Trolley Thursday 5/28/20 - A Utahn Reflection by Josh B.

To close off this month's discussion of Utah streetcars, trolleys, and mostly interurbans, I've asked my Utah expert this month, Josh B., to write up a guest piece. This is going to be a regular practice considering I have friends with an interest in streetcars all over the United States, and possibly even the world. I'll probably think up a better name than "Guest Piece" though. Without further ado, take it way, Josh!

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Bamberger No. 353, southbound leaving Kaysville
(Gordon Cardall)

In his book, "Interurbans of Utah", Ira Swett described the territory that Utah's interurban railways traversed as the “hinterland.” In its strictest sense, a hinterland is a landlocked area far distanced from the ocean. In the case of Utah's interurbans, the term is symbolic of its rural isolation, away from the dense urban centers that their counterparts elsewhere in the country served.

Magna, Utah in 1937, with a Salt Lake & Utah train
in the distance.
(Don Strack)

Until the urbanization that exploded in the late 1980s, most of Utah was extremely rural. While the Salt Lake Valley today is a vast suburb of Salt Lake City, with homes and businesses swelling from wall to mountain wall, not 50 years ago it was mostly fields and marshes dotted by small communities. There were few suburban commuters; in spite of being built to transport humans, Utah's interurbans could only survive by transporting freight along the almost 170 miles that span Preston Idaho to Payson. Hence, passenger rosters in some cases paled in comparison to the freight rosters.

Salt Lake & Utah steeplecab No. 101 switches
freight cars as parlor car 751 passes by on the main.
(Gordon Cardall)

In a previous post, your Motorman highlighted a boxcar that was purchased by the Salt Lake & Utah, but diverted to the Salt Lake Garfield & Western when payment was not forthcoming. This is a single example of the SL&U's extensive freight roster of refrigerator cars, drop bottom gondolas, boxcars, and flatcars. The Utah-Idaho Central boasted a similarly sized selection of freight cars, largely utilized for the sugar beet and fruit traffic originating on its far-flung agricultural branches to Plain City and North Ogden. The Bamberger had a smaller freight roster, but its 50-foot paper service boxcars could be seen as far away as Denver, where they drove the Denver & Rio Grande Western employees mad due to deferred maintenance and constant malfunctions.

The new Frontrunner heavy-rail commuter service at
Provo Station, formerly served by the Bamberger Railroad.
(Ricardo63)

From a modern standpoint, we remember the interurban railways as the predecessors to modern commuter rail services; UTA's FrontRunner system was lauded by some as a “new Bamberger,” replacing the valuable community resources that were lost when the automobile and pavement made them obsolete. However, Utah's interurbans were far more important for their freight services, providing fast and local service between the farms and factories.

 Their position paralleling the D&RGW and the Union Pacific along the Wasatch Front forced the larger steam railroads to offer competitive pricing for local traffic, a pleasant side effect that assisted the economic advancement of the otherwise isolated rural populations. North Ogden residents still fondly remember the “Dummy Line,” the UIC's branch up to the North Ogden Bench, but visit the North Ogden Historical Museum and the narrative focuses on its importance in developing the orchards that thrived at the base of Mount Ben Lomond, not the streetcar services it also provided.

Ogden City Railway No. 100, year unknown but a perfect example of a steam dummy
(Don Strack)

A Utah-Idaho Central interurban unloads in the middle of the street at Logan,
UT, heading Northbound, 1947.
(Gordon Cardall)

In fact, all four interurbans (counting the Saltair) would not have survived into the 1940s were it not for the valuable services they provided to the war effort. The Bamberger was strategically positioned as the only rail access to Hill Field (now Hill Air Force Base); the Utah-Idaho Central served Defense Depot Ogden and its Plain City Branch accessed gravel pits that provided building materials for the Prisoner of War camp nearby. The Saltair ran commuter trains with military-owned passenger equipment. The Salt Lake & Utah delivered fuel from its connections with the coal-hauling Utah Railway to the factories and smelters producing war materials. Once the war ended, the prisoners went home and the defense facilities downsized, there was no longer any freight to supplant the already abysmal passenger income, and the electric railroads folded one by one, surrendering to semi trucks and buses.

