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Utah Short Line Railroads: A Complete Guide

Published: April 5, 2025

By: Adam Burns

Deseret Power Railway (reporting mark, DPRW):  Constructed in 1984, this privately-owned, electrically operated railroad (formerly known as the Deseret Western Railway) hauls coal from a mine at Rangely, Colorado to a power plant at Bonanza, Utah owned by Deseret Generation & Transmission Co-operative.  It is isolated from the national rail network.

Salt Lake Garfield & Western Railway (reporting mark, SLGW):  This historic short line, also known as the "Saltair Route," has been based in the Salt Lake City area since its founding in 1891, originally designed as an interurban, electrified operation to carry resort guests visiting the Great Salt Lake. It later transitioned into a diesel-powered freight carrier (abandoning the electrics), in which it remains today connecting with both UP and BNSF.

Salt Lake City Southern Railroad (reporting mark, SL):  This 25-mile short line began operations in 1993 between Salt Lake City and Murray, Utah.  It is former Union Pacific/Oregon Short Line trackage and a division of the Utah Railway, a Genesee & Wyoming property.

Savage, Bingham & Garfield Railroad (reporting mark, SBG): This railroad is owned by Savage and began operations on October 1, 2007 over former Rio Grande trackage near Salt Lake City. The short line's parent company is Savage Industries.  The traffic is primarily coal related but  the railroad does handle other varieties of freight as well.

Utah Central Railway (reporting mark, UCRY): This short line is a Patriot Rail property and operates about 34 miles of track west of Ogden reaching Relico, Stratford, and an industrial park north of Ogden.

Its traffic consists of agricultural products, asphalt, bio-fuels (ethanol & bio-diesel), chemicals, crude oil, feed grains, food ingredients, lumber, metal and steel products, lumber/wood products, LPG, petroleum products, plastic resin, sugar, and sweetners.

Utah Railway (reporting mark, UTAH):  The historic Utah Railway was incorporated as the Utah Coal Railway Company on January 24, 1912 and changed its name during May of that year.  It was built primarily to handle coal where it connected with the Rio Grande at Helper.  

The railroad has been a G&W property since 2002 and operates, via trackage rights, over much of the former D&RGW from western Colorado to Salt Lake City/Ogden.  Aside from coal the company handles aggregates, brick/cement, building materials, chemicals, and petroleum products