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The two final segments of this report relate to my day trip from Denver to Salt Lake City on Friday, May 7.
Rather than using the A line for a one-stop ride to the Denver Airport I saved $5.25 and rode in the complimentary van from the hotel. DIA was not terribly crowded, nor was the Delta flight, which I estimated was about 50 percent full. The middle seat was empty in my row (
As mentioned in part 1, after finishing our “work” at Kimballs Lane we decided to ride the Red Line out to its terminal at Daybreak Parkway, planning to observe the degree of development that has occurred in the decade since the line was opened in 2011. On my trip in 2013 I observed there area was just scrub land, with a certain amount of industrial activity taking place. We would drive to the nearby Jordan Valley station to board a Red Line LRV train and make a round trip covering the four stops beyond
But we also recognized that the South Jordan station of the UTA’s (Utah Transit Authority) FrontRunner commuter line was close at hand and realized that we would not lose much time by stopping there for a photo. Consisting mainly of single track (except in the vicinity of various stations), the agency’s regional rail system covers some 82 miles between Provo, located to the south of Salt Lake City, and Ogden in the north, all operating alongside the Union Pacific Railroad’s right-of-way (that once saw varnish like the City of Los Angeles and the Challenger). As it happened the sun dipped under some clouds when we first stopped there, so we came back to the station again after our round trip on the Red Line–and then were much luckier.
The Sugar House trolley line is on the ROW of the D&RGW branch that once ran to Park City. The Blue Line to Draper is on the ROW of the former UP line thru Provo, that was sold to the transit authority after traffic was moved to the parallel Rio Grande mainline after the merger. The Red Line toward South Jordan partly follows a former Rio Grande branch ROW toward the Bingham Canyon copper mine.
Thanks for this valuable information.
Also looking at Google satellite view, there is still freight traffic on sidings off the Red Line in the Midvale/South Jordan area.
Thanks again for the information. The last photo has been corrected.
Your welcome, and thanks for posting your friend’s tour of the light rail. We were in Salt Lake a couple of years ago to the NRHS convention that coincided with the Golden Spike 150th anniversary. We only rode TRAX in the downtown free zone. We also rode the Front Runner to the Ogden meet between UP 844 and the Big Boy. It seems we rode buses more than trains, to the Golden Spike site, and to the Heber Valley tourist train. Even then we only got to ride Heber Valley less than 100 yards before the train derailed without ever leaving the yard. I’ve also been to Salt Lake three times on ski trips, but never had occasion then to ride the rail transit. I did occasionally ride the UTA buses to the ski areas. Those buses are four wheel drive on account of the steep, snowy access roads. They are considering constructing aerial gondolas from the SL valley up to the ski area bases, and possibly over the mountain to the Park City side. Glad at least to get the flavor of the light rail thru Mr. May’s lens and prose.
I forwarded your comments to Jack.
Front Runner is planning on removing their single-level Comet cars from service3 and is planning an all-high-platform double-deck futuure.
Thanks! That’s MAX, the light-rail system. Front runner is the diesel-locomotive psh-pull commuter system. Can you post a photo of that also?