The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Gary Herbert speaks as UTA celebrates its 50th birthday with a news conference at the state Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. At left is Carolyn Gonot, executive director of UTA.
(Trent Nelson, Utah Tribune)

This year Utah Transit Authority is celebrating its 50th year; the anniversary stickers adorning all Frontrunner and Trax cars represents that the state is slowly remembering the importance of a publicly accessible passenger rail system. As we acknowledge the interurban renaissance, remember that the interurbans also built the state's industry just as much as its public transport, and look forward to a day when, as urban planners and futurist dreamers predict, an electrified rail network once again stretches from the Idaho border to southern Utah County, and perhaps this time beyond.

UTA's Trax Light Rail service, continuing the legacy of electric mass transit.
(Bond Buyer)

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Thank you for reading this month's Trolleyposts! I'd like to thank Josh B. for today's writeup, Don Strack for his wonderful photo resources, UtahRails for making this niche information readily available online, and John Smatlak for his photo resources as well as saving our Bamberger car at the Southern California Railroad Museum. If you would like to follow Josh B. on his numerous adventures, hit up his Facebook here on the Tintic Range Railway. Next month, we hop right into the Lone Star State and look at the interurbans all over Texas! Until then, you can follow myself or my editor on twitter if you wanna support us, and maybe buy a shirt as well! Ride safe!

Trolley Tuesday 5/26/20 - The Kennecott Electric Railroad

The last electric railway we'll be looking at this month in detail isn't the most glamorous or the fastest, but it certainly is the most fascinating and one of the most technologically advanced. Between 1924 and 1979, the Bingham Mine of the Kennecott Copper Corporation housed massive 125-ton electric locomotives that hauled huge 90-car strings of ore and ran on portable wire that could be moved by hand. Due to its use of an offset trolley wire and swing-out "pole", this more than qualifies this non-passenger railroad for coverage on Trolley Tuesday. Hang on tight, because it's a long way down the mine!

Trolley Thursday 5/21/2020 - The Bamberger Bullets (and Other Rolling Stock)

On Tuesday, we gave a general overview of one of the most well-remembered Utah interurban roads, the Salt Lake & Ogden or Bamberger Electric Railway; today, we shed all of that and focus on the real reason why you probably read this weekly blog: the nitty-gritty of various types of trolleys. On this installment, while the rest of the Bamberger fleet is quite interesting to look at (featuring diesels with trolley poles), we'll be looking at one of the most interesting trolley cars to roam the US, and certainly one of the fastest ever built (even outclassing modern LRVs in speed). Load your magazine, fill your hand, and catch the speeding Bullet straight from Brill!

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Bamberger's Jewett No. 355 and Niles 401 at Ogden, UT, July 1949
(Don Ross)

Prior to reorganization, the Bamberger Railroad hosted over 50 Jewett- and Niles-built interurban cars and trailers between 1910 and 1916. The trailers were exclusively for Lagoon traffic and sat 80 people within, while the motors were all "composite" combination cars (Baggage-Smoker-Coach). Like the Salt Lake & Utah cars, all were primarily single ended but possessed a second cab and trolley pole for yard movements and wye-ing rolling stock at the end of the line. The Jewett-built cars were handsome wooden interurbans painted Pullman Green, while the Niles cars were all steel, and this would cause the roster some struggle when the Ogden carhouse burned in 1918 and decimated the wooden fleet. After a period of renumbering and rebuilding, many of the Niles trailers gained motors and what remained of the Jewett motor cars were rebuilt as one-manned, single-ended cars.

