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.

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Hall Scott Motor Car 501 finds some hitchhikers clinging to its side as it trundles along an unknown street.
(Dave England, Donstrack) 

Before we get to the end of the SL&U, we start with worker relations. No, we're not talking about streetcar riots again, but the SL&U wasn't usually vetting whoever worked for them. As Ira L. Swett noted in his report, just about any damn Yankee could work for the SL&U during the Second World War with no experience of training needed. Some men would just straight up abandon their posts for the sake of good alcohol, as Swett writes: 

"An example of a run made under these conditions was the night when the crew boarded its freight motor and proceeded down the line. They left their conductor (out cold) in Salt Lake City by a pile of ties. As they proceeded through American Fork, another man got off for a beer but his train moved right on. The motorman wanted to go home, so he got off and the brakeman who lived in Provo uncoupled the cars and ran light to Provo." 

SL&U Steeplecab No. 105 after arriving on the Canadian
Pacific, posed with a wooden caboose, 1946.
(Gordon Cardall, Donstrack)

The SL&U also "boasted" (or rather, "admitted") to paying the third lowest wages of any national electric line, an immense feat when one considers low wages are usually grounds for striking, When men weren't being drunk and neglecting their duties, cars would often find themselves burned or running away like with 1920-built Baldwin-Westinghouse steeplecab No. 104 (later Saltair No. 401). The poor locomotive found itself tearing through a caboose that was left on the main as its crew were busy switching at the sugar beet factory. The accident was so bad, the Ford motor cars No. 104 was carrying were spilled all over the line, which ruined Christmas for many a Ford buyer in Salt Lake City.

 

SL&U 609 leads a train through Payson on October 1945, showing off its
Hall-Scott lines that also defined the Sacramento Northern's rolling stock.
(Gordon Cardall, Donstracks)

Before I continue talking about the tragic fates of the SL&U's passenger roster, it helps to briefly mention their motive power roster. 11 motor cars, 2 trailers, 2 observation cars, and 3 express motors were constructed by Niles Car Company and American Car Company between 1914 and 1917, with Niles making up much of the offerings. The passenger cars, trailers, and observation cars were all 60 feet long, seated 66 people, and made of modern steel, but the roofs were still made out of wood. The express cars were only 50 feet, but still made up a good bulk of the SL&U's freight traffic. All of the motors were designed to be combine cars to maximize mixed-use service. Observation cars 751 and 752 delivered much-needed luxury to the fancy "Utah County Limited" and "Zion Limited" trains, and were the only observation interurbans in Utah. Passenger motors 610 and 611 were built by the American Car Company for Magna service in 1917, and were the only double-ended passenger interurbans built for the SL&U (The rest had two poles, but only one full cab up front. The rear cab was used for yard movements). 

This burning W2 car from the Memphis Madison Avenue
trolley will serve as an apt illustrator for Car 602's demise.
(WREG)

The most well-known incident on the SL&U occured on Christmas Day, 1943, when motors 610 and 602 were stopped over in Magna. A faulty heater unit sent the 602 ablaze, with the 610's front end facing 602 being damaged. The 602 was scrapped in 1946, while the 610 was stored in Payson until abandonment. The other American Car Co product, No. 611, had a brief second life as a bunkhouse in American Fork before it burnt down in 1947. When the interurbans were not burning, they were also running away, as one errant motorman found out the day before abandonment in 1946. As he put the pole on the wire, his car ran up the Magna coal chute and derailed (rather than launching and flying like the New York, Ontario and Western's Flying Diesel Corps). It turned out that, the night before when the current was low, the motorman just left his controller on and figured it would be fine the next day.

Another incident occurred to motor car No. 603 when its train, No. 3 southbound, was meeting train No. 2 at the Utah Gravel spur on November 13, 1921. The other train, headed by motor No. 607, had clearance to head northbound over Train No. 3, so 603 had to back up onto the spur. Unfortunately, snow had blocked the switch from engaging back onto the main and 607 barreled into the spur at speed, colliding instantly with No. 603. Three SL&U employees were killed and several passengers were injured as 607 partially telescoped into 603. When 603 was rebuilt, it sported a much larger baggage section and was painted in the railroad's flashy "Red Arrow Freight" service, finishing its days as an express freight car.

