Drama and diversity are words that characterized D&RGW railroad operations across the Wasatch. On Train Simulator’s upcoming Soldier Summit route, a quartet of Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2s lead 8,000 tons of coal down the west slope of Soldier Summit at the famed Gilluly Loops.
The Rio Grande put on a dramatic and diverse
show across Soldier Summit, and Gary Dolzall reports
on D&RGW’s operations in the 1980s
The upcoming Train Simulator Soldier Summit route recreates the era of the 1980s, when the crossing of the Wasatch Range was a bustling component of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Utah Division. D&RGW (or ‘”Rio Grande,” for short) may have been in its last decade of independent existence in the ‘80s (it was folded into Southern Pacific in 1988), but the railroad across famed Soldier Summit was most certainly very much alive with both a volume and a diversity of traffic. So let’s take a brief look at D&RGW’s 1980s operations on Soldier Summit and the Utah Division.
Merchandise freights: With key interchange points of Denver and Pueblo, Colorado on the east end of its system and Ogden and Salt Lake City, Utah on the west, D&RGW was both an originator of merchandise traffic and a bridge line for transcontinental tonnage. During the 1980s, D&RGW moved its merchandise traffic in a range of freights that carried 100-series numbers. Examples included trains 142-143 that operated between Pueblo (where D&RGW connected with the Missouri Pacific and the Santa Fe) and the Southern Pacific interchange at Ogden, and Train 179 which regularly totted mostly priority auto parts (which originated in Kansas City) westward. Freight rolling stock that typically would be handled on D&RGW’s manifests included boxcar traffic, tank cars, covered hoppers, gondola loads, and some piggybacks, the tonnage of which was often entrusted to Rio Grande’s fleet of 73 SD40T-2s or to second-generation EMD Geeps such as the road’s more than 100 GP40/GP40-2 diesels.
Intermodals: While never matching the expansive intermodal loadings that moved on the Santa Fe or Union Pacific main lines which bracketed D&RGW, the Rio Grande was indeed a mover of intermodal (piggyback) traffic. D&RGW trains 100-101 typically were made up largely of intermodal and other priority traffic, and from 1986 through 1990, D&RGW (and SP) tried to compete head-on with the trucking companies for regional trailer traffic by operating trains 102-103, the Rio Grande “Railblazers.” Unlike the majority of D&RGW trains, which operated with full crews (and cabooses), the Railblazers operated with two-man crews on expedited 14-hour runs between Denver and South Salt Lake City’s Roper Yard. D&RGW GP40-2s most often powered the relatively short and light tonnage Railblazers.
Coal: Bituminous coal, in massive volumes, increasingly became a staple of D&RGW tonnage in its latter years. Throughout Rio Grande’s existence, coal mined in the Wasatch had always been a traffic source on the railroad and expansion of coal tonnage coming from the likes of D&RGW’s rugged and remote Craig (Colorado) branch added further tonnage. Rio Grande’s Pleasant Valley Branch, which connected with the Soldier Summit mainline at Colton, was also home to two active coal mines. Much of the coal tonnage originated along the D&RGW (and the Utah Railway) moved west, including a tough grind over Soldier Summit’s ruling 2.4 percent east slope grade. Rio Grande coal trains typically carried 700-series operating numbers (example: D&RGW Train 771 hauled coal collected at Helper west to Provo, then moved via the Union Pacific to Los Angeles for export). In the 1980s, Rio Grande’s coal traffic was the domain of its big six-motor diesels, the SD40Ts and the railroad’s 17 SD50s among them.
Locals and Yard Jobs: Like most roads, D&RGW often handled originating car loadings initially with local freights, which on the Rio Grande carried 600-series symbols. Included among such locals were jobs that worked west from Helper to Roper Yard and return (which often carted coal loads west and empties east) and the “Provo Local” from Roper Yard in South Salt Lake City which worked the western end of the Utah Division. D&RGW’s Provo Yard was home to regular switch job and transfer assignments which typically were powered by EMD SD9s or GP9s.
Helpers: Certainly it would come as no surprise that a mountain railroad such as the Rio Grande regularly called on helpers in both the steam and diesel eras, working from locations such as Minturn, Colorado and the aptly named Helper, Utah, the latter standing at the east foot of Soldier Summit. Virtually any heavy westbound destined to cross Soldier Summit, whether manifest or coal, would get a push from the helper sets stationed at Helper. For manifests, which required helpers primarily to maintain track speed, usually one or two units would be applied as rear helpers (positioned behind the caboose prior to 1984 and cut in ahead of the caboose thereafter). But the “big show” came with lifting 8,000-ton-plus coal trains westbound to the summit. Such trains would often have three or four big six-axle units on the point and another set tucked into a mid-train position (D&RGWs six-motor EMD units were rated for 1,300 tons each on a westbound climb over Soldier Summit). The helpers would assist the train all the way to the summit, then cut off and return light to Helper Yard to await their next task. It was not uncommon to find as many as a dozen D&RGW SD40T-2s (and other types) congregating at Helper Yard in anticipation of the next “push.”
