BGuthrie Photos: UT -- Ogden -- Union Station -- Spencer S. Eccles Rail Center

UT -- Ogden -- Union Station -- Spencer S. Eccles Rail Center:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. OGUSRC_190712_022.JPG: Union Pacific Super Turbine Locomotive #26 The World's Most Powerful Locomotive Locomotive #26 is among the largest locomotives ever built. It's strong enough to pull 735 fully loaded freight cars. That's a train seven miles long! Locomotive #26 uses a turbine engine, like a jet airplane. The turbine engine powers electric generators that turn the wheels. Locomotives like this are called "BIG BLOWS" because they make a deafening noise like a jet airplane flying by. Locomotive #26 traveled over 1 million miles hauling heavy freight between Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Ogden, Utah. It is one of two surviving "BIG BLOWS' on public display. The other one is at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. Fun Facts: Built: 1961 Weight: 849,248 pounds Length: 179 feet Engines: 8500-horsepower gas turbine Fuel Capacity: 24,384 gallons of diesel Top Speed: 65 miles per hour Retired: February 28, 1970 The tender for the turbine is a retrofitted steam locomotive tender filled with Bunker C Oil. Bunker C oils are called residual fuel oils (RFO) or heavy fuel oils. Used frequently in the past.
2. OGUSRC_190712_027.JPG: Southern Pacific Diesel Locomotive SD-45 #7457 The First of its Kind on the Southern Pacific Line This locomotive was the first model SD-15 built for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The SP eventually purchased 355 more. The SP had the largest fleet of SD-45 locomotives in the nation. This locomotive was the next logical step in the never ending search for power to pull freight. #7457 hauled freight from Ogden, Utah over the Donner Summit to the west coast, a climb of nearly 2800 feet. Fun Facts Built: 1966 Weight: 370,000 pounds Length: 65 feet 8 inches Engines: 3600-horsepower General Motors Electro-Motive Division 645E3 V20 diesel Fuel Capacity: 4000 gallons diesel Top Speed: 65 miles per hour Retired: February 7, 2001 This locomotive was originally numbered 8800
3. OGUSRC_190712_034.JPG: Union Pacific Steam Locomotive #833 The Speedy Engine with "Elephant Ears". Locomotive #833 belongs to a class of steam engines called "Northerns". Northerns had a reputation for being fast. The large, "driver wheels" are over six feet in diameter, helping the locomotive reach speeds of up to 110 miles per hour. The large, smooth metal plates on the front of the engine are called "elephant ears". They help lift smoke above the engine so it doesn't flow into the cab. #833 pulled passenger, mail, express, and high priority freight trains through Odgen, UT. There are only three other Union Pacific locomotives like this left in the world. Two are in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and one is in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Fun Facts: Built October 1939 Weight: 908,000 pounds Length: 113 feet, 10.125 inches Engines: Steam powered with a boiler pressure of 300 psi and an estimated horsepower of 4100 Fuel capacity: 23,500 gallons of water and 6,000 gallons of fuel oil. Top Speed: 110 mile per hour Retired: 1957
4. OGUSRC_190712_077.JPG: Union Pacific Railway Post Office Car #5819 Mail by Rail Once upon a time, nearly every letter and package traveled by train. Railcars like this one contained a complete post office. Postal workers picked up the mail, sorted it, and dropped it off without ever stopping the train. For security, postal workers were required to wear pistols while on duty (see "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"). To pick up the mail, workers used the black metal hook near the forward door to grab canvas bags hanging beside the rails. To drop off the mail, workers simply tossed the mail bags on the ground as the train passed a station. This car was built in September 1919. It served on the Union Pacific's routes through northern Utah, southern Idaho and Oregon, delivering mail to communities in these areas. It was retired sometime during the 1960's when airplanes and trucks began carrying mail.
