Driving the Transcontinental Railroad grade

[Old Henry]

This was, by far, the most unique, and probably memorable, road trip I've ever taken. In addition, I approached it with the most apprehension for several reasons: 1) I'd never driven this route before. 2) It was not really a "road", it was just an old railroad grade so I had no idea what it would be like. 3) The reports I received from the BLM and park personnel was a bit scary - they suggested taking several spares because the old spikes work their way out of the ground and pop your tires and, because we have had tons of rain, it was supposed to be "muddy", whatever that means from puddles to rutted quagmires. 4) We were going to be further from civilization, possibly without cell phone service, than ever before and it was doubtful that there would be anyone else on the road/grade.

Quote from BLM info: "This road is graded gravel or dirt. Approximately half of it is maintained as a county road. The remaining portion is not maintained. There are no vehicle restrictions on the railroad grade, but 4-wheel drive vehicles with chains, tow rope or winch are recommended, particularly during wet weather conditions. This is an isolated area with limited cell phone coverage and no services. Care must be taken to have adequate food, water, first aid supplies, gasoline and spare tires."

In spite of all of those doubts, we were excited to go and so we did. This is the story. (Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJUCacxwj5U)

We began by participating in the celebration of the 145th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike to unite the nation by rail that was originally May 10, 1869. It was quite appropriate since my great grandfather was the Marshal of the Day in charge of the entire celebration at Promontory and Salt Lake City on that day.



And we went for the gusto with period clothing and all. It got us in the "Champagne Photo" duplicating the famous photo taken of the joining of the rails.



Morgan, of course, could not resist imitating the golden spike by doing a hand stand on the pilots (cow catchers) of the two locomotives. (Later, when personnel at the park office saw this picture, they condemned this action [post #34] so don't do this if you go there.)



Rather than use up a lot of my 20 photo limit on this event I'll refer you to the video that I took of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W8H7YaXDXo and this video of the building of the two replica locomotives in 1979 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2A2NEaRqg We had to park Old Henry far from the event so didn't get him in any pictures or video except for the video of #119 backing under full steam taken out of the window as we arrived at the event.

Then we were on the railroad grade itself. In anticipation of this trip I did much research about this the final section of the original transcontinental railroad and the whole story leading up to it and all I could learn about the landmarks along this 90 mile stretch of the railroad before it was bypassed in 1904 by taking the railroad across Great Salt Lake on a causeway. My favorite source was this historical monograph called "Rails East to Promontory: The Utah Stations" compiled in 1981: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o.../ut/8/sec1.htm It has a great deal of maps, old historical photos, and stories of that bygone era. Here is one map (in PDF so I couldn't post it) of the route we drove from Promontory Summit to Terrace (70 miles) http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o...ages/fig16.pdf

At first we were on a road that paralleled the grade.





But eventually was on the grade itself cruising along, just as the trains did, next to Great Salt Lake (great shots of this in the video).



At one point the grade going across the top edge of the lake was blocked.



Just before a drainage trestle.



A long way to back up.



So we had to back up, leave the grade to take a road for a while around the north end of the lake until we joined the grade again at Monument.



Twenty-five lived at Monument at one time operating the Desert Salt Works nearby.

The next larger settlement at one time was Kelton that was the connection of the stage line from Boise and Oregon to the railroad. It had a two-story hotel, post office, and several saloons, stores, and homes. The population reached a peak of 200 in 1879. More vintage photographs and stories of Kelton here: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o...ut/8/sec2d.htm All that is left now is the cemetery.



The grade crossed hundreds of trestles and culverts of all kinds, most of which are no longer safe to cross. Watch the video to see how we deal with them.



One of the most visible wye's on the grade was at old Ombey. This is the Google Earth view.



Here it is from the ground looking at the beginning of the north leg.



The video has a very good drive by to really see it in its full glory.

Our final destination was old Terrace. (We would have gone clear to Lucin, another 20 miles, to complete the route but Morgan had a hot date he needed to get back to.)

Terrace was the maintenance and repair headquarters for the Salt Lake division of the Central Pacific Railway from Wells, Nevada to Ogden, Utah. It included a 16 stall round house, machine shop, coal sheds, water tanks, and an eight-track switchyard. It became a population center in northwestern Utah. It had "good business stores, a school, Wells Fargo Express, railroad and telegraph agents." It also had a barber, restaurant, hotels, meat market, justice of the peace. saloon, constable and library. Its population peaked at 350 in 1879.

