Nostalgia & History > Rio Grande GP40-2's in Utah

Rio Grande's "Midvale Tramp", or the UT06L local was famous as an oasis of Rio Grande GP30's from late in 1984 up until mid-1994. By that time newer GP40 units from SP/SSW/DRGW took over until it was pretty much an SP show by 1995.

It was pretty obvious by the summer of 1996 that changes were coming..big time. The UP/SP merger was but two months away, and for some odd reason, lots of Rio Grande power returned to home rails in Utah at that time. Kind of a "homecoming" of sorts.

I was thankful to have a week off in July to photograph this last stand of "Grande" units in the Salt Lake Valley. Roper yard became a bastian of GP40-2's for two or three months heading up to the merger. Late in the day as many as nine GP40-2 units were spotted on the service track just west of the diesel shop at Roper.

Marvelous!

On July 26th I was fortunate to catch the Midvale Tramp at Magna on the Garfield Branch. When I arrived, the train was just departing the Kennocott Copper Corporation interchange for the return trip to Welby. In this view, the DRGW 3122, 3120, and 3105 head up 14 cars at milepost 15.7, the site of former Riter siding...

---

I really like the pastoral look of this photo. The train is about a mile or two from the small yard at Welby, just south of the town of Kearns. The scared hills in the background are part of the Oquirrh Mountains. Copper mining was big time business in the roaring 1990's...

---

The Southern Pacific served two big customers on the Bingham Branch by 1996...Interstate Brick Company and SME Steel of West Jordan. In this photo, the "Tramp" has five Rio Grande/SP box cars for the brick yard, and two loads of structural steel for SME. The balance of the train from Magna was left behind back at Welby yard...

---

Their work completed at SME Steel, the crew of the UT06L has just cleared the busy tarmac of the Bingham Highway. At right is a portion of the Interstate Brickyard. In the distance is the bottom of the Salt Lake Valley and the Wasatch Mountains. Also, note the little white 1994 Honda Civic Coupe that I literally wore out chaising trains...

---

The 3122 has returned to Welby and picked up the balance of their outbound train. The track at left is the Bingham Branch leading towards Bagley and once upon a time, Bingham Canyon. The track the 3122 is on is the Garfield Branch. This track arrangement is pretty much intact at this time, with lots of new homes and commercial development dotting the landscape...

---

If you stood at this location today, you would not recognize it at all! The green alfalfa fields at left are now a high density housing complex, and a huge office tower was constructed along the right of way to the right. Only the grain silos behind the train are the same. Even weedy old West Jordan passing siding to the left of the "Midvale Tramp" was removed by the UP a few years ago.

Changes will continue at this location in the years to come. Utah Transit Authority has purchased the right of way of the old Bingham Branch from the UP, and plans to build a Light Rail Transit line here, dubbed the "Mid-Jordan Line." Can you imagine how this scene will look with double track, welded rail, concrete ties, and electrical cantenary? Don't forget to add a boarding station for passengers...

For a few weeks back in the summer of 1996, the Midvale Tramp created a kind of Rio Grande "Fantasy Land" for one last time. Glad I got to see it.

James

---