Western Pacific in Utah

Everything WP, East of Wendover.

This page was last updated on August 2, 2011.

Additional Information

WP in Utah, Station Summary (including branch lines)
WP's Utah Branchline Operations

Timeline

March 3, 1903
Western Pacific Railway was organized in California to build from Salt Lake City to Oakland, and incorporated also in California on March 6, 1903. (Gilbert H. Kneiss "Fifty Candles for Western Pacific" in Mileposts [Western Pacific employee magazine], March 1953; see also LeMassena, Rio Grande to the Pacific, p. 265)

September 1905
During early September 1905, construction of Western Pacific began with the completion of three miles of grade where the new railroad crossed the existing Nevada Northern Railway, at a new station to be called Shafter. The work was being done by Utah Construction Company of Ogden, Utah. (Deseret News, September 8, 1905)

In mid September 1905 work started on the WP at Garfield, adjacent to the new smelter being built at that location. (Deseret News, September 22, 1905, "Dirt Is Now Flying Out At Garfield Beach")

January 27, 1906
Salt Lake City granted Western Pacific a franchise to construct its railroad over and on certain city streets. (Deseret News, January 29, 1906)

Demolition of houses located on property purchased by WP for its route through Salt Lake City's west side began in mid February 1906. (Deseret News, February 15, 1906)

May 7, 1906
The first trainload (20 cars) of rails arrived at Salt Lake City from Colorado Fuel & Iron in Pueblo, Colorado. Tracklaying was to commence immediately. (Deseret News, May 8, 1906)

May 18, 1906
Tracklaying for Western Pacific began "this morning" at the Jordan River and was to extend toward the RGW mainline at Salt Lake City. By noon 1,500 feet had been laid. (Deseret News, May 18, 1906)

May 24, 1906
"...tracklaying began at Oakland on January 2, 1906, and at Salt Lake City on May 24, 1906." (LeMassena, p. 265)

June 1906
'WP has laid three miles of tracks, from Salt Lake City to Buena Vista, where the company has completed a supply yard for construction materials and track laying supplies. During early July the tracklaying machine, recently assembled and now ready to go in the Salt Lake yards, will be put to work. Together with a force of 200 Greek, Italians and Austrians, the machine will lay one mile per day and will not let up for at least 100 miles." (Deseret News, June 25, 1906)

(There is no mention of the needed crossing of OSL/SPLA&SL just east of the Jordan River.)

August 7, 1906
Sixty carloads of rails arrived for Western Pacific. By the end of August the company will have laid 40 miles of track at the rate of 1-1/2 miles per day. (Deseret News, August 7, 1906)

January 1907
During its construction west of Great Salt Lake near the Utah-Nevada state line, Western Pacific encountered a bed of pure salt 15 miles long and 8 miles wide. "They dug down six feet and still were in solid salt." (Davis County Clipper, January 4, 1907)

May 2, 1907
Western Pacific was completed between Salt Lake City and the Utah-Nevada state line.

Late 1907
Freight service began on WP between Salt Lake City and Shafter, Nevada, interchanging with the Nevada Northern Railway, owned and operated by the new Nevada Consolidated Copper Co. (LeMassena, p. 267)

D&RG Corporate Events

July 31, 1908
August 1, 1908
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (Consolidated) incorporated. Rio Grande Western Railway was merged with Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, along with Carbon County Railway, Castle Valley Railway, Copper Belt Railway, San Pete Valley Railway, Sevier Railway, Tintic Range Railway, Utah Central Railroad, and Utah Eastern Railway. (LeMassena, pp. 115, 117)

November 8, 1908
Western Pacific's first timetable went into effect, covering only the trackage between Salt Lake City and Shafter, Nevada. (Jeff Asay, Track and Time, page 14)

November 10, 1908
Western Pacific began operations between Salt Lake City and the Utah-Nevada state line. (Davis County Clipper, November 13, 1908, "Monday")