In this Google Earth view you can see the turntable indentation surrounded by the 16 stall round house excavations and foundations. To the right is the pile of red bricks that was once the Central Pacific shop and office building. Here is the plat of the station showing the cemetery to the far right: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o...ages/fig30.pdf More vintage photos and stories of Terrace here: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o...ut/8/sec2b.htm



The turntable excavation ground view



The round house stalls with the turntable and Old Henry beyond



The red bricks of the shop and office building



And, finally, the old cemetery (Google Earth view)



It used to have numerous great old headstones that were stolen by vandals in 1986. Now the only one left standing is this one of none other than a man named Henry with Old Henry in the distance looking on.



Headed home after a long day off roading.



Total distance 437 miles in 12 hours of driving (14 hours away from home). No problems with mud (other than some giant mud puddles we flew through) nor tires popped with spikes. The only mechanical problem we had was the drivers side windshield wiper came off while driving home in the rain. But it didn't leave the car - just laid on the cowl 'till we got off the freeway to put it back on. Only saw three other vehicles, all Jeeps or other high clearance 4 wheel drive SUVs. Two of them were at Terrace. As we approached they were all outside of their vehicles with cameras "trained" on us and cheering as we arrived. I highly doubt many cars like Old Henry have made that trip.

More info about the route for any interested: http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/salt_..._railroad.html

Previous trips:

City of Rocks, Idaho in April 2014:https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137684

Capitol Reef National Park in March 2014: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133018

Grouse Creek and the AAA garage in February 2014: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130966

Grand Canyon in January 2014: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128820

Moab, UT in December 2013: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127222

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument November 2013: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123694

Across Nevada on US 50, "The Loneliest Road in the Country", October 2013: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120098

Mount Evans (the highest paved road in North America) August 2013: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115013

Canada in June 2013: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109872

Monument Valley in March 2013: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99523

Bryce Canyon in February 2013: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97822

Milford, Utah in December 2012: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93137

Nevada and Idaho in November 2012: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89080

Rocky Mountain National Park in September 2012: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83966

Yellowstone National Park in May 2012: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72864

Death Valley in February 2012: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62705

Pike's Peak in July 2011: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19141

Route 66 in April 2010: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57511

[mfagan]

Another great adventure w/great narrative!

Thanks for continuing to share your travels with us.

[TomT/Williamsburg]

What a great trip/narrative - loved it!

[Duffy1]

thanks for sharing

[Bruce in southern OH]

Great, thanks

[Ross F-1]

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Another adventure, not at all what I expected! I'll have to look it up, but why is this run of line abandoned? Hard to believe so little remains of the roundhouse, was it moved?

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by Ross F-1

Another adventure, not at all what I expected! I'll have to look it up, but why is this run of line abandoned? Hard to believe so little remains of the roundhouse, was it moved?

In 1904 the railroad was taken across Great Salt Lake on a causeway built across the lake to save 40 miles and some mountain climbing on the original route. Here's a map showing what is called the "Lucin Cutoff" going across the lake.




At that time the rail traffic went from 10 trains a day to 3 trains a week causing most of the facilities to be abandoned and eventually moved to other locations. At the beginning of WWII all of the tracks and metal were taken up to use for the war effort and the rail line ended its existence.

Here's the map as a PDF that you can enlarge to read it better: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o...ages/fig16.pdf

[Ross F-1]

Thanks again! PS I admire your courage in taking off down the banks around those rotten trestles!

[rheltzel]

Ol Henry, you're the greatest!!

Ross, the reason the line was abandoned was the Southern Pacific Railroad (operating successor to the Central Pacific), in 1903, opened a causeway shortcut across the Great Salt Lake. Known as the "Lucin Cutoff", it cut approximately 40 miles off the line. The original line was used until 1941, primarily for telegraph line maintenance, at which time it was torn up and the rails salvaged for the war effort.

[tomkc1]

Thanks, Old Henry. I really enjoyed all the photos, narrative and videos. Hopefully I'll get out there in the next year or so.