5. OGUSRC_190712_088.JPG: "Tunnel Motor" diesel The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad #5371 was built in 1975. It is a 3000 HP General Motors model SD40T-2 diesel-electric freight locomotive. The 5371 was one of 73 engines of this type delivered to the D&RGW by the Electo-Motive Division (EMD) of GM. This locomotive used a Southern Pacific Railroad-inspired cooling radiator designed to prevent overheating in long tunnels and snowsheds. The large grilled air intake is located a the rear of the locomotive at catwalk level, rather than near the top of the long hood as on conventional units of this era. This design prevents ingesting hot gases into the cooling radiators while operating at low speeds. The 5371 was used for years on heavy unit trains of coal, as well as priority fast freight trains across the Rio Grande system between Ogden and Denver. In later years it was assigned to local and helper duty at appropriately-named Helper, Utah, prior to being retired in 2008. -Daniel B. Kuhn Fun Facts Designation: SD40T-2 Built: 1975 by General Motors, Electo-Motive Division Length: 70 ft, 8 inches Weight: 388,000 lbs Engine: EMD 645E3, 16 cylinder, turbocharged, water cooled, 2 cycle, diesel fuel Horse Power: 3,000 Generator Output: 2,240 kilowatts Fuel Capacity: 4,000 gallons Top Speed: 65 miles per hour Other railroads that used this model: Southern Pacific The Rio Grande bought the Southern Pacific in 1988 and continued to use the corporate name of the Southern Pacific. The Union Pacific acquired the Southern Pacific (Rio Grande) in 1996.
6. OGUSRC_190712_099.JPG: Union Pacific Caboose #25766 The Brain of the Train The caboose was like an office for the conductor and the crew. In the caboose, the conductor kept a manifest for each railcar. The manifest listed what the car was carrying, where it was coming from, and where it needed to go. Crews worked, cooked, and slept in the caboose for days at a time. This CA1 class caboose was one of the last Union Pacific wooden cabooses. All future ones were made of steel.
7. OGUSRC_190712_119.JPG: Union Pacific Wrecking Derrick #X-250 "The Big Hook" This wrecking derrick was used to remove train wrecks from the rails. Its powerful diesel engine is capable of lifting up to 250 tons. That's 500,000 pounds (226,796 kg)! This derrick was built in 1967 and retired in 1995. It was originally assigned to work on the rails near North Little Rock, Arkansas.
8. OGUSRC_190712_160.JPG: French Boxcar During World War I and II army troops were transported around France in trains. Troops were frequently loaded into boxcars which were boldly stenciled with their carrying capacity: "Hommes 40-Cheveaux 8" (40 men or 8 horses). The Merci boxcar was a gesture of gratitude from the people of France to the people of the United States for aid given to France after World War II. In 1949, the Merci Train was sent to the United States. It consisted of 49 '40 & 8' boxcars, one of each fo the 48 states and one shared by District of Columbia and the Territory of Hawaii. Utah's boxcar was presented on February 22, 1949 filled with a variety of items donated by the people of France. Some of the artifacts remain in the care of the Utah Historical Society. This car was built in 1885 in Lyon, France. The boxcar was restored by the 40 et 8 Grande du Utah, the local chapter of La Soci�t� des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux. The project was headed by Byron Lewis with generous grants from George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation and Weber County RAMP.
9. OGUSRC_190712_172.JPG: Machines to Match the Mountains You will find many historic locomotives and cars in our railyard. The big locomotives were built for power. Turn to your left, look at the Wasatch Mountains, and you'll see why. They hauled heavy loads up the long, gradual slop from Utah to Wyoming, a climb of nearly 3000 feet (914 meters). They also traveled west over the Donner Summit to California, a climb of nearly 2800 feet (853 meters). These locomotives delivered everything; from coal and steel, to automobiles and jet engines, to mail and the Olympic flame. The small locomotives helped put trains together. Almost all of these locomotives and cars traveled through Ogden. Please enter our railyard to learn more about these historic machines.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Union Station (Ogden, Utah)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Union Station, also known as Ogden Union Station, is a train station in Ogden, Utah, at the west end of Historic 25th Street, just south of the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center. Formerly the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads, its name reflects the common appellation of train stations whose tracks and facilities are shared by railway companies.