August 2, 1909
Western Pacific began operations between Salt Lake City and Elko, Nevada. For the previous "several months" the railroad had been operating three to four trains per week between Salt Lake City and Shafter, Nevada where it connected with the recently completed Nevada Northern Railway. (Davis County Clipper, July 30, 1909; Jeff Asay, Track and Time, page 14)

November 1909
WP laid the last rail for its line in Nevada at a point 160 miles west of Winnemucca. There remained six miles that needed ballast, Golconda and Winnemucca. (Carbon County News, November 5, 1909)

November 1, 1909
WP completed between Salt Lake City and Oakland, with the last spike being driven at Keddie, California. (LeMassena, p. 267)

November 11, 1909
"The first train over Western Pacific arrived without fanfare from San Francisco yesterday afternoon." (Deseret News, November 10, 1959, "Remember When, 50 Years Ago")

December 1, 1909
Freight service was started between Salt Lake City and Oakland. (Gilbert H. Kneiss "Fifty Candles for Western Pacific" in Mileposts [Western Pacific employee magazine], March 1953)

1910
D&RG and WP built Salt Lake City Union Depot in Salt Lake City. (LeMassena, p. 123) Construction started in 1907, under the name of Salt Lake City Union Depot & Railroad Co., incorporated on May 29, 1907. (Utah corporation index 6383)

June 1910
A first class passenger train was to begin operations on or about June 1, 1910 between Denver and San Francisco by way of D&RGW and the recently completed WP. (Carbon County News, March 11, 1910)

August 1, 1910
Passenger service began between Salt Lake City and Oakland. (LeMassena, p. 267; Jeff Asay, Track and Time, page 10)

Corporate Activities

By the end of 1913, the Gould family had sold almost all of their stock and ownership in Missouri Pacific, D&RG, and WP, in many cases taking a severe loss. With the stock becoming available, Kuhn, Loeb and their financial allies in the investment community began buying MP, D&RG and WP stock. Since Kuhn, Loeb were also bankers to Union Pacific, many historians state that by 1913, UP now held controlling interest in the former Gould railroads. Later financial manuevers that saw the decline of WP and D&RG can be pointed back to this period in which WP's competitors had control of the road. They took advantage of the unusual nature of the way the Goulds and their banks had financed the building of the WP, tying D&RG directly to WP's fortunes, by having D&RG guarantee WP's bonds. (LeMassena, page 267)

March 5, 1915
Western Pacific Railway was put into receivership, caused by the holders of the first mortgage bonds demanding payment and past interest.

June 1916
Western Pacific Railway was reorganized as the Western Pacific Railroad Company. This was a California corporation fully controlled by Western Pacific Railroad Corporation, a Delaware holding corporation. (LeMassena, p. 269)

June 16, 1916
The Western Pacific Railroad Company was organized to purchase the property of the Western Pacific Railway. WPRR was controlled by a corporate holding company by the name of Western Pacific Railroad Corporation. The sale of WPRy to WPRR took place on June 28, 1916. (Poors 1929 Railroad Manual, page 1136)

WP's original mortgage prevented construction of branch and feeder lines until the mainline was completed. The reorganized company did not have that limitation and construction of branchlines soon began. (Gilbert H. Kneiss "Fifty Candles for Western Pacific" in Mileposts [Western Pacific employee magazine], March 1953)

December 1916
News item about Utah Construction Company having been awarded the contract to build the Western Pacific's Tooele Branch. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 18, number 17, December 15, 1916, p.34, "Trade Notes")

1917
Utah Copper expanded its original tailings pond near Magna from the original 1500 acres to 5000 acres. This forced the Union Pacific (LA&SL) and Western Pacific tracks to be relocated to the north along a new alignment. As part of the 1917 line change between today's 5600 West and Smelter station, the two railroads created a new station named Garfield as a connection to Utah Copper's railroad. This Garfield station remained in place until replaced by a new Garfield created in 1997 when UP moved its mainline again to allow expansion of the Kennecott tailings pond. (Utah History Cyclopedia; Union Pacific condensed track profile)

December 28, 1917
Western Pacific came under federal USRA control. (Gilbert H. Kneiss "Fifty Candles for Western Pacific" in Mileposts [Western Pacific employee magazine], March 1953)