[oldford2]

Professor, Just a great trip and video. Thanks for sharing.
John

[Ol' Ron]

Yes, I really enjoyed the trip. I've always loved the railroad, my gramd father worked on the railroad from the 1880's to 1026? He told me many stories of the old roads. I really wanted to take that trip but for health reasons I don't travel much any more.

[41ford1]

Professor, you did it again! Thanks for taking us along.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by Ross F-1

Another adventure, not at all what I expected! I'll have to look it up, but why is this run of line abandoned? Hard to believe so little remains of the roundhouse, was it moved?

Take a look at this map I included the link for in my first post. It shows the Lucin cutoff across the lake. http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o...ages/fig16.pdf

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by Ross F-1

Another adventure, not at all what I expected!

Just curious. How was our trip different than what you were expecting?

[rheltzel]

That map really shows how much shorter the new route was. A lot of curves and elevation changes were eliminated too.

[Old Henry]

The only town on that whole route where anyone lives anymore and has gasoline is Corinne at the beginning of the east end. That's where we got our last gas for the trip. Took an extra 5 gallons just in case but didn't need it.

[s55mercury66]

Thanks for sharing, Professor Henry. I almost came down here to Clearfield for the weekend and the trip after you mentioned this journey on another thread, but had too much to do at home first. I really enjoy railroading history, and exploring old sites and structures.

[Lawrie]

Henry, your the man,
Like you we get lots of folks ask to take pics of the 33 when we are away in it,( we should have a donation box on the mud guard)
You get me impatient to travel, we are off to a car club gathering about 800 klms from home in the first week of june,but after seeing this we are going early.
These old fords love to travel and are great time machines.
Lawrie

[trainguy]

Great photos,thanks for sharing them with us.Phil

[Henry/Kokomo]

A great travel log. Nice to see an article by someone who knows history and can properly identify railroad "stuff" by its proper name. Like Lawrie says, "You da' man!"

[Turdytoo]

Fantastic story and photos. Thanks for sharing.

[peewee2you]

Old Henry rides again, what a trip, photo's and video fantastic, glad the trip was enjoyable and you stayed safe... like the handstand and the period dress. Keep em comin. much appreciative

[cmbrucew]

Prof
It is always interesting, and entertaining reading your posts.
Bruce

[Lawson Cox]

Great pictures and narrative as always. Thanks for posting. I could not pull up the link of the Lucin cut off though. Thanks for sharing.

[Binx]

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Originally Posted by Ross F-1

Another adventure, not at all what I expected! I'll have to look it up, but why is this run of line abandoned? Hard to believe so little remains of the roundhouse, was it moved?

Liability is my guess if this is now BLM property. They tear down and level everything. Likewise Department of Interior (BLM's big daddy) do it to their historic structures on private land that they have acquired easement to and now have considered obsolete, liability or just a good reason to get a crew employed.

Lonnie

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by Lawson Cox

Great pictures and narrative as always. Thanks for posting. I could not pull up the link of the Lucin cut off though. Thanks for sharing.

I figured out how to convert the PDF file to a JPG so that I could post it here:



I've also attached the PDF which, if you have Adobe reader to see it, you can magnify it so that you can read the words better.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by Ross F-1

Another adventure, not at all what I expected! I'll have to look it up, but why is this run of line abandoned? Hard to believe so little remains of the roundhouse, was it moved?

The roundhouse was moved to Carlin, Nevada per this from the monograph I cited here: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o...ut/8/sec2b.htm

"Being chiefly dependent upon the railroad, Terrace began to suffer after the rerouting of transcontinental traffic over the Lucin Cutoff. Only three trains a week (down from ten a day) passed through Terrace. Additionally, the maintenance shops were moved to Carlin, Nevada (Carr 1972:12; Tinker 1964:20). Historical accounts indicate that a sweeping fire in the early 20th Century hastened Terrace's demise. Records vary on the date of the fire: 1900 (Conley 1976:258; Carr 1972:12) and 1907 (Tinker 1964:20). An extensive search of the Box Elder News 1900 to 1908, failed to reveal a report of the fire. Terrace lingered, still having a Justice of the Peace and Constable in January of 1908 (Box Elder News 1908)."

