With Union Pacific LJP44 “dirt train” local from Salt Lake City late this particular morning, still crossing the grade over Soldier Summit, the LJP45 local out of Helper had some time to kill ... (more)

A quartet of Rio Grande Tunnel Motors bask in the lights of the fuel track at Union Pacific’s Helper Yard locomotive facility on the eve of July 26, 2002.

As exhaust rises into the illumination of a light tower, Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2 No. 5371 rests next to the venerable sand tower at Helper, Utah, on the night of October 23, 2007. By this autumnal ... (more)

Waiting for duty, a trio of Rio Grande SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors bask in the summer sun in the engine facility at Helper, Utah, on August 7, 1996.

By February 2006, Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2 No. 5371 was the last Denver & Rio Grande Western locomotive on the Union Pacific system in its original unpatched paint and road number. Slumbering next t... (more)

Utah Railway Alco RSD15 403 at Martin Yard with a Coal Empty. As the unit notches up it lets out a cloud of black smoke. typical Alco turbo lag. photo taken in the late afternoon on a nice fall ... (more)

Time was fast running out for #5371. It was the very last un-renumbered, unpatched Rio Grande unit left on the Union Pacific RR. Fittingly it ran it’s last miles out of Helper, Utah on the “Di... (more)

Utah Railway power rests at Martin.

After conquering Soldier Summit, a coal train arrives at Helper.

The helpers of a run through manifest prepare to duck into a tunnel while pushing a run through BNSF train up to Soldier Summit on the former D&RGW.

The small town of Helper, UT located about 110 miles southeast of Salt Lake City was named for the extra engines based here to help trains up the D&RGW’s steep mountain grade to Soldier Summit. ... (more)

2 sets of helper power await the next call to help at, not coincidentally, Helper UT. The town of Helper rests at the bottom of Soldier Summit on the former D&RGW and was aptly named as the basec... (more)

A UP empty hopper train rolls down Soldier pass with the towering Castle Gate rock guarding the mouth of Price Canyon in the background.

Crew change at Helper, Utah. Scanned from a color print.

Denver & Rio Grande Western RR, The Action Road