Bamberger Railroad 550 (ex-San Diego Electric Railway) on
a chilly freight run, year unknown.
(Utah State Historical Society)

One aspect not touched on on Tuesday was how the Bamberger got power to their trolley cars, and the simple answer was they used two wires on the single-track main, one "East" wire for Northbound trains and one "West" wire for Southbound trains. This was done to avoid using diverging overhead frogs (which a motorman would have to coast through or else they'd risk arcing across) and allow the power stations to provide adequate power without dropping due to the multiple trains on the line. This meant the Bamberger's 4 second-hand Baldwin-Westinghouse freight engines had two trolley poles installed to help balance power supply to the motors, something not usually seen on other equivalent interurban lines. These, and the Bamberger's other electric freight engines, were scrapped by 1952 after the railroad dieselized; however, during the transition period and just after, even the diesels were fitted with trolley poles to trigger signals and grade crossings.

An HO representation of Bamberger's first diesel, ALCO RS-1 No. 570.
The unique hood was caused by an EMD rebuild in 1951.
(Model by Gordon Cardall, currently owned by Josh B.)

Bamberger (Ex FJ&G) 128 in Salt Lake City,
showing off its prominent streamlined brow
(Don Ross)

Now, onto the good part. The J.G. Brill company of Philadelphia, PA, remains one of the most enterprising and innovative car companies to ever supply the US with rapid transit trolley cars. They are credited with the popular Birney Safety Car, which was created by their subsidiary American Car Co, as well as providing trolley cars and carbodies all over the world from Portugal to South Australia. Brill was also one to innovate, as they moved on to compete with the new PCC by creating the "Brilliner" (which was too square to navigate tight corners), the "Peter Witt car" (which was popular in Canada and Europe) and their many trolley bus designs that displaced many existing street railways. One of Brill's most striking designs, though, was dubbed the Brill "Bullet", and nothing else was like it on the rails.

An original Brill advertisement for the Bullets,
this one for the Philadelphia & Western Railroad.
(Philadelphia NRHS)

Unlike the curvy streamlined style of the PCC cars, the Brill Bullet was the first American railroad car designed in a wind tunnel. Thanks to a broad research program conducted by the Philadelphia and Western Railway, it was concluded that a faster, more streamlined, and lowered car could save on energy without needing bigger traction motors. The Bullets  used the new Brill 89-E trucks, which rode on 28" wheels connected to 100-hp traction motors, and the low profile enabled the car to hit a maximum speed of 91 miles per hour, with the service speed being about 70 miles per hour. The design drew from the Cincinnati and Lake Erie's "Red Devil" high speed cars, to which the Brill 89-E trucks were derived from, as well as the Bullets' air-smoothed aircraft aluminum body. The car was displayed at the American Electric Railway Association in Atlantic City, NJ, in September, 1931.

The Bamberger's own Bullets originated on the Fonda, Johnstown, and Gloversville (FJ&G) Railroad, a 36-mile interurban running between Schenectady, Fonda, and Mountain Lake, New York. By the Bullets' debut in 1932, the line had rebuilt much of its infrastructure with new track, wires, and automatic substations, but needed to generate more profit due to drastic fare cuts and layoffs. Bullet 125 was the first of five (125-129) to reach Schenectady on a trial run, attracting thousands of viewers as it slashed the journey between Gloversville and Amsterdam Junction (a distance of 14 miles) from 93 minutes to 73 minutes. Despite advertising a journey time of 60 minutes, the public didn't care, and the profound efficiency of the cars helped save the FJ&G a ton of money. However, it wasn't enough as the FJ&G closed its electric division in 1938 after severe losses.

