Lucin Cutoff, 1904
From: "Brian Craddock" wf5232@austin.rr.com
When was the original track that passed through Promontory Summit in northern Utah abandoned? I've been up there several times, and it looks like the end of the world. My railroad atlas shows the east-west track now runs considerably south of the Transcontinental route. ...
—Brian R. Craddock, Austin, Texas
When was the original track that passed through Promontory Summit in northern Utah abandoned? I've been up there several times, and it looks like the end of the world. My railroad atlas shows the east-west track now runs considerably south of the Transcontinental route. ...
—Brian R. Craddock, Austin, Texas
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 5:33 AM
3 Comments:
"When finished in 1904, the Lucin Cutoff replaced the original line running north of the lake, although the Promontory line continued to be used occasionally when bad weather threatened the cutoff. Finally, in 1942, the company tore up the rails between Lucin and Corinne and contributed the scrap iron to the war effort. Amid ceremonies with two engines facing each other, workmen began the task by pulling up the 'last spike' at Promontory."
"In 1902 the Southern Pacific Railroad constructed a new line directly across the lake, so that engines would not have to climb over the mountains. For 12 miles this route crossed a trestle-- like a low bridge, made of 28,000 wooden pilings. In 1957-1959 this trestle was replaced by the causeway– a solid raised roadway made of 50 million cubic yards of rock, sand and gravel."
"The original Promontory Branch continued to be used in its entirety until abandoned on September 8, 1942."
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