May 2000

(Volume 5, No. 4)

President's Soapbox

Whether we want to believe it or not, we are only five months away from the 2000 Rail Show. Since much of our activity is dependent both financially and publicly on the success of the annual Railshow, it is not too early to begin planning the steps needed to create and execute a successful event. Since our show last October, we have attended both the Hostler Show and last weekend the Helena Railfair. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that even these seemingly successful shows do not come off without a few serious problems. Bob Solomon, who has been involved with the Helena show for many years, stepped away this year. One of the problems facing that event is that they must reserve their facility more than 3 years in advance. Many dealers also want to be able to plan ahead as far as possible.

One of the new activities present at the Helena show was a presentation by the Morse Code organization. Persons attending were able to send a telegram from one location to another telegrapher in the building and pick it up at the other table. One of those operating a key was John Barrows of Dillon, who was our dinner speaker at last years show.

We also have the 4th of July event to plan for and have been invited to bring a display to West Yellowstone in June for their annual commemoration of Train Days. In view of the time left before our show, we have begun to focus on preparations for these summer events and will scale back the construction of the Club layout to a level which will be feasible to complete before the show.

If you haven't seen the progress being made on both ends of the Idaho Falls section, please make a point to visit us and see for yourself. We can always find some track to ballast or backdrops to be painted if anyone wants to unveil a latent talent.

                                                            Leo Harker

Timetable

UP Locomotive History

The Union Pacific Railroad has always been infatuated with operating fast, high-horsepower locomotives. To meet the widely changing climatic conditions coupled to Challenging geography across the system, some of America's biggest road locomotives were designed and constructed for the Union Pacific.

Throughout the steam era, the operating demands of moving heavy height quickly over the mountain ranges which separated the east end of the system from the west, placed increasing demands for more horsepower. From the drawing boards came some of the most notable steam locomotive designs. including The unique three-cylinder 9000-class 3 cylinder 4-12-2's, the simple-articulated 4-6-6-4 "Challenger", and the world's largest steam engine ...the 4000-class "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4's.

The design criteria constantly demanded improvement in the speed and horsepower categories, closely followed by dependable ability and overall operating economy. In close cooperation with all major locomotive builders, the railroad's mechanical staff explored every new possibility in motive power development.

STEAM TURBINE DEVELOPMENTS

While steam operation reigned supreme over the first half century, a new stage was being set on the Union Pacific with the testing of the experimental General Electric steam turbine electric locomotive in 1939. For nearly two years, General Electric and Union Pacific design engineers planned and constructed this new concept in motive power completed in December 1938. In a departure from the usual steam locomotive appearance, the two 2500-hp units were housed in car bodies similar to the early Streamliners. Basically, steam was generated at 1500 pounds pressure which operated a two-stage, cross-compound turbine; in turn, the turbine was geared to two direct current generators, which supplied power to the six traction motors.

Extensive testing was conducted at General Electric's Erie Works prior to actual road testing on the New York Central in January 1939. After additional modifications, the two experimental steam turbine electrics were delivered to the Union Pacific, arriving on 4 April 1939. After handling a wide variety of assignments, the engineering theories advanced in these two units did not measure up in actual road service. The closed air-cooled condensing system, designed to convert the generated steam back to reuseable boiler water, proved less than satisfactory on long haul assignments. The units were simply too difficult to maintain.

The units never entered regular service. With the tests considered a failure, they were returned to General Electric on 1? June 1939. While these two locomotives were built under contract for the Union Pacific, General Electric retained ownership.

In fairness to the steam turbines, it should be mentioned that they operated reasonably successfully on the Great Northern Railway. Pressed into service in 1943, they helped relieve the wartime power shortage by operating short-haul freight assignments in the Pacific Northwest. By the end of 1943, after almost a year of road service on the Great Northern, the two units returned to General Electric in need of heavy repairs. After a thorough inspection at Erie Works, both locomotives were deemed not economically repairable and retired.

                                                                Leo Harker

The fruit of two years in designing and construction, General Electric tested the steam turbine electric locomotive set on eastern rails prior to delivery to the Union Pacific (Units 1 and 2 shown).

Union Pacific Steam (3985) Schedule 2000

June 10 – 13   Cheyenne to North Platte (display 2 days) to Cheyenne

July 15            Cheyenne to Laramie to Cheyenne for UPHS convention

July 20 – 23    Cheyenne to Denver for Denver Post. Round trip 1/22, then back to Cheyenne

July 30            Depart Cheyenne for Los Angeles taking about a week en route; on display at Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT) during the Democratic National Convention;  then return to Cheyenne via the same route, returning late August.

