slgwv's photos with the keyword: Jupiter

Promontory Summit, Utah, where the US transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. The National Park Service runs the Golden Spike National Historic Site here, complete with a museum and operational replicas of the original locomotives (seen here). The Central Pacific built eastward from Sacramento, California, while the Union Pacific went west from Council Bluffs, Iowa. A symbolic "golden spike" was used to link the rails in a ceremony on May 10, 1869. We're standing by the Central Pacific's Jupiter here looking toward the Union Pacific's 119 (the UP just prosaically used numbers, not names). The wide funnel on the Jupiter shows it was a wood burner; as the Central Pacific was built largely thru wilderness, fuelwood was abundant. #119, OTOH, was a coal burner as shown by its straight stack. The replicas are identical to the originals in all details except for a handful of safety-related modifications. In particular, the locomotives really were this colorful! I tended to think of 19th century rolling stock as dull and gray, from all those old B&W prints, but in fact they were downright gaudy. The left inset shows the Jupiter, seen from the side; the right inset shows #119. Ironically, the railroad itself is abandoned here; it was bypassed in 1904 by the Lucin Cutoff directly across the Great Salt Lake. The rails were ripped up in 1942 for the war effort, but a mile and a half was relaid for the park in 1969. The old railroad grade continues westward as the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) Transcontinental Back Country Byway (4WD recommended, but you'd probably be OK with high clearance.) It is surreal to drive along the old track alignment and see all the remnants from when it was an active rail line. It's remote and utterly deserted now. Being that it's an old railroad grade, it's also good for mountain biking. Here's the BLM writeup: www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/salt_lake/recreation/back_country ...

The working replica at the Golden Spike National Historic Site, Utah, USA. As for Union Pacific's #119 there are only a couple of minor safety-related changes in the replica vs. the original. It's just as gaudy, for one thing! I tended to think of Victorian locomotives as gray and dull, from all those old grainy b&w's, but in fact they were quite colorful. The funnel-shaped smokestack indicates this is a wood-burner. Wood-burning locomotives were quite common in 19th century North America, due to the abundance of trees in many places. Convenient forests were hard to come by in long-settled localities! This is the site, in the Utah desert north of the Great Salt Lake, where the original US transcontinental railroad was completed. The Central Pacific built eastward from California, while the Union Pacific built westward from Omaha, Nebraska. The link (the "Golden Spike") was finished on May 10, 1869. Ironically, this section of the railroad is now abandoned, being bypassed by a shortcut directly across the Great Salt Lake that was built just after the turn of the last century, and the rails were torn up in 1942 and recycled for the war effort! A short section was rebuilt in the 1960s for the historic park so the replicas would have a place to travel.

Where the US transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. The National Park Service runs the Golden Spike National Historic Site there, complete with a museum and operational replicas of the original locomotives, the Central Pacific's Jupiter and the Union Pacific's #119. (The Central Pacific was building eastward from California, while the Union Pacific built westward.) Note the differences in the locomotives' smokestacks. The wide funnel on the Jupiter was due to its being fueled by wood, while #119 was coal-fired. A screen over the top of the wide funnel on wood-burning locomotives was supposed to stop sparks, and thus keep the countryside from catching fire. It didn't always work... Ironically, the railroad itself is abandoned; it was bypassed in 1904 by the Lucin Cutoff laid directly across the Great Salt Lake. The rails were ripped up in 1942 for the war effort, but a mile and a half was relaid for the park in 1969.