[s55mercury66]

Moving slightly off-topic, the roundhouse in Evanston, Wyoming, still stands, with turntable intact, and along with some other buildings there, is slowly being restored by the City of Evanston. Pretty cool to think that Big Boys and Challengers once slept there.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by s55mercury66

Moving slightly off-topic, the roundhouse in Evanston, Wyoming, still stands, with turntable intact, and along with some other buildings there, is slowly being restored by the City of Evanston. Pretty cool to think that Big Boys and Challengers once slept there.

Many years ago I walked with three of my little kids along the track to that turntable and roundhouse and were playing on the turntable when a very irate guy came out yelling at us to get out of there. So, I know where you're talking about.

For anyone that doesn't know what Big Boys and Challengers are, Big Boys were 4-8-8-4 locomotives (meaning they have 4 smaller suspension wheels [trucks] on the front, then two sets of 8 larger drive wheels followed by another 4 smaller suspension wheels) the largest successful steam locomotive ever built. There are no more Big Boys operating but one just arrived in Cheyenne, WY May 8th to be restored to be operational. The Challengers were 4-6-6-4 locomotives of which 105 were built but only one remains operational - #3985. Here's a video of it running across Wyoming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OgSNQOTw2U

Both of these huge locomotives were built specifically to be powerful enough to make the climb up the 1.14% grade of Ogden canyon here in Utah without the need to add helper engines.

More info on Challenger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_3985
More info on Big Boys: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Big_Boy

[turnpikecrusier]

Awesome, just Awesome!! I very much enjoy your adventures.

[Seth Swoboda]

Well Done!! I really enjoy your trips but this one is especially interesting. Thanks!

[Old Henry]

I just received an email from someone at the Golden Spike National Historic Site in response to my request for a high resolution of the "Champagne Photo" that Morgan, Pepe and I were in. I then sent him the link to this thread to which he responded:

"I noticed on that link you sent us that there is someone doing a handstand on the locomotives. We do not promote that activity, and in truth, actively discourage this. I am hoping this photo is not distributed so we do not have others trying to do what he did. We ask people not to climb on or touch the locomotives, and this was something we cannot condone."

So, if any of you go there, don't do what Morgan did.

[rheltzel]

Golly, I'll bet he would frown on all the freight trains I used to ride back in the day, too. Probably wouldn't condone, promote, or encourage that sort of activity, either.

[Mafman]

I really enjoy reading and seeing all about your travels. Thank you for sharing!

[s55mercury66]

A couple years back I was in Douglas, Wyoming at a park with a steam engine in it. I looked up and saw the cab doors were open, and hopped on up there to have a look. I was in there for a half-hour or so, checking out the auger from the tender, all the valving, thinking it had to be hotter than the fires of Hades in there in the summertime. My phone rang, and my daughter was on the other end, so I climbed out the other side. At the base of the ladder was a sign; "Do Not Climb On or In Locomotive". I was wondering why everyone in the park was looking at me like I had 3 eyes......

[rheltzel]

That sort of behavior cannot be condoned.

[Old Henry]

I'm thinking that there are probably very few if any of us that could do a handstand anywhere, much less on the pilots of two old steam locomotives. Probably no worries about any of us trying this stunt.

[Reisterstown Ray]

Hi, Really enjoyed the pictures. I am interested in steam engines and their history in our country. Ray

[so_dak_kid]

Cool narrative as always Old Henry!! thanks for posting!!

[Old Henry]

The photo taken May 10th with Morgan, Pepe, and me in it. (Find Pepe and you'll find us.)



That was, of course, my "aging" of the following photo.



If you'd like to see the picture full size (and I mean really really big) click this link, http://s1059.photobucket.com/user/cr...tml?sort=4&o=6 then the magnifying glass in the bottom right corner of the picture and then the same thing again.

Here's the original photo from my great-grandfather's things. (He's not in it. He was in charge of it.)



To see it up close click here: http://s1059.photobucket.com/user/cr...tml?sort=4&o=8 then the magnifying glass in the bottom right corner of the picture, then again.

And the program for the events of that day:



That name at the bottom as Marshal of the Day in my great-grandfather.

To read it click here: http://s1059.photobucket.com/user/cr...tml?sort=4&o=7 then the magnifying glass in the bottom right corner of the picture then again.