1918
WP completed a branch from Burmester to Tooele Junction, to interchange with the newly completed Tooele Valley Railway. (LeMassena, p. 269)

1918
WP completed a branch from Ellerbeck to limestone quarries at Dolomite and Flux. (LeMassena, p. 269)

May 13, 1919
WP received Utah PSC approval to close the agency at Low. Used primarily for water and feed shipments for sheep ranchers, along with occasional ore shipments. (Utah Public Service Commission, Case 179)

D&RGW Corporate Activities

November 15, 1920
Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad incorporated in Delaware. Organized on November 13, 1920. Filed in Utah on July 21, 1921. (Utah corporation index 15038; LeMassena, p. 135)

November 20, 1920
Property of D&RG sold to newly organized Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. (Athearn, p. 241) Joseph H. Young as president. (Athearn, p. 243) D&RG sold to Western Pacific Railroad Corporation, the Delaware holding company that also owned the Western Pacific Railroad. (LeMassena, p. 131)

LeMassena, p. 135, says that this action by the WP holding company lead to an ICC investigation.

July 27, 1921
The sale of D&RG to the WP-controlled D&RGW was approved by the courts. (LeMassena, p. 131)

August 1, 1921
Newly organized Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad took over operation of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. (LeMassena, p. 135)

On August 1, 1921, the properties of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad were acquired by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, all the stock of which was acquired by the Western Pacific Railroad Corporation, which also owned and controlled the Western Pacific Railroad as a separate company. It was the bondholders of the original Western Pacific Railway, defunct in 1916, that forced D&RG into receivership on January 26, 1918 because it had failed to make good on guaranteed payments on WPRy mortgage, with the total due being $38 million. (Poors 1929 Railroad Manual, page 1134)

June 1929
D&RGW's Roper Yard in south Salt Lake City was designated as WP's Salt Lake City freight terminal. (Track and Time, Jeff Asay, page 140, based on date of WP employee Eastern Division timetable 12, dated June 9, 1929)

December 17, 1929
WP received Utah PSC approval to close the agency at Salduro, located 8 miles east of Wendover. The agency was opened in 1917 to serve a potash and salt plant, which has since closed. (Utah Public Service Commission, Case 1147)

(circa February 1932)
State Road Commission received Utah PSC approval to construct a concrete overpass over the Union Pacific Railroad and the Western Pacific Railroad for a new state highway, called the Garfield Cut-off. (Utah Public Service Commission, Case 1263)

February 11, 1944
The D&RGW AFE for the line change that resulted in the Grant Tower automatic interlocking was approved. The documentation to support the AFE shows that there was a 17-lever mechanical interlocking at the combined WP/D&RGW and LA&SL/D&RGW crossing along 700 West and South Temple streets. The formal completion date for the line change was December 20, 1952, and for the tower building itself, the formal completion date is shown as May 20, 1950. (D&RGW AFE records on file at Colorado Railroad Museum) (more details are on this D&RGW page)

Industry Events

June 17, 1947 — The federal Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) ordered all railroads to install automatic block signals on all lines where freight trains operated at 50 mph or more, or where passenger trains operated at 60 mph or more. The ICC order required the installation of either an automatic block system (ABS), or a centralized traffic control system (CTC) for lines (Track and Time, Jeff Asay, page 76)

A further clarification of this ICC order comes from Mark Hemphill: "Actually the ICC order required the initiation only of a block system, manual or automatic, in order to exceed 49/59 mph. Automatic block signal systems include ABS, CTC, and various types of cab signal systems. Manual block systems persisted in the U.S. after this date and in fact I dispatched Manual Block-DTC on the KCS in 2000, where we operated freight trains at 60 mph in dark territory." (Mark Hemphill email, October 20, 2007)

1944-1951, Grant Tower Interchange

Between 1944 and about 1951, D&RGW, UP, and WP worked together to construct a new interchange in downtown Salt Lake City. (click here for a separate page about the "Grant Tower Interlocking", located just west of UP's Salt Lake City passenger depot.)

