Western Railroad Discussion > Canadian Pacific over Soldier Summit

I recently had the chance to chase CP 8796 as it led a Savage, UT to Memphis, TN loaded coal train over Soldier Summit on DRGW's former line through the Utah mountains.
Running under the symbol of CSVJC 29, here are 4 shots from the chase back on July 29th.

Photo 1 & 2) CP 8796 leads a Savage, UT to Memphis, TN loaded coal train through the mouth of Price River Canyon. UP has recently laid fresh ballast over Soldier Summit, in addition to fully activating PTC signaling.
Photo 3) Rolling through the Kyune gooseneck
Photo 4) Heading east toward Rio

Thanks for looking.

- Matt Paulson

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Photo 4)

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Spectacular!,!!!!!!
Brian

Awesome!

Very NICE!!

Larry

So, Savage is in Price, right?

This train runs:
Price:Provo:SLC:Ogden
UP mainline to Kansas City,
Then to Memphis?

Has it always run this way? Seems that the DRGW mainline across Colorado is mighty quiet these days, why do they put it on 500 miles of busy mainline instead of
Price:Grand Junction: Denver: Kansas&Pacific: Kansas City?

Also, I spent a month near the tracks in Provo recently, and there was maybe one coal train westbound/northbound on the DRGW per day. I assumed these were headed west, but apparently some turned east at Ogden instead of west to California or NW to the Pacific NW. Interesting...

Just curious.

Thanks for the pics,
Ted in OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/17 23:34 by gobbl3gook.

Great photos.

Ronda Thomas

OK, just trying to get a feel for how bizarre that power lashup is.

Will this train at any time run on CP or KCS? Or is it just a weird circumstance that the power showed up like this?

Nice shots!!

Seems strange they're pouring $$ into this line to me...it's been going downhill since Spiro Agnew died...(when UP took over more or less) ...look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls !

Stevie

the_expediter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Funk and Wagnalls !
>
> Stevie

Wow I haven't heard that for a long long time.

Cheers, Jim

the_expediter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seems strange they're pouring $$ into this line to
> me...it's been going downhill since Spiro Agnew
> died...(when UP took over more or less) ...look
> that up in your Funk and Wagnalls !
>
> Stevie

The nattering nabobs of negativism.

Interesting this train loads near Price, Utah then travels aaaaall the way west up over Soldier Summit, then down into Provo, Utah then north again for about 60 miles before then turning east. Seems it would be logical to head the train directly EAST out of Price (Savage) over the Moffat route and save that giant U-turn.

gobbl3gook Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So, Savage is in Price, right?
>
> This train runs:
> Price:Provo:SLC:Ogden
> UP mainline to Kansas City,
> Then to Memphis?
>
> Has it always run this way? Seems that the DRGW
> mainline across Colorado is mighty quiet these
> days, why do they put it on 500 miles of busy
> mainline instead of
> Price:Grand Junction: Denver: Kansas&Pacific:
> Kansas City?
>
> Also, I spent a month near the tracks in Provo
> recently, and there was maybe one coal train
> westbound/northbound on the DRGW per day. I
> assumed these were headed west, but apparently
> some turned east at Ogden instead of west to
> California or NW to the Pacific NW.
> Interesting...
>
> Just curious.
>
> Thanks for the pics,
> Ted in OR

Hey, Ted. Eastbound trains running out of Savage (near Price) usually traverse the Moffat. Which made this move over Soldier Summit all the more interesting. When the train got to Provo, the dispatcher had the crew stop the train because UP management was considering turning the train around to head back over the Moffat. It ended up continuing into SLC and east across the Evanston Subdivision. As far as westbound coal trains go, Soldier Summit sees 2-5 per day (depending on the day) mixed in with a few freights and Amtrak. BNSF and UP occasionally run grain trains over the pass. Not like it used to be, but I'm grateful for what we have.

Nice!!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

"Hey, Ted. Eastbound trains running out of Savage (near Price) usually traverse the Moffat."

Thanks for the explanation.

Sounds all the more interesting that mgt. considered running it back over Soldier Summit again.

I wonder how often they make nutty decisions like this? It's probably a minimum of $2000/hr to operate a train. Helper to Provo and back would be about 10 hours total. Not enough to cut the company's bottom line in a one-off bad decision, but if they have a funky decision-making tree it's a real drain on the bottom line...

Ted in OR