Western Railroad Discussion > Levan, Utah coal loadout

After responding to the "What is it" thread below with a picture of the scale track at the coal loadout at Levan, Utah, I had a request for more pictures that showed some of the details of the loadout. Anyway, the following pictures were taken on September 4, 2004. The shiny metal structure to the right in the distance in the first picture is the new grain unloading facility at Levan. I had posted some picture of a train unloading at theat facility back in August.

When I took these pictures, I was on my way to go bow hunting for deer about 50 miles south of here. It is definitely easy to shoot pictures of a stationary train with a camera than to shoot deer with a bow and arrow. So what I have to show for the trip is these pictures.

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The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds and was behind the clouds in this shot but picture some more details of the coal loadout.

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A closer 3/4 view. I assume that the circular object on the middle far right is a signal to control the motion of the train.

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I am not sure what the blue plumbing and the trailer with the tank on it are for. The locomotives certain look like they have been in coal service and could use a good washing.

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Pulled back to show more of the coal loadout. Last picture.

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How's progress on the line from Levan to Salina?

Ted in Davis

Thanks for the photos.

Where's Levan, Utah and what coal field/mine is the coal coming from? What UP line serves this loadout?

donner_dude1 Wrote:
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> Where's Levan, Utah and what coal field/mine is
> the coal coming from? What UP line serves this
> loadout?

Levan is just south of Nephi which is about 30 miles or so south of Provo. It is on a secondary main that was originally the main track of the LA&SL. I believe that this is now called the Sharp Subdivision. The coal is trucked from mines in the Salina area which are some 40 or 50 miles away. There is a proposal pending to build a new rail line between Levan and Salina but it does not seem to be happening real quickly. For more info on this see:

http://www.trainweb.org/utahrails/rr/prr/sl.html

Salina was on the Maryville branch of the DRG&W but large sections of the track were washed away during the floods of 1983 when the Thistle slide occured.

Where does this train go on duty...does the crew ride it through the loadout...how long does that take...and where do they head for a crew-change after that/

sd60m Wrote:
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> Where does this train go on duty...does the crew
> ride it through the loadout...how long does that
> take...and where do they head for a crew-change
> after that/

I believe that some of the coal loaded at this location goes to the Intermountain Power Project near Delta, Utah which is probably less than 100 miles away but some of the coal may also be destined for Nevada. I did not take any pictures where I could read the markings on the hopper cars. Anyway, there was no crew present for this particular train when I was there so a crew will be brought down for the loading. I believe that it takes about 2 hours to load the train based on talking to crews up at Skyline loadout at Clear Creek, Utah. If it goes to IPP, the crew may have enough time to load, run the train to IPP, unload and return. I have seen crews transported to IPP but I am not sure where they were based -- Provo maybe? If the train goes to Nevada, the crew will change at Milford.