UP Stained Glass art

For your holiday pleasure I offer the western-rail-themed stanned glass art in the UP station, SLC:

www.utahtransit.us/stained1.htm

Thanks for the pictures. What is the building being used for today? Judging by the excellent condition of the windows and building interior, I presume Amtrak is not the landlord.

You're right, Amtrak is long gone, though Amtrak did utilize (but did not own) the building for a lengthy period. Presently, the two wings are occupied by a watering hole and a retail outlet. But as retail space, the building just doesn't seem to work very well. The waiting room is used for periodic meetings, rallies, and the like (the Ron Paul reception was the last event there). But generally the building just sits there, looking good, but not doing much that's useful. The building is owned by the Gateway Shopping Development. As an interesting aside, during the 2002 Winter Olympics trackage to the station was restored by UP brass to give them easy access and accomodations with their business cars. Wow, RHIP.

www.utahtransit.us/stained1.htm

Great pictures. I love that old waiting room. I saw a wedding reception being set up in there this summer.

Amtrak used the Rio Grande Station in the 1990s. When did they use the UP station? Didn't the Amtrak trains cross the Great Salt Lake from Ogden, and skip SLC altogether until after the DRGW joined Amtrak?

Before Rio Grande joined Amtrak, 5 and 6 did indeed go straight across Wyoming, through Ogden, and then out over the causeway. But Amtrak never really liked the causeway because it was so danged rough. For a time in the 80's 5 & 6 were rerouted through Salt Lake, using the UP station. Back in those days there was a three way split in Salt Lake. Westbound 5 was broken up into the Zephyr to Oakland, the Pioneer to Seattle, and the Desert Wind on to Vegas and LA. Of course 6 reversed that process in Salt Lake going eastbound. The story actually is a little more complex than that, but my chronology is a little rusty. I remember that for a time the Pioneer originated in Salt Lake by itself, with the Zephyr coming south from Ogden to Salt Lake. During that period when the Promontory Chapter NRHS held its meetings in the station (above the waiting room) we would sometimes catch the Pioneer, ride it to Ogden and then catcth the Zephyr back to Salt Lake, all in one evening. There have been many changes through the years.

How time flies when your having fun! The processes and events I describe above were actually in the late 70's, early 80's!