tipple. Shay locomotives of the Kenilworth & Helper had a capacity of twelve cars over the line's 6-1/2 percent grades. Seven empties could be brought up from the D&RG connection at Spring Glen. Twelve to fifteen loaded cars could be taken down from the mine to the D&RG connection. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 868)
A fourth Shay locomotive was completed on September 20, 1913. Its road number was 151. (Koch, builder's information)
During August 1914, the Independent company had contracted with Utah Construction Company to complete two large fills on its Kenilworth & Helper Railroad. (Salt Lake Mining Review, August 15, 1914, p. 28)
1914:
D&RG leased for operation the Kenilworth & Helper Railway. (LeMassena, p. 129)
The Kenilworth & Helper expanded its horizons in March 1915 when it filed an amendment to its articles of incorporation that would allow it to build from Helper to Salt Lake City, and from Kenilworth northeasterly through the "Vernal country" to a connection with a railroad from Colorado, presumably the Moffat Road. The roster of officials and directors of the railroad were identical to that of the Independent Coal & Coke Company, and included C. V. Strevell, Salt Lake, president and general manager; James H. Patterson, Salt Lake, vice president and treasurer; F. A. Druehl, Salt Lake, secretary; Walter Parker, Peoria, Illinois; Charles W. Buckley, Chicago; Normal B. Holter, Helena, Montana; M. H. Walker, Salt Lake; Joseph Geoghegan, Salt Lake; and H. C. Edwards, Salt Lake. (New Railroads, p. 17)
The Kenilworth & Helper Railroad operated its own property from July 19, 1911 until January 15, 1915. The D&RG took over the operation of the Kenilworth & Helper on January 15, 1915. (26 ICC 860,861)
The lease of the Kenilworth & Helper to the D&RG was signed on December 1, 1914. (105 ICC 720)
The lease of the Kenilworth & Helper Railroad to the D&RG was at no cost to the parent Independent company. (Independent: 1914, p. 7)
January 15, 1915:
D&RG began operation of Kenilworth & Helper Railway. Organized in July 1911 by the Independent Coal & Coke Company to operate the railroad line that it had built in 1907. (26 ICC 860)
The new Bull Hollow portal and new Shay operated tram road was in operation by March 1918. (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 30, 1918)
In December 1917, the Independent Coal & Coke accepted delivery of a Shay locomotive with road number 1. This locomotive was isolated to the coal company's forty-two inch gauge tramway from the new mine opening in Bull Hollow, hauling loaded mine cars from the mine to the tipple in Kenilworth, at the base of the original gravity tramway. The new tramway was referred to as the "Bull Hollow Tramroad and Incline", with the original tram from the Kenilworth opening being called the "Shelf and Incline Tramway." (Independent: 1918, p. 29)
Additional tonnage by mid 1920 required a second forty-two inch gauge Shay locomotive for the Bull Hollow tramroad, which was delivered as road number 2 in late October or early November 1920, having been completed by the factory on October 22, 1920. (Koch, builder's record)
During 1918 the railroad car capacity of the Kenilworth & Helper included nearly one hundred cars at the Kenilworth tipple and another 150 cars at the nearly four miles of yard tracks at Kenilworth Junction. The motive power for the Kenilworth & Helper during 1918 was the two 90-ton Shays and one of the two 70-ton Shays. (Independent: 1918, p. 20)
In 1920 Kenilworth & Helper Railway sold its two original 70-ton, three-truck Shay locomotives, numbers 100 and 101. The two remaining 90-ton three-truck Shay locomotives, numbers 150 and 151, remained and were operated by the railroad until the entire railroad was leased to the D&RGW for operation in 1926. The two 90-ton Shays remained as locomotives leased for operation to D&RGW until 1928 and 1929, being replaced by a D&RGW 3300 class Mallet assigned out of Helper.