Bullet No. 129 at Ogden with Jewett 302, showing just how
small and low to the ground the sporty Bullets were.
(John Smatlak)

The Bullets operated admirably, like any other interurban with its share of accidents, but it was time for them to move on. In late February 1939, all five of FJ&G's bullets were headed for Salt Lake City. After some minor modifications to get them to run on 750V DC (a modern voltage now but unheard of for interurbans), the cars entered service that April with their original schemes and numbers intact. Utahns called them "Little Cars", as they were quite short (needing a pedestal for their trolley poles) and stubby compared to the Jewetts and Niles cars, and were well-liked for their smoothness and speed. The flat terrain between Ogden and Salt Lake City helped the Bullets reach high speeds effortlessly, as noted Bamberger motorman Gordon Cardall experienced when he took a 1949 fan trip aboard car 128 from Salt Lake City to Ogden in 38 minutes. This meant the 128 was hustling at an average speed of 56 miles per hour, despite "street running [...] two stops to meet opposing trains, and a dewirement in route which required a stop to replace the pole and inspect the overhead for damage." (John Smatlak)

Bullet 125 departs Ogden with two heavyweight cars behind it, 1950.
Note the higher pole base to raise it the same level as the bigger interurbans.
(John Smatlak)

Only one incident affected the high-speed cars during service on the Bamberger. Bullet 129 had the first train out of Ogden in the winter of late 1943 and was going down a 1.1% grade at service speed. Due to the intense speed, the car overshot its siding meet expecting a northbound train at Clearfield station and collided with heavyweight car 301. 129 had almost stopped by the time it reached 301, but sustained heavy damage, including the entire front platform collapsing. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but 129 continued with a perpetually-sagging end after rebuilding. When the Bamberger Railroad ended passenger service in 1952, all five operating Bullets were sold to the Utah Pickle Company for use as bunkhouses in 1953. They were rebuilt with stoves and living quarters inside and continued to keep each other company in Layton, Utah until 1971.

The OERM crew out at Layton, Utah in 1971, ready to remove
No. 127 for transport to Perris. Motorman Gordon Cardall
is in front of the headlight hole.
(John Smatlak)

Bamberger No. 127 in its new home at the OERM's Barn 2,
with shedmate Pacific Electric 331.
(Bob Vogel)

In August 1971, the Utah Pickle Company reached an agreement with the Perris, California-based Orange Empire Railway Museum (now the Southern California Railway Museum) to have car No. 127 donated to the museum after several inspection visits in the 1960's. Gordon Cardall, now retired, was on-hand to watch the removal along with OERM volunteer and member John Smatlak. The 19 years of bunkhouse use left the car "almost entirely intact" according to Smatlak, and former Bamberger mechanical superintendent V.J. Crossley was contacted to obtain drawings for the brake and wiring prints. No. 127 sat in storage for the next two decades as sit was prepared for mechanical restoration. By August 12, 1995, the 127 sat on newly-kitbashed "Brill 89E3" trucks built from existing 89E1 and 89E2 trucks from SEPTA (which necessitated regauging and addition of traction motors). Today, No. 127 has been freshly repainted back to its original FG&J colors, but maintains its heritage as the Bamberger Bullet. Only time will tell if it can ever run again. 

The other four bullets would find new homes around Utah as well, being purchased in 1972 by real estate developer Wally Wright for the "Trolley Square Shopping Mall", which was located in the original Utah Light & Railway Carbarns. Car 128 was modified for use as a sporting goods outlet, while 125 was shortened and used as the "Corn Dog" trolley. 125 affectionately became known as the "Bullet Birney" due to the single archbar truck it sat on. 128 later left Trolley Square for a gas station called "Trolley Station", while 125 was cut up under new ownership in 1986. Car 128 was later rebuilt again as the Art City Trolley Restaurant in Springville, 50 miles south of Salt Lake City in former Salt Lake & Utah territory, where it remains today. 

Ex-Bamberger No. 128 in its new guise as the Art City Trolley.
(Google Maps)

Ex-Bamberger No. 126 in storage at the Ogden Defense Depot
(Gino DiCarlo)  

The other two cars, 126 and 129, were in storage in Salt Lake City in preparation for Wally Wright's next project, but 126 was eventually bought by traction enthusiast Heinz Bruhl in 1978. The car was moved to his home in Ogden in June and repainted back into Bamberger colors at his autobody shop. After 10 years on display in his driveway, the Ogden Union Station Museum purchased the Bullet in 1988 and, while waiting for room in their main facility, currently remains displayed at the Ogden Defense Depot along with two former Saltair open cars. Car 129 has sadly since vanished some time in the 1980s.

