Rest Area on the D and RGW in Spanish Fork Canyon with Odd Locomotive

In Utah's Spanish Fork Canyon the highway department has constructed a rest area to something of a railroad theme. AND something of a steam locomotive?

We are not sure if this is pretty, fun, funny or ?. The rest area is on highway 6 which is also the original route of the Denver and Rio Grande Western and Union Pacific trains pass by this area every hour or so. While it's a great idea, the execution is a bit of a miss. Our first clue was in the main building where the poster by the travel counsel showed an image of a European steam prototype. Hum... on the route of the great Denver and Rio Grande Western, where narrow gauge steam locomotives climbed the steep grade and were soon replaced by monster locomotives. And still in use today. It seems the people putting this 2 million dollar project together don't know trains. Or at least don't understand train people.

From the web:

This is a very unique rest stop built on the site of a former ghost town of Tucker, Utah. With a railroad theme, it has a simulated roundhouse for picnic shelters and a small 'station' serving as the restroom and vending area. It even has a replica engine in the roundhouse. This has been voted the 'most beautiful rest area in Utah.

If you go:
This is the only rest area between Spanish Fork and Helper. It is well worth a few minutes of your time to take a break here and read some of the history of this mining and railroading area.

[acsmith]

That's the gubament for probably spent more money on that loco instead of doing an exterior refurb of a donated loco. Cheers!

[ritaloy]

You never know what you will find while screwing around that will lead to even more screwing around.

[erikhobby]

that european loco in the picture was funny! and the fake locomotive was just plain crazy!

[paulbislin]

That European steam engine picture shows a pruissian built G8.1 (0-8-0, later class 55.25) or a pruissian G10 (0-10-0, later class 57.10) but dressed as a polish or czech engine. Most likely it‘s a polish class TP4 (prussian G8.1) where the „P“ was changed to „F“, so it now is „TF“ for „Tie Fork“.

[ChrisK-LTC]

Hey, at least they are "trying" to preserve the railroad history of the area.

[kerridillon]

A little bit of funky fun never hurt anyone! Spanish fork picnic area....pass the weenies pleeze!! 😉

[PanzerDave]

Wow, $2 Million and they couldn't have spent an hour to gain some actual knowledge. I bet that one phone call to a rail buff or model railroad enthusiast would have made the place so much better. Come to think of it, I know of a couple who are great rail and model rail enthusiasts and they even have their own YouTube channel!

On the plus side, it is a huge improvement over some square, uninspired ugly modern building. If it makes you feel any better, when I was stationed at Fort Knox, KY, there was a rest stop built on Interstate 65 (I think) south of Louisville that was huge, expensive, and remains pretty much unused. Thank you for sharing this.

[karynfelix-the-Cat]

The only thing missing on that lil Chew-Choo, is the license plate holder! With all that back and forth piping... Maybe it doubles as a still??

[coolrides]

"Close enough for government work!" LOL! Jack

[nathancorcoran]

It's a great place. The locomotive is kinda a weird locomotive. And that picture of a 2-8-0. Probably it's a picture of D&RGW 223. I do hope that locomotive will be done soon.

[billtimmons]

LOL ... "art" and science of railroad memorabilia, with a lot of "art" there heh? I've been there and it was a welcome relief from too much windshield time. Sat on picnic tables and ate beer nuts and drank V8! Very quirky place but I loved visiting. 2020 is gonna be a great year for RR videos ... see ya around.

[juneshopper]

that is a cool place, one of our friends is a follower of yours and did run into you at Ogden or Prom Point last year when we were there too. He even took a picture of both of you, I had never heard of your YT page, but he learned about this place from your video and we did stop there. It was at night so we could not do a picnic but we walked around inside and saw that engine, but because it was dark, we did not notice the errors. I have subscribed now and will keep up with your travels. He had shared this the other day on Facebook and I followed the link to see it. We also went to a restaurant that you had wrote about, Dairy Keen in Utah with model trains running around and that was a fun place too. Keep up the great work and thx for sharing your travels.

[susanlary]

Never boring always magical and oh, so very interesting TOY MAN & Karyn!

[loveuandme]

I don't remember commenting on this one, but I certainly was there. Funny looking locomotive and all, but the rest area appears to be nice. It was dark when we arrived though after leaving Promontory where I met you in person, but the rest area was lit up.

[robertemmons]

My wife had shown me this rest area a few years ago. She thought that I would get a kick out of it, and I did! I actually loved this location. Yes, although that locomotive is a bit "off" I still enjoyed looking it over. I have pics of our stop there, but they're buried in my stuff, somewhere...


Thank you again for another fine video.

[ryanfrost]

I believe the consolidation in the picture at 3:58 is D&RGW 223 in its early stages of life.

[Brian_rock_railfan]

would be so awesome if there was a live steam railroad there at the rest stop

[acox]

That's not a bad idea making rest area need a nice-looking using a railroad theme. At the beginning of December Roy Utah and drove through Provo canyon then I have to go north up to Idaho and seem all the signs for promontory canyon it was neat to be that close to history

[Rebel]

That "locomotive" gave me a headache just looking at it on youtube, lol.

[N-Scale]

I would applaud their attempt here.
Mike