Nostalgia & History > Action at Lakota Jct (Rio Grande Zephyr) 8-81

Here's a shot of #18, the e/b RGZ, just a few miles north of Provo, UT, on a nice summer morning. (if you ignore the steel mills in the background)

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Does this Jct still exist?

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And the biz car Wilson McCarthy brings up the rear...I had ridden this train from Denver the day or several days before and had the pleasure? of looking out the rear window on Silver Sky to see this beast...

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Great old photos, Steve! UP/D&RGW ripped out the Lakota crossing in the fall of 1985 in preparation for the UP to utilize the D&RGW main between Lakota & Grant Tower (Salt Lake City). This was for a trackage rights agreement set up to offer the D&RGW the right to use the UP mainline between North Salt Lake and Bridge Jct. (Ogden). The D&RGW all but completely abandoned it's mainline to Ogden at that time.

I like the well maintained searchlight signals in your going away view. Those signals are still in place there, however a diverging approach light was added to the signal on the right to line UP trains off the Grande at Lakota. Also, the D&RGW installed a shifted load detector just east of those signals in the mid-80's.

Wow, some day you might want to go back to that spot to see how it has changed. There are hundreds of apartments lining the tracks to the south of a new four lane overpass, displacing the old pastoral charm of Lakota.

James

Very cool. I've shot the RGZ in many places along the route but never in this locale. I had the chance to tour the McCarthy in 1987 when it was tied up at DUT. Nicely appointed car.

Here's a comparison shot from May 2019 looking north from Google Maps streetview-

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THX...Two Front Runner tracks on the left I assume...SHM

Apartments or Industry...  One or another paid for the McCarthy...  We mourn the loss and celebrate the future