No longer a railway hub, the building remains a cultural hub: it houses the Utah State Railroad Museum, the Spencer S. Eccles Rail Center, the John M. Browning Firearms Museum, Utah Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and the Browning-Kimball Classic Car Museum. An art gallery local and regional artists every month. The Myra Powell Gallery features traveling exhibits and the Station's permanent art collection. Union Station Research Library has an extensive collection of historic Ogden photographs and documents available to the public.

The last long-distance passenger train to use Union Station was Amtrak's Pioneer in May 1997. The adjacent Ogden Intermodal Transit Center serves the Utah Transit Authority's (UTA) FrontRunner commuter rail line.

History

On March 8, 1869, Union Pacific laid tracks through Ogden on its way to Promontory Summit to meet the Central Pacific and complete the transcontinental rail line. Four cities near this location, Corinne, Promontory, Uintah, and Ogden, competed with each other for the opportunity to house the train station that would be the junction for railroad travel in the Intermountain West. Promontory and Uintah lacked the necessary resources to house the Station. Corinne and Ogden competed for many years for the "Junction City" title, until Brigham Young donated several hundred acres of land to the two railroads on the condition that they build the yards and station in west Ogden.

The first station was built in 1869, a two-story wooden frame building on a mud flat on the banks of the Weber River. The building served the narrow gauge Utah Central Railroad (later Oregon Short Line) and the narrow gauge Rio Grande Western (later Denver & Rio Grande Western). Local newspapers complained about, among other things, the need to walk a quarter-mile of wood boardwalk over swampy ground to reach the station. So the Union Pacific and Central Pacific launched a joint venture, Ogden Union Railway & Depot Co. (OUR&D), to oversee the construction and management of a new Union Station.

Completed in 1889, this new structure was designed in the Romanesque Revival style, with a large clock tower in the center. Considerably larger than the old and constructed of brick, it held 33 hotel rooms, a restaurant, barbershop, and other conveniences for travelers.

In 1923, a fire that began in a hotel room destroyed the station's interior and left the walls and clock tower in a fragile state. No deaths or injuries were reported, and work continued inside the first floor to some extent, but construction on a new building did not start until a stone from the clock tower fell and struck a railroad clerk, killing him instantly. Originally, the OUR&D planned to rebuild the station to its original design, but the accident reversed this decision and a new design was proposed by John and Donald Parkinson, architects of the Caliente Depot in Nevada and the Kelso Depot in California.

The construction of the current building was completed in 1924 in the Spanish Colonial Revival (also known as Early Christian/Byzantine) style and is built on the foundation of the earlier building. It was dedicated on November 22 of that year, with a series of publicity shots being taken. One of these shots, showing 13 young women pulling the first train to arrive at the station by ribbons, made its way into the La Domenica del Corriere, an Italian newspaper, with the headline "Curious American Custom". The ceiling of the Grand Lobby, taking up the center portion of the building, has a height of 56 feet and extends to the roof. The trusses were originally painted in bright colors with geometric designs, but have since been painted over with a faux wood grain. Murals of the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad were painted on the north and south end of the lobby. The second floors of the north and south wing were occupied by Southern Pacific, Ogden Union Railway & Depot Co., and Union Pacific Telegraph Department offices.

Of special note are the two drinking fountains on either end of the Grand Lobby. These fountains, surrounded by colored mosaics, were the favorite resting spot of Ogden Union Railway & Depot Co. Superintendent Hubert Lloyd Bell. At Bell's passing in 1927 the OUR&D placed a bronze plaque, bearing his likeness, over the fountain on the north end. The plaque reads "In Memory of Hubert Lloyd Bell SUPT. O.U.RY. AND D. Co., 1918–1927, A Just Man, A Friend Who Will Be Remembered".

Plans to turn the station into a museum were first brought forward during the centennial celebration of the driving of the golden spike in 1969. It was not until 1971 when Amtrak formally took over passenger operations through Ogden that these plans were taken seriously. The station building was turned over to Ogden City on a 50-year lease in 1977 and renovations were begun to house the planned museums. At the dedication ceremony in 1978, Union Pacific ran their famous UP 8444 (now number 844) at the head of a special passenger train from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to the new museum. They also donated a steam derrick (built by Industrial Works) and a steam rotary snow plow (built by ALCO in 1912), which were the last pieces of steam-powered equipment in use on the Union Pacific System. In 1988 the State of Utah designated the Union Station as the Utah State Railroad Museum to handle the railroad artifacts. This spurred a series of donations by the Union Pacific through the years, including UP 6916, a DD40AX "Centennial" (one of the largest locomotives ever built), and D&RGW 5371, the only SD40-T2 "Tunnel Motor" in its original Denver & Rio Grande Western paint scheme. Railroad equipment was brought in from other places, like UP 833, an FEF-2 class steam locomotive and the largest to be moved by truck, which was moved from Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park.

The station building now houses the Utah State Railroad Museum, John M. Browning Firearms Museum, The Browning-Kimball Classic Car Museum, the Western Heritage and Utah Cowboy Museum, and a library and archives. It plays host to various conventions and events, including the annual Hostlers Model Railroad Festival, weddings, Ogden Marathon Expo, craft and bridal fairs
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