The Utah Railway: No summary of operations on Soldier Summit can rightly omit the Utah Railway. Headquartered at Martin, Utah, near Helper, the Utah Railway has been totting Wasatch-mined coal since 1917, usually for hand-off to Union Pacific at Provo for transport west. Long a fascinating bastion for Alco RSD4 and RSD5 diesel road-switchers, the Utah Railway has always been one for fascinating motive power (which has since ranged from ex-Santa Fe Alco RSD12 “Alligators” to ex-Burlington Northern EMD F45s to its present-day distinctive Morrison-Knudsen MK50-3 diesels.
Passenger service: Without doubt, the most famous train to cross Soldier Summit was the streamlined California Zephyr, which was jointly operated by the Burlington (CB&Q), Rio Grande, and Western Pacific between Chicago and the Bay Area of California. The “CZ” debuted in 1949 (replacing the heavyweight Exposition Flyer), and endured until the WP discontinued its western segment in 1970. But Rio Grande, which initially did not join Amtrak when the national carrier was formed in 1971, carried on in the passenger trade with the Rio Grande Zephyr, which used equipment from the California Zephyr on runs between Denver and Salt Lake City until 1983. At that time, D&RGW did elect to join Amtrak, which soon rerouted its San Francisco Zephyr from the UP to the D&RGW and rechristened the train with the famous name “California Zephyr.” Now, more than a quarter-century later, Amtrak’s Superliner-equipped edition of the California Zephyr still crosses Soldier Summit on a daily basis. Amtrak Trains 5 and 6 regularly employed two (and sometimes three) EMD F40PHs for power in the 1980s and into the 1990s and today are powered by sets of Amtrak’s General Electric “Genesis” P42DC locomotives.
Coming soon to Train Simulator, the Rio Grande’s Soldier Summit route promises diverse and challenging operational opportunities, all wrapped amid the dramatic and stunning scenery of the Wasatch Range of the American Rockies! The TS2015 route will include D&RGW’s workhorse EMD SD40T-2, the veteran Rio Grande EMD GP9, a mix of D&RGW freight rolling stock, and Amtrak’s F40PH-powered, Superliner-equipped California Zephyr. Along with a selection of career scenario that will accompany the route, it will be fascinating to discover and enjoy what, no doubt, will be a variety of challenging scenario created by the community and available at Steam Workshop! – Gary Dolzall
Standing at the east foot of Soldier Summit, aptly named Helper, Utah was home to D&RGW’s busy Soldier Summit helper crews. As a westbound 100-series manifest freight begins its pull from Helper after a crew change, two sets of SD40T-2 helpers await their next task. All screenshots by Gary Dolzall.
Climbing the east slope of Soldier Summit near Royal, Utah, D&RGW Train 143 is bound for Salt Lake City with a pair of SD40T-2s on the point (above) and another set tucked in behind the caboose (below) of the manifest freight. Note: Some content depicted may still be in development.
Along with the D&RGW, the Utah Railway has long been a fixture on Soldier Summit. Famous for its interesting motive power, the Utah Railway from 1985 through 1990 operating a group of ex-Burlington Northern EMD F45s. Headed by ex-BN 6606, a coal train departs the Utah Railway’s Martin Yard, beginning its westbound climb of Soldier Summit. Note: Some screenshots include locomotives and rolling stock available as DLC or with other TS2015 routes.
Summit: On the upcoming TS2015 Soldier Summit route, a westbound D&RGW crests the top of Soldier Summit at an elevation of 4,403 feet above sea level (above), then minutes later (below) begins twisting through Gilluly’s famed double loops on the 2.0 percent descending grade of the Wasatch west slope.
Surely Soldier Summit offered no tougher task than lifting 8,000-ton coal trains westward from Helper, and winter only made the work all the harder. Four D&RGW SD40T-2s are on the point (above) and another quartet is set mid-train below as a westbound coal train rolls through Price River Canyon on TS2015’s upcoming Soldier Summit route.
For the past quarter-century-plus, Amtrak’s Superliner-equipped California Zephyr has crossed Soldier Summit. In a scene typical of the 1980s, two Amtrak EMD F40PH diesels (above and below) lead Train 6 – the eastbound California Zephyr – up the Gilluly Loops and toward the summit of the Wasatch Range.
Railblazer! Hotshots were Rio Grande’s Railblazer dedicated intermodal trains which operated between Denver and Salt Lake City on 14-hour schedules. Eastbound Railblazer Train 102 rolls through Detour, Utah with a string of piggybacks in tow.
On a foggy, snowy winter morn, the day’s first light reveals a veteran Rio Grande EMD GP9 readying for its day’s work at Provo, Utah. From massive coal trains to switch jobs to Amtrak’s sleek California Zephyr, the captivating and diverse experiences of western mountain railroading on famed Soldier Summit is coming soon to Train Simulator!