Rocky Mountain Rail Report, Bob Kreiger, UP Steam Crew

THE ISLAND PARK AREA (Conclusion)

by Thornton Waite

The Trude siding was named for A.S. Trude, a lawyer from Chicago who visited the area in 1888. He had heard about the floating islands in Henry's Lake on a trip through Yellowstone National Park. Before returning to Spencer to take the train back home, they camped at Shotgun Valley. The Trude party was intrigued by the beauty of the land in this area, and returned the next year or so with his family, who also were attracted to the area. Trude was essentially a siding for loading lumber and a railroad stop for the nearby fishing clubs. Some of the fishing clubs in the area included the Flat Rock Club, the Utaida Rod and Gun Club, and the North Fork Club, which had all been established at the turn of the century.

At one time Trude had a small, 10' x 20' depot, built in 1912, and gravel platform. There was also a wye to turn the trains, but the southern leg of the wye was eventually removed, leaving only a spur track. There was a post office at Trude in 1913, and A. Mack was the first postmaster. It was changed to Mack's Inn in 1923.

For many years Doc Mack, who built the Mack's Inn on the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Island Park, took fishermen to and from the train, which stopped at Trude. Doc Mack was a sportsman from Rexburg, and he built a lodge at Trude Siding when the railroad was first built. He took travelers to the Snake River by wagon, and they slept in framed tents by the railroad siding, and his wife did the cooking. When the highway was built through Island Park in 1916, Mack moved to a new location by the road.

Guild was also a siding with a passing track and a spur track, located at milepost 89. The post office was first established here in 1924, and a small village and lumber camp established. By 1928 the siding had a population of 100, most of them employed by the Montana & Idaho Company. They cut timber to prepare poles, posts, piles, and ties. With the advent of the Depression, the operations were discontinued, and by 1936 the post office had been discontinued, although the Montana & Idaho Company maintained limited operations at that time.

BIC SPRINGS (M.P. 90.7)

Big Springs was named for the nearby springs which feed into the Henrys Fork of the Snake River. It was a resort area, with several fishing clubs in the area. The location had a wye to turn trains so they wouldn't have to travel all of the way to West Yellowstone. The empty livestock trains from the south were often turned here for loading at Island Park, which was to the south. There was a post office from 1914 through 1960 at Big Springs.

Big Springs had an old carbody that served as a passenger and freight shelter, 9' x 34', built in 1910. There was a gravel platform and a handcar setout. A bunk house, built in 1913, was 16x 34'. The 24' diameter by 16' high wood water tank was on cast iron columns on a concrete base, and was built in 1913. The 50,000 gallon water tank that was gravity fed from a nearby spring.

In 1930 the Union Pacific listed Big Springs as having two stockpens, with two double deck loading chutes, and a capacity of 13 head of livestock on the loading deck. Scales were also available. By 1946 there were six pens for livestock, with 2 double deck loading chutes and scales. By this time the stockyard, originally built in 1911, had a capacity of 39 cattle, horses, sheep or hogs in the loading deck.

The first pen was 64' x 77', but it was later expanded to the six pens. They were in the middle of the wye, on the east side of the Yellowstone Branch, and there was a semaphore, bunkhouse and tool car, along with a passing track for the stockpens. When the line was removed, the stockpens were left in place, although they are deteriorating with the weather and time.

REAS PASS (M.P 91.2)

Pea Pass was named for George Reas, a local trapper, settler, and scout for General Oliver O. Howard during the Nez Perce War. He was the first legal homesteader in the region, and had initially visited the area in 1864, when he was 32. In 1865 George Reas tried the mine in Virginia City, with no luck, and the mines at Alder Gulch did not pan out either. He volunteered as a scout for the Chief Joseph War, when he went through Shotgun Valley. He returned later, was a guide, and also raised cattle and opened a fishery in 1897. He ran into some laws enforced by the U.S. Fish Commission concerning the shipment of the fish, and the Pacific Express Company said they would not ship the fish for him. In 1900 apparently 90,000 pounds of fish were shipped to Butte in the winter, and since it was illegal, the express companies and railroad were pressured not to accept the shipments of the trout and other game fish. If he wasn't able to use the railroad, he would have been forced to take them by wagon to Butte, a much more costly endeavor. Apparently the dispute was settled in his favor. Indicative of the harshness of the region, when he died in the winter of 1902 his coffin was taken by sled to Spencer, and then by train to Deer Lodge.  At an elevation of 6938 feet above sea level, the location was at the Idaho-Montana state line, which is also the Continental Divide. Since the trains went downhill from here to West Yellowstone, the helper engines were switched off at this location, turned on the wye, and returned to Ashton. There was also a passing track at this location.

There was also a spur track at milepost 99, in Montana, for loading timber, and another spur track for the section house. The next station was the end of the line at West Yellowstone.

Material Needed

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