[rheltzel]

And for comparison, here's the original. Nice work, Old Henry.

[rheltzel]

Oops. Upload didn't work.

[rheltzel]

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/pictur...ictureid=27103

[Old Henry]

Here's the original photo from my great-grandfather's things. (He's not in it. He was in charge of it.)



To see it up close click here: http://s1059.photobucket.com/user/cr...tml?sort=4&o=8 then the magnifying glass in the bottom right corner of the picture, then again.

And the program for the events of that day:



That name at the bottom as Marshal of the Day in my great-grandfather.

To read it click here: http://s1059.photobucket.com/user/cr...tml?sort=4&o=7 then the magnifying glass in the bottom right corner of the picture then again.

[junk yard kid]

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pretty dam cool. I love off roading old fords. They do really well.

[Old Henry]

Yeah, they're higher clearance, larger diameter tires, more rugged suspension, and greater torque at low RPM's for crawling along than modern cars. When I was a kid one of the "terms of endearment" we had for Old Henry was "The Climbing Car" as he was the one we always took off road up in the foot hills for fun.

[al's28/33]

Thank you for posting this one Professor! I love that you drove out there in the desert to witness the joining of the rails......what a great story and fantastic American engineering!

[Old Henry]

So, we did it again, the day before the 146th anniversary of the joining of the rails and driving of the Golden Spike, May 10, 1869. This was the third time in a year. I really love this trip.

This time I took dear old Dad who turns 90 this year. He liked most of it except some of the real rough ungraded grade.

We had our little mechanical problem. 50 miles into the trip the a heater hose split open right where it attaches to the water valve. Since it was cool outside, 50°, I wasn't watching the temperature gauge and didn't realize we were losing water until we stopped at the old cemetery at Kelton. Then I heard it hissing out, lifted the hood, and discovered it.

I had no spare heater hose (will next time) but had just enough slack to cut off the split, loosen the clamp on the heater intake at the firewall, and slide the hose off just enough to push onto the valve and secure all with the clamps. That was the easy part.

I had a gallon jug of water in the trunk that was only half full. I put that in but was still two gallons short.

So, where were we to get two more gallons of water out in the middle of the desert 50 miles from any source of water? Where were we going to get two more gallons of water out in the middle of the desert where it had just rained heavily over the previous few days. Well, one look at the outside of Old Henry and you'll get an idea. There were a lot of mud puddles along the road that we blew through and sent a wave of mud over the car. Weren't any handy though. So, I walked ahead and looked around a bend and saw a little one on the side of the road up ahead 50 yards. So, I got my gallon jug, my drink cup, and my funnel and headed for the puddle. It was about 2 inches deep and full of this milky colored water. So, I eased my drink cup down into the water on its side just enough to get a few ounces of water in it then poured it through the funnel into the jug until I got two gallons of water to fill the cooling system and head on down the road. Don't know what made the water milky color but I'll be replacing all of the coolant and flushing the system before driving any further.

The only other mechanical problem was some problem in wiring or my dimmer switch that showed the bright indicator when the headlights were on dim and hitting the switch didn't change anything nor turn the brights on. So, had to use the spot light to see down the road on the way home.

The picture might give you one other clue of a permanent casualty of the trip - loss of my YOM front license plate that I had so painfully restored. Must have got hit off on a big bump or washed off by a wave of mud coming up over the car.

One great surprise was to come upon a mother antelope and her two newly borns. Here's the video of that I think you'll enjoy: https://youtu.be/K6FZ2p2q_uU

Dad and Old Henry in all his glory on a bypass around one of the old trestles on the grade:



Total distance 486 miles in 16 hours on the road in one day. We just loves to ride!

[36coupe]

thanks
i would love to explore that part of the country

[Ol' Ron]

Yes, Thanks Much.
Ol' Ron

[klawockvet]

Originally Posted by Old Henry

The only town on that whole route where anyone lives anymore and has gasoline is Corinne at the beginning of the east end. That's where we got our last gas for the trip. Took an extra 5 gallons just in case but didn't need it.

If interested in the history of Corrine, there is a good book on Amazon thats cheap called "Corinne: The gentile capital of Utah"