The Helper Helper
Five potent EMD locomotives, assigned as mid-train helpers on a combined D&RGW 735 and 785 coal train, roll westward up Price Canyon at the Nolan Tunnels on June 20, 1975.
The 735 and 785 were operated for U.S. Steel's Geneva Steel Mill six miles railroad-west of Provo, Utah. The 735 originated at the Carbon County Railway interchange at Columbia Jct., Utah, its cars loaded at the Geneva Mine six miles south, on the face of the Book Cliffs. The 785 originated at the Somerset Mine on Rio Grande's North Fork Branch 75 miles southeast of Grand Junction, Colorado. Both mines were U.S. Steel operations, captive to the steel mill. Coal from both trains emptied at U.S. Steel's wash plant at Wash, Utah, east of Price, then after washing, reloaded into any empty cars available and continued to the Geneva Mill. The symbols carried through even though the trains did not.
Typically, the two trains did not combine into one from Wash to Geneva, 100 miles. Each train was normally 40 cars nominal, plus or minus 7 cars.
Caption writeup by Mark Hemphill.
The Helper Helper
Five potent EMD locomotives, assigned as mid-train helpers on a combined D&RGW 735 and 785 coal train, roll westward up Price Canyon at the Nolan Tunnels on June 20, 1975.
The 735 and 785 were operated for U.S. Steel's Geneva Steel Mill six miles railroad-west of Provo, Utah. The 735 originated at the Carbon County Railway interchange at Columbia Jct., Utah, its cars loaded at the Geneva Mine six miles south, on the face of the Book Cliffs. The 785 originated at the Somerset Mine on Rio Grande's North Fork Branch 75 miles southeast of Grand Junction, Colorado. Both mines were U.S. Steel operations, captive to the steel mill. Coal from both trains emptied at U.S. Steel's wash plant at Wash, Utah, east of Price, then after washing, reloaded into any empty cars available and continued to the Geneva Mill. The symbols carried through even though the trains did not.
Typically, the two trains did not combine into one from Wash to Geneva, 100 miles. Each train was normally 40 cars nominal, plus or minus 7 cars.
Caption writeup by Mark Hemphill.