 bigger |
Travel Through History along Railroad Routes and Train Towns Comstock Historical Society and Virginia & Truckee Info:Virginia Truckee History -- Links -- Photos -- Discussion |
Utah's Helper is a railroad and mining town with all the rough history of a wild west town. It's named Helper because of the helper locomotives used to haul trains over Soldier Summit to Provo.
Unpatched D&RGW 5371 lives (lived?) in Helper, UtahHelper is a National Historic District
Helper has displays of historic maintenance of way equipment
Helper is home to an Amtrak Station at a Union Pacific Yard
Helper is Utah's Christmas Town. I have several pages in the works about Helper, Price, Castle Country and the Dinosaur Diamond. Most people focus on areas south of Interstate 70 in Utah, but Castle Country and the Energy Loop are not to be missed -- especially in the Wintertime..
Oh, be sure to stop at Helper's National Historic District. I would add a link to a site about Helper's National Historic District, but I can't find one, so I'm building it here.
From Reno to Elko, from Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo to Green River, Utah, you'll be traveling through interesting railroad history.
Today, Reno-Sparks is a contiguous metropolitan area. You can hardly tell where the city limit is without a map. It didn't used to be like that. Reno may have the new Trench, but Sparks is where real railfans will want to go. As pictured above, try staying at the (John Escuaga's) Nugget in Sparks. If you can get a south facing room you will have the Sparks yard below you. If you're not staying there, the parking garage can provide a great spot for photos overlooking the Union Pacific yard where the Amtrak California Zephyr stops.
Elko, Nevada is a civilized place -- there's a Starbuck's there at the Red Lion Inn/Casino.
While some towns along Interstate 80 in Nevada are worth driving through, I recommend a stop at Elko. If nothing else, pad your schedule an hour or two so you can drive south of Elko to Lamoille Canyon Nation Scenic Byway. Elko is a very civilized place and has a new hospital offering many critical services. It has quite an interesting history, since it was good enough for Bing Crosby there is a history of celebrity visits to Elko. Bing had a ranch in Northeastern Nevada and helped put the place on the map.
Salt Lake City is a great rail destination with two classic stations: Union Pacific's plus Denver and Rio Grande Western's building, both downtown in Salt Lake City.
While Salt Lake City is poorly served by Amtrak (westbound at midnight, eastbound at 3am), it's a great place to base a railroad vacation. Ogden, Utah is not far north with the tremendous history museum. Promontory Point, Echo and Weber Canyon are easily driveable destinations.
Green River, Utah, is home to the John Wesley Powell River History Museum.
Be sure to go the extra distance to Green River, Utah, home of the John Wesley Powell River History Museum. Green River is a small town off Highway 70 in eastern Utah. Just west of Green River, Highway 6 cuts northwest through Castle Country, Price, Helper and over Soldier Summit to Provo, Utah.
There is a state campground and park in Green River, as well as a few budget and luxury motels. There's another John Wesley Powell Museum in Page, Arizona.
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |