Soldier Summit - 1996

In 1996 I had two opportunities to visit the line from Price to Provo.  As good fortune would have it, I caught the transition from "pure" SP-DRGW to a mix of UP, SP and DRGW.  As you will see below, the weather was not exactly perfect all the time!

More Soldier Summit pictures in the Rio Grande section

these pictures were some of the first I ever put up.  they are not quite as polished as later ones, but they do show an interesting time in the history of Soldier Summit.

 

 
 
 
spup.jpg (58487 bytes) drg5400.jpg (63289 bytes)   I'm pretty sure that I could hear the crew on SP196 laughing after they watched me stand in the snow for about 30 minutes while waiting for these shots
From time to time, we are all consumed by the need to be "artists".  A set of SP ACs, waiting to follow a manifest West down the hill, provided that opportunity. sppair.jpg (80325 bytes)
Few trailers and fewer stacks inhabited the route from Denver to Salt Lake City during 1996.  Coal, taconite and manifest trains dominated route.  Comparing this curvy, single track, multiple summit line with UP's Wyoming main, makes one wonder if this route will become just a coal dominated branch when the merger is fully implemented. sp287.jpg (94639 bytes) sp295.jpg (105099 bytes)
uta9003.jpg (93246 bytes) This looked like a UP coal train until the helpers came by.
nup9369.jpg (123200 bytes) One train at Gilluly is fun.  Two is a scramble to get the picture right. nup9112.jpg (117985 bytes)
UP9460thistle.jpg (82267 bytes) SP181Gilluly.jpg (141831 bytes)
up9460.jpg (101126 bytes) up9460b.jpg (76993 bytes) upsig.jpg (97636 bytes)
 

With luck, you found some of these pictures entertaining and useful. Please use them if you like. Respectfully request that you credit "Chuck Donaldson" as the photographer.