September 17, 1950
A pair of the Western Pacific's Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs), known as "Zephyrettes," went into service as replacements for the discontinued Royal Gorge (trains No. 1 and 2) between Salt Lake City and Oakland. The RDCs were in service from September 17, 1950 to October 2, 1960. The RDCs replaced Train No. 1, which from March to September 1950 consisted of a single diesel locomotive, a baggage car, a couple day coaches, and a diner, which was reported as losing $85,000 per month. The cars were test run in January 1950, and purchased in February, and were reported as being the first self-propelled, single-car diesel trains in service in the nation. The trains left Salt Lake City on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Although the RDCs did not have diner service, there were meal stops in Elko, Nevada and Portola, California. (part from an undated Salt Lake City newspaper clipping of an article written by Jack Goodman; see also Trainorders.com, June 3, 2010)

April 1953
WP installed centralized traffic control (CTC) between Wendover and Pollard Junction in Salt Lake City (Pollard Junction was where WP freight trains turned south at about 100 South and 700 West, to travel along D&RGW's main line to Roper Yard.) (Track and Time, Jeff Asay, page 140, based on date of WP employee Eastern Division timetable 52, dated April 26, 1953)

1959
WP joined Trailer Train, the national trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC) pool. In that same year, WP started TOFC service, better known as "piggyback" service, between Salt Lake City and Oakland. WP, along with GN and AT&SF, had started piggyback service between Seattle and Los Angeles via the Inside Gateway by way of Bieber, Calif., in 1954. Competitors SP and UP joined Trailer Train in 1960, and WP's connecting road at Salt Lake City, D&RGW, joined in 1963. (The Tioga Group, Intermodal Timeline, 1954 to 1966, http://www.tiogagroup.com/page22.html )

April 25, 1960
Western Pacific announced that on June 1st, the railroad would discontinue its local diesel car service Between Salt Lake City and Oakland. The railroad was reported to have lost $225,000 on the operation of the trains during 1959. (Deseret News, April 25, 1960) (The trains had entered service on September 17, 1950)

October 2, 1960
Last day of operation for WP's Zephyrette, the self-propelled single-unit rail diesel car (RDC) between Salt Lake City and Oakland. The RDC was operated as WP train 1 and 2. (Track and Time, Jeff Asay, page 140)

1965
Southern Pacific and Santa Fe each attempted to control Western Pacific. The action was begun in 1960 and ICC took until 1965 to hand down its decision against SP and AT&SF. (ICC report re. Southern Pacific request for control of Western Pacific, 1965, ICC Finance Docket 21314)

May 1967
WP and UP completed a line change to allow the construction of today's I-80, west of Salt Lake City. Included was a new line for WP from about 1000 West, paralleling UP's LA&SL line west to Gladiola Street, at about 3200 West. WP's mainline was abandoned upon completion of the line change, which included a new location called "WP-UP Junction" at about 1100 West. The original WP/LA&SL diamond crossing at Navajo Street was abandoned and the tracks between the new WP-UP Junction and Smelter, 15 miles to the west, were operated as joint trackage. (Track and Time, by Jeff Asay, page 94)

WP-UP Junction, a double crossover at about 1100 West, was added in 1967 to replace the "Navajo Street" diamond-crossing at about 1400 West. As noted above, Jeff Asay wrote that the change was to put the WP and UP(LA&SL) lines west from Salt Lake City, on a common alignment in preparation for what today is I-80, and the new superhighway's crossing over the two rail lines at Cheyenne Street (about 1550 West). With the common ownership of both UP and WP lines after the 1983 merger, the need went away to crossover to WP-owned tracks before the ownership changed at the Jordan River, and the double crossover was moved several miles west to Orange Street, about a mile west of Redwood Road. (click here for a Google map.) The map shows that the abandoned WP route was used as the location for Interstate 80, including the later interchange between I-80 and the later I-215 Belt Route, completed in 1985-1986.

