Salt Lake City Southern Railroad

The Salt Lake City Southern Railroad (reporting mark SL) is a 25-mile (40 km) short-line railroad operating between Salt Lake City, and Murray, in Utah, United States. The SL began operating on April 19, 1993, as a RailTex subsidiary. Today the SL is a subsidiary of the Utah Railway and is owned by the Genesee & Wyoming Inc.

Salt Lake City Southern Railroad

Overview
Headquarters	Murray, Utah
Reporting mark	SL
Locale	Salt Lake City, Utah United States
Dates of operation	April 19, 1993–Present

v t e Salt Lake City Southern Railroad
Legend
to Union Pacific station 600 South (tracks end) 700 South 800 South 400 West to Union Pacific mainline 900 South American Avenue (at Gale Street) ramp between West Temple & I-15 / I-80 300 West (at Brooklyn Avenue) 200 West southbound (at Paxton Avenue) UTA TRAX  701   703   704  Ballpark 1300 South Salt Lake and Utah Railroad 1700 South freight siding freight spur freight spur 2100 South Salt Lake City South Salt Lake Central Pointe S Line to Fairmont  704  to West Valley City freight siding Haven Avenue I-80 freight spur 2700 South freight spur Century Park Way Mill Creek UTA right-of-way to Main Street Gregson Avenue Millcreek 3300 South freight siding Meadowbrook 3900 South South Salt Lake Millcreek freight spur Central Avenue freight spur Big Cottonwood Creek Millcreek Murray Fireclay Avenue Murray North 4500 South 4500 South Frontage Road freight spur 4800 South Little Cottonwood Creek Vine Street Union Pacific & FrontRunner Murray Central freight siding 5300 South Cottonwood Street Union Pacific & FrontRunner rail yard access road 5900 South 6100 South I-215 Fashion Place West Winchester Street  703  to Daybreak Parkway Murray Midvale 7200 South Midvale Fort Union 7500 South Center Street Midvale Center South State Street Jordan and Salt Lake City Canal 8000 South industrial access road Midvale Sandy 8530 South (Pioneer Avenue) Salt Lake and Alta Railroad 8680 South Sandy Main Street 8800 South Historic Sandy East Jordan Canal 9000 South Sandy Expo 9400 South Sego Lily Drive Sandy Civic Center Dry Creek 10600 South 11000 South Crescent View 11400 South Sandy Draper 11800 South Kimballs Lane 700 East 12300 South Draper Town Center 12400 South UTA (former Union Pacific) right-of-way to Utah County

History

The line was originally built between 1871 and 1872 by the Utah Southern Railroad. By March 30, 1872, the Utah Southern reached Point of the Mountain, which is the southern end of the Salt Lake City Southern Railroad at Mount. In the 1870s, the Utah Southern was constructing a 105-mile (169 km) line from Salt Lake City to Chicken Creek (Juab County). Brigham Young was listed as the railroad's president. In June 1875 financial control of the railroad was turned over to the Union Pacific Railroad.

On July 1, 1881, the Utah Southern was consolidated into the Utah Central Railway. The Utah Central was building a rail network from Ogden–Milford. By 1888 the Utah Central was an operating subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad.

On August 1, 1889, the Utah Central was consolidated into the Oregon Short Line and Utah Northern Railway, an operating subsidiary of the Union Pacific. On March 1, 1897, the railway was renamed the Oregon Short Line Railroad (OSL). The OSL, a UP subsidiary, was leased to the UP on January 1, 1936.

From 1936 to 1993 the Union Pacific operated the tracks as part of their "Provo Subdivision." In the 1990s the UP shifted its trains on the Provo Subdivision to the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad tracks between Salt Lake City and American Fork. The UP no longer needed the line between Salt Lake City and Mount (also known as Mound or Point of the Mountain).

RailTex acquired the line between Salt Lake City and Mount and began operations in 1993 as the Salt Lake City Southern Railroad. Today the Utah Transit Authority (UTA light rail) owns much of the track as part of their light rail right-of-way acquisitions. UTA utilized the right-of-way for its TRAX light rail system, and is used, at least in part, by all three of its TRAX lines (Blue, Green, and Red, but primarily the Blue Line). The SL operates over the UTA tracks via trackage rights.

On September 30, 1999, the SL became a subsidiary of the Utah Railway.

Sources

• "Genesee & Wyoming, Inc.: Utah Region". gwrr.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 5 Jan 2016 – via web.archive.org.
• Stindt, Fred A. (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide (5th ed.). Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 272–273. ISBN 0-89024-290-9.
• Strack, Don (2004). "Salt Lake City Southern Railroad" (PHP). utahrails.net. Retrieved 12 Mar 2006.
• Walker, Mike (1999). SPV's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America—Colorado & Utah. Faversham, Kent, United Kingdom: Steam Powered Publishing. pp. 39, 41, & 45. ISBN 1-874745-03-X.

• Railways portal