Western Railroad Discussion > My day on the Bombing Range

I managed to arrange my schedule so as to free up an entire day of train watching starting in the morning at Salt Lake City, Utah. So, first things first, take my wife to the airport, say good by and head for the mornings first location; the bridge over the Union Pacific Lyndyll Sub in Magna, Utah at Garfield. There is a small yard here devoted nearly exclusively to traffic to and from the giant Kennecott copper smelting complex nearby. The bridge offers a superb view of eastbound UP trains with the smelter and its 1200’ high stack against the Oquirrh Mts. That stack is the tallest free standing structure west of the Mississippi River. The shot is best as a morning shot. After a wait the UP 4746 west with the MRVHK1-17 in perfect AM light approaches the bridge and the shot is captured. (Image #1)  Then I headed west on I80 around 40 miles to the Lakeside exit. My plan was to spend my day at Lakeside and wait for the light to improve as the day went on. But wait, my scanner came alive alerting me of an eastbound in the vicinity so I backtracked 9 miles to the Delle exit and after a fairly long wait along comes the UP 6528 east with the MRVRO-19 and, surprise; the UP1996 heritage unit is second out. (Image #2). By now, the sun is fairly high in the sky and it’s getting hot. My next location is at Lakeside, Utah. This is where the UP Lakeside Sub finally reaches dry land after crossing the Great Salt Lake. There is a great spot here for afternoon and evening trains crossing the Rambo Fill from Promontory Point. This location is 30 miles north of I80 mostly on an unpaved county road through an active Air Force bombing and gunnery range.  When I finally get there I see an eastbound train parked on the Lakeside siding. Unfortunately, this parked train blocks any shots of westbound trains on the lake. For the rest of the day, it’s going to have to be shots of eastbounders until that train in the siding moves out. First up is the UP 8990 east with the MRVNP-19, seen here rolling east at the west switch of Lakeside siding. (Image #3) The light got steadily worse from here on as you will soon see. And it is now really hot; mid 90’s and no shade. There is no shade because there is not a single tree in sight at Lakeside. Besides that, there are no trains. After a couple of hours I finally hear on the scanner some talk between the DS and a rail inspection car out on the lake. No wonder there are no trains! Finally the inspection car arrives and the DS releases 3 backed up eastbound trains. They had been held out west on the Great Salt Lake Desert out of sight to me. You will see these 3 in my next batch of shots below.
 

---

---

---

First up to hit Lakeside was the UP 4287 east pulling 29 ARMIN reefers and 5 box cars. This is the ZDLGRP-20 cold express train out of Delano, CA. (Image #4) Only 10 minutes later comes the UP 6637 east with a very long 119 car manifest freight with 2 mid train DPU’s; This train turned out to be the MRVNPP-16. (Image #5) Next up was the UP 5746 east, following the UP 6637 by 15 minutes. It was a solid train of auto racks, empty I think, of around 80 cars although I didn’t count them. It was the MMIESR-19. (Image #6)  At this point I decided to end my stay at Lakeside and head for Wendover for the night. Thanks for looking.
 
Dick Ebright
Roosevelt, Utah
 

---

---

---

Ah, small world:  I caught your same EB (UP 6528 leading) at Shed 10 on Donner Pass.
SR

---

Is the visitor center at the copper mine/smelter open now?  It was closed due to a landslide when I was there last.

I remember a 1959 summer vacation in Colorado/Utah with 3 high school classmates before we all headed off to our Fall treks as college freshmen.  I was the only railfan of us 4 fellows, but I convinced them to drive to the UPRR shops in the Ogden, UT area in the wee hours of the night.  We were welcomed in by some shopmen and got to walk the stairs and walkway surrounding the locos there.  We walked beside some newly painted Geep units as well as the new Alco/GE turbine units powered with the pulverized coal.  A night I'll never forget.

Later we drove west of Salt Lake City near the Salt Lake.  Here we threw out under the beautiful starry sky, our sleeping bags beside our vehicle.  As we lay beside the lake watching the stars with the breezy wind, occasional autos whizzed by on the nearby highway to our enjoyment.  Something different for western Kansas farm boys!  The next morning we went for our swim in the salty lake water and we were amazed how easily we floated without sinking.  A great time with the Armour Yellow fleet and God's nature all around!!😃

Nice photos.  Sure do like the looks of the Delano reefer blocks.
Brian Stevens

Nice series Dick but I have to agree Lakeside is not a favorable location to spend time. Are you going to spend time near the Pequop siding and Valley Pass?

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

Great series Dick, bet it was hot out there.  I remember the stack as a kid, and it meant we only had about an hour to go to get to Grandma's house.  But after all that driving from California, an hour still was too long.  

Nathan

Very nice..!!

Nice photo of the Copper smelting facility.
John

Love your title, actually did get out on the bombing range to do some hydraulic work on a mobile target with the Hill AFB guys,
you definitely know when it's time to leave! That and great shots. nice to see somebody getting out there on a regular basis.

Out