Curvo, Utah, is a location on the route of the first Transcontinental Railroad that may be unique in American railroading.
A Transcontinental Railroad spot not found on Google Maps
It is a remote spot in northern Utah — don’t bother looking for it on Google Maps: It doesn’t show up.
Located in the middle of ranchland brimming with no trespassing signs and on Union Pacific property far away from public roads, it is one of the hardest landmarks to reach on the Transcontinental Railroad.
It’s also little known.
Even a few officials at Union Pacific headquarters at Omaha, Neb., hadn’t heard of it when I proposed a visit during an information gathering tour in June 2018.
Located on the west slope of the long, drawn out Wahsatch (railroad spelling) grade (almost 65 miles, all of it uphill from Ogden to Wahsatch, Utah, just outside of Evanston, Wyo.,) it is where UP’s westbound and eastbound mainlines cross each other at the mouth of two tunnels.
The westbound main flies over the eastbound on a bridge. It is an impressive location, filled with drama and suspense. I know of no other place like it anywhere.
Because of Curvo, eastbound freights leaving Ogden, Utah, use the left hand track of the doubletrack mainline through Morgan, Henefer, and Echo until they reach Emory, where the original 1869 mainline and the 1916 second mainline split. At Curvo, the split places eastbound trains onto the right hand track, and vice versa.
It wasn’t always like this.
Grenville Dodge solves a construction challenge on the Transcontinental Railroad
When construction manager Gen. Grenville Dodge was trying to speed the UP’s westward push toward Promontory, Utah, and the Golden Spike, he flung a series of switchbacks across Wahsatch grade to get the railroad to Echo and Weber canyons. The arrangement was awkward and lasted only a few months. The present day location of those switchbacks has been obliterated by Interstate 80.
Excellent sources for detailed information about this can be found from Union Pacific Historical Society and also Don Strack’s wonderful UtahRails.net website.
For years, and not that long ago, Curvo was a popular place for UP to stage publicity photos of new rolling stock: It was an over and under shot that was best suited to afternoon light. The late Bill Kratville used the location many times. Can you imagine today closing both mainlines of the Transcontinental Railroad for publicity shots?
During our visit in June 2018, we got lucky and caught two westbounds. A road foreman accompanied me and my UP public relations host to the site, where he used his radio to let the two westbounds know of our presence. It was morning when we photographed one train from the lower vantage point, and the other from the traditional spot at track level.
I never thought I would be fortunate enough to visit this amazing spot on the first Transcontinental Railroad, but I am delighted to share the experience with you. Maybe one day I can go back and get an eastbound here.
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Thanks for the excellent article! I saw several videos of 4014 heading west thru Curvo Tunnel for the Southwest Tour. I tried to find Curvo on Google Maps, but it didn’t show up on search. However, I did find this informative article. I submitted the location to Google Maps, and it was accepted as a historical landmark 10/4/2019. Once the change is published (not sure how often changes get updated) Curvo Tunnel will be a searchable location in Google Maps.
Drove by yesterday on I-80. You can see where the lines cross at a secluded location
Thanks for the link to this location, but I think Jim was just saying that Curvo is not geographic location that will show up if you search for it. It does not.
It shows up just fine on Google Maps https://goo.gl/maps/3MkBgr4PZzH2