Kenilworth & Helper Railroad was 6.39 miles long, including 3.525 miles of main track and 2.865 miles of yard and side tracks. (26 ICC Val. 781; D&RGW ICC Valuation Docket 960) D&RGW leased two locomotives from Kenilworth & Helper Railroad. (26 ICC Val. 785; D&RGW ICC Valuation Docket 960, done July 30, 1982)
1926:
D&RGW built the Kenilworth Branch to replace the steep Kenilworth & Helper Railway, which was leased for operation by D&RGW and operated with K&H's Shay locomotives. Five miles of new construction. (LeMassena, p. 145)
September 1926:
Kenilworth & Helper Railroad received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon its railroad line. The railroad company was incorporated in Wyoming and was 100 percent owned by the Independent Coal & Coke Company. The railroad was leased for operation for ten years to D&RG on December 1, 1914. The first coal was shipped in October 1907. Shay locomotives of the coal company were used on a separate tramway to bring the coal down to the No. 1 tipple. Shay locomotives of the railroad company had a capacity of twelve cars over the line's 6.5 percent grades; seven empties up from the D&RGW connection at Spring Glen, and twelve to fifteen loads down. Current production was 2,200 tons per day and the old Kenilworth & Helper railroad could not handle the new, additional tonnage from the newly opened No. 2 mine. John H. Tonkin, president of the railroad company, was also general manager of the coal company. (Utah Public Service Commission case 868)
On January 28, 1926, Kenilworth & Helper Railroad and Denver & Rio Grande Western filed a joint application for the abandonment of the Kenilworth line, operated under lease by the D&RGW, and to construct a branch line of the D&RGW extending from a connection with the D&RGW mainline at or near Spring Canyon Junction, in a general easterly direction for 6.28 miles to Kenilworth. The Kenilworth's line, as operated by D&RGW, was 3.75 miles long and extended from a connection with D&RGW's mainline at Kenilworth Junction (Spring Glen) to Kenilworth. The daily production of the Kenilworth mine in 1926 was about 2,000 tons, or about 40 fifty-ton carloads. In 1924 the Kenilworth mine's production amounted to 382,336 tons (about 7,600 carloads, about 21 cars per day) and projections for 1925 production called for an increase of about 21 percent, to 465,000 tons, or five more carloads per day. The Kenilworth line had grades in excess of six percent and its operation required the use of a Shay locomotives, which required increased maintenance and operating expenses. The coal company was about to expand their No. 2 mine which was projected to produce an additional 2,000 tons, or 40 carloads, per day, and construct a new loading tipple and tipple yard, and the current railroad would not be able to handle the increased traffic at a reasonable expense. The coal company desired to construct an alternate line with more capacity and reduced operating expenses. This was projected to cost $469,000.00 for its construction, and the projected traffic was 600,000 tons for the first year, increasing to 1,000,000 tons by the fifth year. The land for the right-of-way for the new line was donated by the coal company. The new line was laid with 85-pound rail and was constructed with three percent grades westbound (loads) and 1.5 percent eastbound (empties), and was projected to be complete and in operation by October 1, 1926. (105 ICC 720; map accompanying application)
New D&RGW Kenilworth Branch shipped its first coal traffic on November 24, 1926. (Coal Index: The Sun, November 26, 1926, p. 1, "last Wednesday")
Locomotive Roster
Independent Coal & Coke Co. (42-inch gauge)
| Road Number |
Wheel Arrangement |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
Date Retired |
Notes |
| 1 | Two Truck, 28-Ton, Shay | Lima | 2955 | Dec 1917 | 1 | |
| 2 | Two Truck, 28-Ton, Shay | Lima | 3132 | Oct 1920 | 2 |
Kenilworth & Helper Railway (standard gauge)
| Road Number |
Wheel Arrangement |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
Date Retired |
Notes |
| 100 | Three Truck, 70-Ton, Shay | Lima | 1967 | Oct 1907 | ca. Mar 1920 | 3 |
| 101 | Three Truck, 70-Ton, Shay | Lima | 2124 | Jan 1909 | ca. Dec 1920 | 4 |
| 150 | Three Truck, 90-Ton, Shay | Lima | 2434 | May 1911 | ca. Jun 1929 | 5 |
| 151 | Three Truck, 90-Ton, Shay | Lima | 2703 | Sep 1913 | ca. Jun 1928 | 6 |
General Notes:
| a. | Independent Coal & Coke numbers 1 and 2 operated separately on a dedicated 42-inch gauge tramway between the Bull Hollow mine and the coal loadout at Kenilworth. |
Notes:
| 1. | Independent Coal & Coke 1 was listed as for sale on August 20, 1925; scrapped. (source at Shay Locomotives.com) (photo) |
| 2. | Independent Coal & Coke 2 was listed as for sale on August 20, 1925; scrapped in 1942. (source at Shay Locomotives.com, with photo) |
| 3. | Kenilworth & Helper 100 was sold on March 20, 1920 to M. F. Brady Co. (dealer) in Portland, Ore.; sold in May 1920 to Western Lumber & Export Co. number 10, Cottage Grove, Ore.; sold on September 18, 1924 to Anderson & Middleton Lumber Co., Cottage Grove, Ore.; sold on October 3, 1924 to Yeomans Lumber Co. number 10, Pe Ell, Wash.; sold on March 7, 1927 to Pe Ell Lumber Co. number 5, Pe Ell, Wash.; sold to Markham & Callow number 6, later number 3, Independence, Wash., moved to Markham & Callow's operation at Nehalem, Ore.; scrapped in 1937 or 1938 by Alaska Junk Co. (dealer), Portland, Ore. (source at Shay Locomotives.com, with photo) |
| 4. | Kenilworth & Helper 101 was scrapped in December 1920. (source at Shay Locomotives.com) |
| 5. | Kenilworth & Helper 150 was leased to D&RGW in 1926 and continued to operate on home rails as D&RGW's Kenilworth Branch; listed as for sale on June 18, 1928; sold on June 14, 1929 to Pacific Equipment Co. (dealer) in Portland, Ore.; sold on August 12, 1929 to Hutchinson Logging Co. number 90 at South Bend, Ore.; sold on April 10, 1936 to Alaska Junk Co. (dealer); scrapped in January 1941 by Alaska Junk Co. (source at Shay Locomotives.com) |
| 6. | Kenilworth & Helper 151 was leased to D&RGW in 1926 and continued to operate on home rails as D&RGW's Kenilworth Branch; sold on June 16, 1928 to Pacific Equipment Co. (dealer); sold on April 20, 1929 to Montborne Lumber Co. number 151 at Big Lake, Wash.; scrapped in October 1937. (source at Shay Locomotives.com) (photo) |
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