Utah Ghost Rails

As there are ghost towns in Utah, so there are ghost railroads. A Ghost town is a village bereft of its former population, for whatever reason, or at the most, containing a small fraction of its previous residents - and where essentially all its former activity has died out. A Ghost railroad is one which has run the course of its existence. When the purpose for which a rail line was built comes to an end, there is generally no further reason to keep the rails intact, as the cost of keeping tracks on the ground, let alone maintaining them, is enormous these days. And, of course, the value of the rails, signals, etc., have to be recovered by the railroad companies, and the taxable land and individual companies railroad owns becomes burdensome if it is not producing income.

The book is written, as well, for those who enjoy getting out to the back country, four-wheeling on old railroad grades, many of which pass through ghost villages on their way to other ghost towns. Quite a number of these abandoned grades are on public domain land and can be visited, walked along and even driven on.

It is our hope that this volume will be of benefit to whatever types of interests a person has that prompt his delving into the reading and appreciation of Utah's history.