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

Salt Lake City Southern Railroad
Tracks end at 600 South (originally connected to Union Pacific station) 700 South 800 South 400 West (southbound, northbound) Former connection to mainline to the west 900 South American Avenue (at Gale Street) Ramp connecting West Temple and Interstate 15/80 300 West (at Brooklyn Avenue) UTA's TRAX Blue, Red, and Green lines 200 West southbound (at Paxton Avenue) Ballpark station 1300 South Former Salt Lake and Utah mainline 1700 South freight siding freight spur freight spur Salt Lake City 2100 South South Salt Lake Central Pointe station S-Line Streetcar to Sugarhouse TRAX Green Line to West Valley City freight siding Haven Avenue Interstate 80 freight spur 2700 South freight spur Century Park Way Mill Creek UTA right-of-way to Main Street Gregson Avenue Millcreek station 3300 South freight siding Meadowbrook station South Salt Lake 3900 South Millcreek Township freight spur Central Avenue freight spur Millcreek Township Big Cottonwood Creek Murray Fireclay Avenue Murray North 4500 South 4500 South Frontage Road freight spur 4800 South Little Cottonwood Creek Vine Street Union Pacific and FrontRunner Murray Central freight siding 5300 South Cottonwood Street Union Pacific and FrontRunner Rail yard access road 5900 South 6100 South Interstate 215 Fashion Place West Winchester Street TRAX Red Line to South Jordan 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) Former Salt Lake and Alta mainline 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 Sandy 11400 South 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 1871–1872 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 1936–1993 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.