Western Railroad Discussion > Day 4: Wyoming/Utah Awesomenes: Provo - Helper "Soldier Summit"

From July 22-26 TO member "wko" Kirk, our friend Max, and I took a trip across Wyoming and into Utah along Union Pacific's Overland Route along the Laramie, Rawlins, and Evanston Subdivisions. From there, we proceeded onto Provo where we followed the former D&RGW to Helper over Soldier Summit. And to close out the trip, we stopped at the Deseret Power Railway near Dinosaur and Rangely. Then the remaining part of the trip was along the former Rio Grande from Craig, Colorado to the eastern slope on the Moffat Route.

Posts from this trip will follow in this order:

Day 1: Hermosa-Green River
Day 2: Green River-Evanston
Day 3: Evanston-Echo/Weber Canyons & Heber Valley
Day 4: Soldier Summit
Day 5: Deseret Power, Craig Branch, and Moffat

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Day 4 of our trip was off to a rocky start in Provo, as my vehicle was drained overnight from having something plugged in. After finally getting my battery jumped, we ended up replacing the battery which chewed into our railfanning time. After getting the new battery installed, we had to come up with a game plan. We started out at the Utah Transit Authority commuter rail station in Provo. We saw that a train for Salt Lake City was waiting for its scheduled departure. However, we also noticed UP's MRORO "RowRow" was also departing the yard and heading back to Roper Yard in Salt Lake City. Debating on what to do next, we found out the Roper-Denver manifest was coming up to Provo, which would set us up for a chase over Soldier Summit to Helper. Once they got lined out of Provo and Ironton up the hill, the chase was on. We also found out we had two more westbounds coming across the Utah desert which, if the timing was right, would be a perfect chase west back up to Soldier Summit from Helper. We chased the Roper-Denver manifest up the hill and down to Helper, where we didn't have to wait too long for the first westbound to depart Helper, which ended up being a BNSF manifest for Provo. After chasing the BNSF manifest to the summit, we got word of a loaded Savage coal load heading west towards Helper; so we raced back east. By the time we found it, we couldn't get any shots of it. Once the train got to Helper, the crew was called for 7 PM but was scheduled to depart until after Amtrak 5 was out of Helper. And that pretty much ended our day as we had the drive to Vernal, Utah for the night to be in position for the trip back home tomorrow.

1) UP's MRORO passes a parked Utah Transit Authority commuter train at the Provo Station just west of the yard in Provo.

2) The Roper-Denver manifest climbs the grade towards Soldier Summit along US-6 near east of Thistle, Utah.

3) The eastbound Roper manifest continues to climb the grade next to the Tie Fork Rest Area that is railroad themed honoring the old ghost town of Tucker.

There's more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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4) Union Pacific SD70ACe No. 8370 brings up the rear of the Roper-Denver manifest at the Tie Fork Rest Area.

5) The eastbound manifest reaches the top of Soldier Summit.

6) The manifest is now on the downhill grade on towards Helper at Kyune.

There's more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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7) The eastbound Roper-Denver manifest exits the Nolan Tunnels just west of Castle Gate.

8) The Roper-Denver manifest passes by the famous rock formations of Castle Gate on the approach to Helper.

9) The eastbound manifest comes into Helper for a crew change as a BNSF westbound manifest gets lined out to head up the hill. Utah Railway's Martin Yard can be seen above the train.

There's more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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10) A westbound BNSF manifest for Provo has begun its assault up Soldier Summit at Castle Gate.

11) The westbound BNSF manifest is seen passing through the Nolan Tunnels.

12) After negotiating the Noland Tunnels and a loop, the train climbs the hill west of the Nolan Tunnels.

There's more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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13) The BNSF manifest is seen crossing the Price River near Kyune.

14 - 15) The westbound manifest makes good time climbing the grade towards Soldier Summit near Colton.

A couple more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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Another great series, John! That was one heck of a great trip...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

16) The BNSF manifest races west up to Soldier Summit at Colton.

17) The westbound BNSF manifest is about to crest the top of Soldier Summit where it will be a downhill run to its final destination of Provo.

Thanks for looking!

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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Great stuff, very worthwhile trip. Good use of that 'even lighting' from otherwise yucky weather.

NICE pics!!

What makes your photos stand out is the angles you use. It appears you put a lot of work into capturing the right scene instead of just standing track side and taking a train picture. Your photos are outstanding.

Looks like you dealt with some rain. Some of those creeks are running real brown.
John

Very Nice Series John, Great Shots!

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

Leapin Lizards, a signal bridge at West Soldier Summit...Great Shots..interesting views at the rest stop...Steve

Very enjoyable series!!

Larry

Thanks for the great ride!

Really great series of photos.

Ronda Thomas

Mr. Chrisanti: I always look forward to your wonder sets of photographs!

William Jeffers, P.E.
San Dimas, CA

Fantastic series John!

photobob Wrote:
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> What makes your photos stand out is the angles you
> use. It appears you put a lot of work into
> capturing the right scene instead of just standing
> track side and taking a train picture. Your photos
> are outstanding.

I agree with Photobob, another spectacular photographer on TO; John, your photos are unique in the angles and composition you choose. There are certain members' threads that I never fail to look at, even if I don't have any personal relationship with the location, but rather, just because of the photographer. John and Bob are two of those folks.

Well done.