The last surviving piece of the Bamberger worth mentioning is also the oldest. Trailer No. 403 was originally built by Jewett in 1910 as the second of that number and motored in 1929 as number 302. It was eventually sold to the Sons of Utah Pioneers and displayed at Pioneer Village in Salt Lake City until being moved to Corinne, UT, then the Heber Valley Railroad in 1994. The Creeper restored it back to its original Bamberger appearance in 1994, then sold it to the Black Hills Central Railroad in South Dakota for their "1880 Train" in 2012. Here, the car received extensive rehabilitation from Gomaco and is now in service as of 2016. So long as one Bamberger car still runs, so too will Simon Bamberger's electric railway never perish.

Ex-Bamberger 403, now Black Hills Central 403, "Battle Creek", in service in South Dakota

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Thank you for reading today's Trolley Thursday coverage (in a roundabout way) of the Bamberger Railroad's passenger stock! I couldn't have done it without my Utah expert, Josh B, along with OERM Member John Smatlak's photos and articles and the photo collections and recollections of motorman Gordon Cardall. If you would like to donate to the Bamberger 127's eventual operation, click here and earmark your donation for the car. If you want to ride on a real Bamberger car, follow the Black Hills Central's website here. Next week, we look at the eye-catching Kennecott Railroad operations before closing the month with a discussion of Utah's smaller electric railroads. Until then, you can follow myself or my editor on twitter if you wanna support us, and maybe buy a shirt as well! Ride safe!

Trolley Tuesday 5/19/20 - The Bamberger Railroad

For today's Trolley Tuesday, the line between politics and industry will be blurred as this railroad's namesake is just as important as his railroad. His legacy can be felt today around Utah, whether you're screaming with delight riding the Roller Coaster at Lagoon Resort or visiting his quiet Victorian mansion in Salt Lake City. Governor Simon Bamberger did plenty to positively affect the quality of life in Utah, making him one of the most progressive governors in the state, far ahead of what the rest of the nation was doing, but today his name lives on through the interurban railroad that bears his name. Come along with us now as we ride aboard the Salt Lake and Ogden Railroad, better known as the Bamberger Railroad.

Trolley Thursday 5/14/20 - The Bits and Pieces of the Salt Lake & Utah

When we last left the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad, it had changed hands from being privately run by its founder and head honcho, Walter C. Orem, to another private venture from Boston using the same legal name. This second period would bring some financial fortune to the company, but not enough to prevent being sold to interests in the Eccles Sugar Company. These new owners took the drastic measure of turning the semi-profitable interurban into long-distance bus routes, which usually spells danger for a railroad, but for the SL&U, it was one of a long line of wrecks, drunkards, and poor management that turned the Orem's Red Cars into a distant memory. On today's Trolley Thursday, we remember the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad.

Trolley Tuesday 5/12/20 - The Salt Lake and Utah Railway

The Salt Lake, Garfield & Western (the Saltair) wasn't the only electric railroad serving the saltiest region on Earth (besides the internet), but it was most certainly a pleasure line over an actual railway. One of the bigger electric railways that ran alongside the Saltair was the Salt Lake & Utah Railroad (SL&U), which was planned from the start as a legitimate freight and passenger railroad. Popularly known as the "Orem", after its financiers, it would not last as long as the Saltair, but would still remain one of Utah's beloved interurbans. Join us on today's Trolley Tuesday for a look at the SL&U Trolley! (I know what you're thinking, and no.)

Trolley Thursday 5/7/20 - The Survivors of the Saltair

Saltwater is never kind to metal, as any coastal railroad or Panama-crossing Volkswagen can attest to. Salt, naturally, corrodes so it's a struggle to fight the effects of iron oxide eating away at unique and often single-examples of history. Indeed, though the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western (The "Saltair" Route) continues to operate today, much of the equipment that made them unique among other interurban roads have sadly gone the way of the dodo; if not scrapped, then they still exist out of state. On today's Trolley Thursday, let's drink a hearty toast to the Saltair and recount the fates of their surviving equipment.