SL&U 603 after its rebuilding, with reduced passenger capacity and flashy "Red Arrow Freight" scheme.
(Gordon Cardall, Donstrack) 

By the end of its history in February 1946, the once-proud Orem line was disheveled and one step closer to the scrapyard. When it wasn't having head-on collisions, burning, or running away, the rolling stock was so neglected that non-passenger stock, like line cars or steeplecabs, failed to keep to the schedule because the motors and trailers were so worn out. Even a two-hour delay was something Utahans had to just deal with normally, when other railroads around the same time were experiencing the last of peak wartime service. The SL&U spent its time after VE and VJ day a broken, bankrupt mess, and Mr. Quinney, the railroad's receiver, begged the court to end operations. Judge Tillman D. Johnson declared the railroad cease all operations by March 1, 1946, and the day before, all rolling stock was deadheaded back to the main shops at Payson. 

When all was said and done, the SL&U was dead and sold, with its railroad lines purchased by the Bamberger and the Denver, Rio Grande & Western. The remaining rolling stock found new owners in the Kennecott Railroad (trailers 701 and 702), Rock Springs, Wyoming, (motors 603, 604, 607, 609), Saltair (104), and Canadian Pacific (Baldwins 105, which survived its collision, and 106). The lines to Provo and Ogden were turned into long-distance bus routes.

Saltair Boxcar No. 100, originally ordered by the SL&U
(Phil Scoville)

Before we move onto the survivors, let's give a small mention to the SL&U's freight stock. The SL&U purchased ten new boxcars to go with their considerable fleet of reefers, boxcars, flatcars, etc. After the order was made in 1924, the SL&U could not pay for all of the boxcars, so the Saltair kept them stored until the SL&U could rummage enough money. When the boxcars were resold, the Saltair then purchased one of the ten and retained it as Boxcar No. 100, which today survives on the Heber Valley Railroad.

There are two existent concrete pieces of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad left, with one being a passenger car. The other lives in the Utah State Railroad Museum at Ogden, and that is Express Trailer No. 851, popularly nicknamed the "Milk Car". It was originally built by Niles with the same order of express freight interurbans as a milk hauler with heating racks at one end, but eventually would go on to haul fish and everything inbetween. Like its stablemates, fire is no stranger to the 851, as a recent arson attack left it with fire damage to the roof, floor, and sides on one end. Can't we just... not have trolley cars catching fire in Utah?

Express Trailer No. 851 in Ogden. It originally had windows, but those were metaled over in 1922.
(UtahRails)

Observation trailer 751 strikes Denver & Rio Grande 592
in Provo, October 4, 1917. Fourteen passengers were injured,
including Provo Mayor LeRoy Dixon.
(George Edward Anderson, BYU Harold B. Lee Library)

No original interurban motor cars survive of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad, though car 603 is rumored to be a building in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The only concrete surviving passenger car is observation 751, which was purchased by the Bay Area Electric Association in 1949 for excursion use on the Sacramento Northern. The SN rebuilt the car with rear controls (much like its own observation car, the Bidwell) but otherwise its "convertible" (Summer-Winter) configuration remained untouched. Today, it runs in museum service at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, accompanying Sacramento Northern stock. So goes the Orem Line, much like the Saltair, living out its only operating existence left in California.

Salt Lake & Utah 751, in happy color and in a happy home.
(Travel Notes)

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Thank you for reading this report about the Orem Line! Much of the information here was retold, sometimes quoted, from Ira L. Swett's "Interurbans of Utah", so do check that out on UtahRails if you want to read more. Until then, you can follow myself or my editor on twitter if you wanna support us, and maybe buy a shirt as well! I also would like to thank my friend Josh B. for being the Utah expert this month. Until next week, ride safe!