The railcar repair facility of Intermountain Power, located on Union Pacific trackage included in the Soldier Summit route, is the destination of an SD9-powered “IPPX Transfer Run” in a new Elphaba’s Workshop scenario available at Steam Workshop.
Gary Dolzall of Elphaba’s Workshop puts the new
D&RGW EMD SD9s to work on the Soldier Summit route, and, in
the process, explores some fascinating trackage
For much of their careers, Rio Grande’s husky Electro-Motive SD9s were denizens of the railroad’s west end, and particularly so Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah (see “Recommended Reading” below for further details). Whether the work was transfer runs, heavy yard work, or powering west-end locals such as the Midvale Tramp or Tintic Local, chances were high that a set of SD9s likely would provide the horsepower.
In creating the recently released Soldier Summit route for Train Simulator, the Dovetail Games development team included not only the dramatic crossing of the Wasatch Range, but also recreated Provo’s sprawling complex of yards and industries. In the Rio Grande era, Provo was home to the yards of three railroads – the D&RGW; the Utah Railway; and the Union Pacific – and each of these yards in represented on the route.
The Provo “suburb” of Springville, Utah, too, was (and is) home to several large lineside industries and facilities, most notable of which are a large pipe mill, which is located along the D&RGW main line, and the railcar repair facility of Intermountain Power (IPPX), which is located along the Union Pacific’s main line running southwest from Provo. These facilities are also included in the Soldier Summit route.
Intermountain Power, by the way, is one of the largest consumers of Utah-mined coal. Much of this coal is destined for Intermountain’s power-generating station located near Lynndl, Utah, on the Union Pacific, which provides electricity to much of the southwest. In 1985, Intermountain Power opened its railcar repair facility at Springville to service and repair equipment of the unit trains that transport its coal.
Naturally, with the release of the new D&RGW SD9 DLC, I looked forward to creating a Elphaba’s Workshop scenario for the locomotive, and with the goals of putting the SD9 to work in authentic fashion and visiting some seldom-trod trackage, I decided to create a scenario based on a transfer run from D&RGW’s Provo Yard to the Intermountain Power railcar facility at Springville.
The resulting scenario, entitled “IPPX Transfer Run,” begins at D&RGW’s Provo Yard, as the second-trick yard job is called upon to lug a string of empty hoppers from Provo to the Intermountain railcar facility for contract repairs. That sounds simply enough, but the movements will require the yard job, powered by D&RGW SD9s 5313 and 5311, to navigate Rio Grande yard and mainline trackage, as well as Union Pacific-owned trackage (over which D&RGW holds trackage rights), and thus involves operating permissions from the Provo Yard Master, the D&RGW’s Utah Division mainline dispatcher, and the Union Pacific’s dispatcher. Within reasonable limits, those communications – as well as interaction between the yard job’s engineer and brakeman – are replicated in the scenario’s “pop-up” messages.
Also adding a bit of challenge to the job of the train crew is the trackage arrangement at Provo. To make its run from Provo Yard to the IPPX railcar facility, the train needs to make its way east (south by compass). But to reach the D&RGW-UP connection, the train must first be reversed out of Provo Yard as far as the cross-overs and signals at D&RGW Provo depot, and only then proceed south to Union Pacific trackage. Together with the switching movements required at Provo Yard, the run to the IPPX facility results in a scenario of approximately 35 minutes duration. Given that a significant portion of the scenario occurs on Union Pacific trackage, I also utilized UP locomotives and rolling stock from the Sherman Hill route to provide a realistic UP presence during the run.
Ready to put a pair of classic D&RGW EMD SD9s to work – and in the process sample some trackage you may not have visited before? “IPPX Transfer Run” is now available free at Steam Workshop, and can be found here. – Gary Dolzall
The crew of the Provo second-trick yard job goes to work with a set of light power consisting of two SD9s (above), and prepares to pull together its transfer cut while a mainline grain extra (below) rolls past Provo Yard. All screenshots by Gary Dolzall.
As the SD9-powered transfer job pulls together its cut of empty hoppers, an eastbound D&RGW empties train behind a trio of SD40T-2s rolls east toward Soldier Summit.
For its run to IPPX via the Union Pacific, the transfer job makes a reverse move out of Provo Yard. As viewed from the caboose (above), the dispatcher has given the train a lower lunar signal to move onto the mainline. Having reversed to the D&RGW Provo depot (below), the transfer run is ready to proceed toward UP trackage.
Operating via trackage rights, the transfer run makes it way over Union Pacific rails (above), and shortly thereafter (below) passes UP’s yard facilities and a pair of Union Pacific EMD SD40-2s awaiting their next assignment.
Heading south for Springville, the crew has a chance to open out the throttle of the veteran SD9s (above) for a few minutes, then slows (below) to enter the IPPX facilities.
Its journey in the Elphaba’s Workshop scenario “IPPX Transfer Run” nearly complete, the SD9-powered transfer prepares to make its stop at the railcar repair facility.