...! *spits* Wait, this is salt water!

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Car 500 waits with Steeplecab 401 and an unknown second car to be scrapped
at Salt Lake Yard, as an unidentified diesel prowls behind.
(Gordon Cardall, Donstrack)

Electric traction ended on the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western (affectionately known as the "Saltair" route and serving the same-named massive entertainment pavilion's two iterations) in 1951. In 1953, most of their electric stock (four interurban cars, one Baldwin steeplecab, and some open "Suburban-Style" trailers) were sent to the American Foundry and Machine Co. of Salt Lake City to be scrapped while the Saltair retained two former interurban cars as diesel-hauled trailers.

Car 502 heads a train outbound to the Saltair, with an open
trailer sandwiched inbetween, year unknown
(Donstrack)

Cars 501 and 502, both originally built by the McGuire-Cummings Car Company in 1918, were originally part of an order of six steel interurban cars built for Saltair service between the resort and Salt Lake City. They ran on 1500V DC voltage, from an overhead wire, feeding four traction motors per car that gave it enough oomph to reach 45 miles per hour and haul a sufficient number of boxcars in freight service. Their 56-foot length was also nothing to scoff at, ferrying hoards of Mormon tourists to and from the salty shores in sublime fashion. Sadly, those days had ended in ignominy as the Saltair Railroad found it hard to justify keeping a fleet of passenger electrics with no passengers to serve.

Following the SLGW purchasing two diesels in December 1951 (both GE 44 tonners, originally New York, Ontario & Western), Cars 501 and 502 were selected for rebuilding and were stripped of their electrical equipment. In their places, the cars gained a new flat-arched roof and began working alongside their open trailers in diesel-hauled mixed trains, giving them another lease on life that cars 500, 503, 504 and 505 never got. Passenger service continued after the second generation "Saltair II" closed in 1958, delivering workers to the Morton Salt plant until May 20, 1961, when cars 503 and open trailers 305 and 306 were reunited and hauled once more by 44-tonner DS-1 as a "farewell" fan trip.

The last Saltair passenger run, May 20, 1961.
(Gordon Cardall, Donstrack)

After this, all non-freight Saltair stock went into storage. The railroad itself was sold to to the Hogle family from the incumbent Ashby Snow family, and much of its infrastructure and land was sold back to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This land was developed into the Salt Lake International Center, a consortium of warehouses served by the Union Pacific, Western Pacific, and eventually the Saltair after the latter's tracks were moved closer in 1977. By 1981, the railroad saw big profits thanks to being used as a coal-hauler for the Utah Power & Light Company's Gadsby plant. Today, the Saltair Railroad is still owned by the Hogle Group and operated alongside the Union Pacific.

Saltair 502 and 501 (respectively) at their original display
 plinth, year unknown.
(Clint Thomsen's grandmother)

As for the former electric stock, cars 501 and 502 were sold to Hoskins Helicopter Service in the mid-1980s. (What a helicopter service was doing with two interurbans, history doesn't know either). Ian Morehouse was next to purchase the cars, as he owned the land the Saltair II formerly sat on as well as the Saltair III, and desired to put the cars on display in their old stomping grounds near an old substation, for people to enjoy. Unfortunately, the close proximity to salt water meant 501 and 502 began deteriorating quickly, so 501 was moved closer to Saltair III. This didn't help matters as rowdy concertgoers exiting Saltair III on late nights would vandalize the car and, in one instance, set fire to it. By 2006, Morehouse felt pity on the destroyed car but nobody wanted to claim it, so 501 was scrapped on-site in October that year.

