Streamliner Dream
Seemingly lifted right out of the 1960s the Union Pacific's famed City of Los Angeles streamliner flashes across the Nevada high desert crossing an old art deco stylized bridge over South Las Vegas Blvd. on the UP's former Los Angeles and Salt Lake Route. While that of course is just a dream what this actually is is pretty cool in its own right. Out of sight on the head end of this blur of Armour Yellow is Union Pacific's legendary never retired Alco 4-8-4 #844 leading train SYRLV-20, the Arizona Centennial Special. The train is headed to Las Vegas where it will overnight beside the then still open downtown yard office (road crews had not yet been moved out to Arden Yard) after a run east up the Cima Sub. Tomorrow they'll continue on toward Salt Lake and ultimately to Ogden and eventuallyhome in Cheyenne after a long tour of the southwest celebrating one hundred years of statehood for the Grand Canyon State.
Today this is known as Union Pacific's Cima Sub and this is right about MP 304.7. This route is one of my favorite and most underappreciated western mainlines and it's last spike was driven at a little remarked location just northeast of where this was taken. If you'd like to see it check out this shot: flic.kr/p/2iy73MH
The development of the railway line that became the LA&SL began in 1871 when the Utah Southern Railroad began laying track southward from Salt Lake City. The Utah Southern, controlled by the larger Union Pacific Railroad (UP), built a line to a station known as Juab, Utah, in 1879. From there a second UP subsidiary known as the Utah Southern Railroad Extension took up the work, completing trackage as far as Milford, Utah, in 1880. By the end of the century, these and other lines had been absorbed into the Oregon Short Line Railroad, a far larger UP subsidiary.
Work on extending the Milford line southward began by 1889, but no tracks were actually laid due to financial issues. Construction resumed in 1899 when the route was completed as far as the Utah–Nevada border. Grading work extended into Nevada, and the UP's stated intent was to continue the line all the way to southern California.
Another player entered the scene in 1900, when William Andrews Clark acquired the struggling Los Angeles Terminal Railway with an eye to extending the line northeast to Salt Lake. The railroad was reincorporated in 1901 as the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, and Clark announced plans to construct a line between Salt Lake and southern California. Clark assembled political and financial supporters to assist in the project, both in California and Utah. The competing Union Pacific Railroad and its formidable leader E. H. Harriman stood in opposition to Clark's plan.
Clark's forces began construction work in Nevada, along the existing UP grade, and a brief "railroad war" ensued before Clark and the UP called a truce in 1903. Their agreement called for Clark's railroad to acquire the existing UP trackage south of Salt Lake City. In turn, the UP received a 50% interest in Clark's railroad. Construction of the remaining line proceeded rapidly to Daggett, California, where it connected to the ATSF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. In California, Clark negotiated a trackage rights agreement from Daggett to Riverside, California, allowing his new line to use the existing Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway route over Cajon Pass, in lieu of constructing its own tracks across the pass.
On April 16, 1916, the railroad's stockholders voted to remove "San Pedro" from the corporation's name. The former town of San Pedro had been consolidated within Los Angeles in 1909. The LA&SL operated independently until April 27, 1921, when the UP agreed to acquire Clark's half-interest in the railroad. After 1921 the LA&SL lines were operated as part of the UP system, although the LA&SL corporation continued to exist on paper until January 1, 1988.
Other than portions in the greater Los Angeles area the entire mainline remains in service as a critical transcontinental route for the modern day UP split into three subdivisions, the Lynndyl, Caliente, and Cima from east to west respectively.
Clark County, Nevada
Sunday November 20, 2011
Streamliner Dream
Seemingly lifted right out of the 1960s the Union Pacific's famed City of Los Angeles streamliner flashes across the Nevada high desert crossing an old art deco stylized bridge over South Las Vegas Blvd. on the UP's former Los Angeles and Salt Lake Route. While that of course is just a dream what this actually is is pretty cool in its own right. Out of sight on the head end of this blur of Armour Yellow is Union Pacific's legendary never retired Alco 4-8-4 #844 leading train SYRLV-20, the Arizona Centennial Special. The train is headed to Las Vegas where it will overnight beside the then still open downtown yard office (road crews had not yet been moved out to Arden Yard) after a run east up the Cima Sub. Tomorrow they'll continue on toward Salt Lake and ultimately to Ogden and eventuallyhome in Cheyenne after a long tour of the southwest celebrating one hundred years of statehood for the Grand Canyon State.
Today this is known as Union Pacific's Cima Sub and this is right about MP 304.7. This route is one of my favorite and most underappreciated western mainlines and it's last spike was driven at a little remarked location just northeast of where this was taken. If you'd like to see it check out this shot: flic.kr/p/2iy73MH
The development of the railway line that became the LA&SL began in 1871 when the Utah Southern Railroad began laying track southward from Salt Lake City. The Utah Southern, controlled by the larger Union Pacific Railroad (UP), built a line to a station known as Juab, Utah, in 1879. From there a second UP subsidiary known as the Utah Southern Railroad Extension took up the work, completing trackage as far as Milford, Utah, in 1880. By the end of the century, these and other lines had been absorbed into the Oregon Short Line Railroad, a far larger UP subsidiary.
Work on extending the Milford line southward began by 1889, but no tracks were actually laid due to financial issues. Construction resumed in 1899 when the route was completed as far as the Utah–Nevada border. Grading work extended into Nevada, and the UP's stated intent was to continue the line all the way to southern California.
Another player entered the scene in 1900, when William Andrews Clark acquired the struggling Los Angeles Terminal Railway with an eye to extending the line northeast to Salt Lake. The railroad was reincorporated in 1901 as the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, and Clark announced plans to construct a line between Salt Lake and southern California. Clark assembled political and financial supporters to assist in the project, both in California and Utah. The competing Union Pacific Railroad and its formidable leader E. H. Harriman stood in opposition to Clark's plan.
Clark's forces began construction work in Nevada, along the existing UP grade, and a brief "railroad war" ensued before Clark and the UP called a truce in 1903. Their agreement called for Clark's railroad to acquire the existing UP trackage south of Salt Lake City. In turn, the UP received a 50% interest in Clark's railroad. Construction of the remaining line proceeded rapidly to Daggett, California, where it connected to the ATSF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. In California, Clark negotiated a trackage rights agreement from Daggett to Riverside, California, allowing his new line to use the existing Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway route over Cajon Pass, in lieu of constructing its own tracks across the pass.
On April 16, 1916, the railroad's stockholders voted to remove "San Pedro" from the corporation's name. The former town of San Pedro had been consolidated within Los Angeles in 1909. The LA&SL operated independently until April 27, 1921, when the UP agreed to acquire Clark's half-interest in the railroad. After 1921 the LA&SL lines were operated as part of the UP system, although the LA&SL corporation continued to exist on paper until January 1, 1988.
Other than portions in the greater Los Angeles area the entire mainline remains in service as a critical transcontinental route for the modern day UP split into three subdivisions, the Lynndyl, Caliente, and Cima from east to west respectively.
Clark County, Nevada
Sunday November 20, 2011