1970
WP OUT, D&RGW AND SP IN, BUT TRIWEEKLY ONLY: Reasoning that Western Pacific's tonnage can't subsidize an essentially "sightseeing excursion," the ICC has allowed WP to drop its Salt Lake City—San Francisco leg of the California Zephyr (last runs: March 21). Rio Grande, which also wanted out, was ordered to run its Denver—Salt Lake City CZ link on a triweekly schedule; and Southern Pacific was permitted to reduce its Ogden—San Francisco end of the City of San Francisco from daily to triweekly frequency. D&RGW and SP trains must connect between Salt Lake City and Ogden over what is at present freight—only trackage of the former. (Trains magazine, April 1970, page 8)

December 1, 1970
Alfred E. Perlman became president of Western Pacific Railroad. (Pacific News, November 1970, page 14)

December 21, 1970
Western Pacific Industries was organized to control Western Pacific Railroad as a subsidiary. By June 17, 1971, the holding company had acquired about 95 percent of the outstanding stock of the railroad company.

January 1, 1973
R. G. "Mike" Flannery became President and CEO of Western Pacific Railroad. Mr. Flannery had come to WP from Penn Central along with A. E. Perlman as Perlman's first Executive Vice President.

February 16, 1978
Western Pacific Railroad was sold to Newrail Company, Inc., a company organized by Western Pacific's management and officers, including the road's president and CEO R. G. Flannery, to buy the railroad from its parent holding company Western Pacific Industries, Inc. The parent company had announced in 1977 to sell its railroad subsidiary. The federal ICC approved the sale on January 26, 1979. (see also: Newrail Co. -- Purchase -- Western Pacific R.R. ("Newrail"), 354 I.C.C. 885, 899-901, 1979)

The sale was approved by the railroad's shareholders on November 1, 1978. Included in the sale was the assets and business of Western Pacific Railroad, Sacramento Northern Railroad, Tidewater Southern Railroad, and non-railroad subsidiaries Standard Realty and Development Corporation, Delta Finance Company and the WP Transport trucking company.

April 4, 1979
The sale of the assets and liabilities (but not the stock) of Western Pacific Railroad to Newrail took effect. On the same day, Newrail changed its name to Western Pacific Railroad, and the previous railroad company controlled by Western Pacific Industries changed its name to OldWestCo. WPI then owned only a railroad company with no assets.

July 24, 1979
A wreck at Mile Post 868, near Low (MP 866.14) involving WP 3516, 2010, 3067, and 3523, along with caboose 466. The wreck was between two trains; a four-car EMR (Ellerbeck-Marblehead-Rowley) Local, and a set of four locomotives running light. (click here for photos at the WPRRHS web site.) (wreck information from Trainorders.com)

November 1979
Western Pacific adopted its new stylized feather logo. The first pieces of equipment to have the new logo were 100 boxcars to be delivered from Portland, Oregon during November 1979. The new logo was designed by Mark Gobe & Associates of San Francisco. (Deseret News, November 1, 1979)

January 23, 1980
Western Pacific's board of directors announced that they had accepted an offer from Union Pacific Railroad for the control of WP by UP. UP had announced on January 8, 1980, its intention to buy the Western Pacific.

September 15, 1980
UP and WP filed their request for UP control of WP with the federal ICC. The ICC accepted the application for merger and control on October 15th. Initial plans were for WP to remain independent and become UP's fourth operating district (along side UP's existing three districts: Eastern, Northwestern, and South-Central).

June 9, 1982
Robert C. Marquis became president and CEO of WP after R. G. Flannery left to become president and CEO of Missouri Pacific Railroad.

October 20, 1982
The federal ICC approved the control of WP by UP. The decision had been announced on September 13th.

January 1, 1983
Union Pacific's purchase and control of Western Pacific became effective. The sale cleared its last legal challenge and was approved by the U. S. Supreme Court on December 22, 1982, the date that is usually given as the date of the UP-WP "merger".

January 11, 1983
WP's board of directors met to confirm that Western Pacific's status as a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad Company.

(See also Western Pacific History, WP Lives)

(All events on former WP trackage and locations after January 1983 are covered as part of the coverage for Union Pacific in Utah. Click here for UP in Utah.)

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