Saltair 502 near the end of her life, burned, battered, and busted.
(Viv Smith)

Car 502 prepares to meet its maker, February 2012.
(Clint Thomsen)

As for the 502, vandalism and corrosion had set in and both the car and its substation were in serious neglect. The only saving grace in these intolerable years was its popularity as a wedding photo venue, but vandals and arsonists again desiccated the car's wooden internals, leaving behind a skeletal metal body. Morehouse again, along with friend and fellow preservationist Clint Thomsen, wanted to save the 502 but, like with 501, no preservation groups had the money or space to take them, not even the trucks. In February 2012, both Morehouse and Thomsen watched the salvage crews load the 502 onto a flatbed truck as it was taken to a salvage yard, at the behest of Salt Lake County's plan to clean the area, for scrapping. The substation would be demolished the following month.

SLGW Open Car No. 306 at her new home in Portola, CA,
showing off her characteristic easy-boarding outdoor steps.
Hello Dolly, anyone?
(Western Railroad Museum)

Meanwhile, four of the SLGW's homebuilt "suburban-style" (or "Narragansett-style" for you Disneyphiles and railfans) would find new homes outside of the scrapheap. Two of them were donated to the Sons of Utah Pioneers and placed on display, first at Corrine, UT, then at the Heber Valley Railroad (popularly named the Heber Creeper). One of the cars met its untimely end in 2009, when an arsonist destroyed it. (It seems fire would follow this defunct interurban quite frequently.) The other Heber display, car 306, would be sold in 1993 to the Western Railway Museum in Portola, CA, where it remains in an unrestored and deteriorating state.

The other two would be donated to the Utah Railroad Museum in Ogden, UT, located at their Business Depot. Like the 306, both are still in derelict condition with warping wooden planks and peeling paint. The Golden Spike Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society plans on moving the cars to their main site at Ogden Union Station, but currently a donation of $20-30,000 is needed for such a monster move. Only time will now tell if the cars can be moved before another arsonist gets to them.

A contemporary (2017) Google Maps overhead of the Ogden Business Depot, showing the two
other remaining Saltair open cars with a Bamberger "Bullet" body in-between.
(Preserved Traction)

Saltair M.C. 3 poses like it's an official company photograph,
1959.
(Dave England, Donstrack)

The final piece of SLGW stock for discussion today is also the only piece of running passenger stock owned by the Saltair. Designated "Motor Car No. 3", or "M.C.3", this little gas "doodlebug" railcar was originally built by the American Car & Foundry in 1935 for the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad. It was in service as number 2026 until being sold to the Aberdeen and Rockfish as their number 106. The SLGW would purchase the car third-hand in 1951 following their 44-tonners and used it to supplement passenger runs from Salt Lake City to the Morton Salt Plant.

Once all passenger service ended, the eye-catching shovelnose car was sold once more to the California Western Railroad in Fort Bragg and Willits, California. It was renumbered M-300, rebuilt as a full-passenger car, and continues to see regular use alongside "Skunk Train" car M-100, replacing the former M-200 that was since sold to the Niles Canyon Railway. Over 100 years after the end of the Saltair, it still continues its proud heritage as a tourist hauler in some small way.

California Western M-300 (left) and M-100 (right), living up to the "Skunk Train" nickname with all
those righteous gas fumes.
(Chatzi473)

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If you would like to help donate money to save the four remaining Saltair open cars, links to the Western Railway Museum, Utah State Railroad Museum, and Heber Valley Railroad are offered here. More information about the California Western can be found on their own website, and more information can be found about the Saltair in general through UtahRails. Next week, we begin covering the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad, but until then, you can follow myself or my editor on twitter if you wanna support us, and maybe buy a shirt as well! Until next week, ride safe and stay salty!

Trolley Tuesday 5/5/20 - The Saltair Resort and the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western Railroad

Welcome to the month of May for a brand new Trolleyposting experience! Today, we start our journey in the Beehive State of Utah by looking at one of the most well-known electric railways and certainly one of the most scenic. Though today, Salt Lake City is home to a thriving modern rapid transit system, at the turn of the century it was served by one of the most ambitious and unique railroad operations in the United States. I will warn you, if any of you today have thalassophobia (fear of deep water), you may need to turn away now.