Western Railroad Discussion > Utah Trainwatching

Just found out that I have to go to Utah next week. I'll be in Salt Lae City, Ogden, Provo areas. Any good spots to catch trains in those areas? Also, what's the likelyhood of chasing the Utah RR? Area radio freqs would be a big help, too.

Thanks in advance!

Here's some Provo info for you:

Yards are at 600S in Provo, access from the University Ave Exit of I-15 (#266, as I recall), turn right on 900 S, which turns into a little road (Colorado Ave) that threads between the UP and Utah/DRGW yards. Engine shops are midway down this road, mostly outside, with a new Utah Rwy building big enough for one engine. Usually a good assortment of power around the fueling racks. Colorado Ave trickles out the south end of the yards, where there's a new cross-street with bridges, which ought to offer good overhead photography. South of the cross street (2200S?) is a loop track that connects DRGW/Utah tracks to UP tracks. (Utah, DRGW go up Spanish Fork Canyon to Soldier SUmmit, UP goes SW to Nephi, Leamington, Lyndyll, and out to the UP mainline to LA). I trespassed in the SP yards for years on a weekly basis before the merger (before I learned that RR yard trespassing is a no-no), but always felt a bit squeamish about roaming through the UP yards. Don't know what it's like now, but Colorado Ave, 600S, Amtrak Station (300W 600S) and the new cross streets at the south end of the yard ought to keep a person amused.

Other fun places in Provo are the Provo River Bridges (3 active bridges side by sied, and the abutments to the former interurban bridge) at the east end of 500S, a trail following the old Rio Grande tracks up Provo Canyon, turning into the live tracks of the Heber Creeper about 10 miles up, and Geneva Steel in Orem (right by the freeway, 2 miles long) with industrial locos, coal and taconite in and steel out. If you go to the Amtrak Shack, there's a harmless old guy there who is slowly losing his mental faculties and will tell you whatever has been going through that day. Pay no attenton to his predictions for the remainder of the day, though.

Spanish Fork Canyon is great for chasing trains, few trees, road is built parallel to the tracks, and the road is mainly two lanes so it doesn't visually overpower the double track mainline going. You'll have no trouble chasing trains in the canyon. Get to the Canyon by going South out of Provo on State St. (to go roughly parallel to the tracks), or getting back on I-15 and taking the Spanish Fork Canyon exit. It's about 10 miles from the Provo Yards to the mouth of the Canyon. Drive carefully in the canyon, lots of recreationalists, SUVs, Motorhomes, etc.

Check out yards by going to maps.yahoo.com and typing in Colorado Ave, Provo UT to see the public street layout, and it's easy to take a virtual tour of the canyon at topozone.com, type in "spanish fork, UT" and follow the tracks to the SE. 1:100,000 for the quick tour, 1:25,000 to see the details.

Ted in BC

I don't have any photos of the Provo area scanned, but here's a watercolour I did a few years ago representing the view from the Amshack--Wasatch Mountains in background. (Provo's not a real photogenic place by most standards...)

The Utah RR Museum at Ogden has a UP turbine plus other
engines.

Boilermaker--

I see nobody else has joined in the fray, so here are some links to threads from past times this question has come around:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?f=1&i=9864&t=9864

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?f=1&i=35801&t=35801

There have been a few threads about Utah Railway operations and power, a little more searching should turn those up.

Have a great time, let us know what you see.

Ted in BC