Photo ID: 112100 Date Shot Photo By Friday, March 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Helper, UT 18 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Rocky Mountaineer The Rocky Mountaineer heads west on Main 1 through Helper. The upper yard, to the left, is almost completely empty. For years, it was used to store coal hoppers. With coal largely gone as a resource in the United States, only a few strings of hoppers still remain. Seems kind of ironic that there are so many empty yard tracks here, when UP uses CTC sidings in the desert for storing cars. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112099 Date Shot Photo By Friday, March 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Yard Helper, UT 21 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Rocky Mountaineer The westbound Rocky Mountaineer is has eight cars, testing out expanded service set to being in 2026. The train will be rebranded from the Rockies to the Red Rocks to the Canyon Spirit. The train, for the first time, rolls by the Amtrak platform in Helper on Main 1. Main 2 sits closest to the platform, which has a couple of folks watching the passing train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112098 Date Shot Photo By Friday, March 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Yard Helper, UT 22 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Union Pacific Helper continues to live up to its name, even in 2025. A dozen or so units idle away in the lower yard at Helper, waiting for their next assignment. Heavy westbounds, including oil trains and coal trains, still have manned helpers added to them for the 2.15% climb up Soldier Summit. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112097 Date Shot Photo By Friday, March 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Yard Helper, UT 20 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Union Pacific A fantastic-looking SD70M, UP 4190, is powered down and rests in the yard. Not sure if it is being stored, or if it simply waiting for some assignment, but it's been awhile since I've seen an SD70M sporting paint quite this pristine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109135 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 13, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Helper, UT 367 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Union Pacific, BNSF Helper, once a mecca for tunnel motors, is now quiet most days. This Saturday offers a bit of action, a break in the quietness. Crews work on constructing a new platform for Amtrak at the depot. Crews work to put a ballast train back together after cutting out mid-trains wing helpers which sit on the yard track next to Main 1. A BNSF manifest starts the climb up Soldier Summit, a pair of DPUs bringing up the tail end of the train on Main 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109134 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 13, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG626 (East Helper) Helper, UT 282 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF A westbound BNSF Denver-Provo rolls through the crossover at East Helper on Main 1. If you look along the string of covered helpers, you'll note a track that branches off. This track leads to the "upper yard" at Helper. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109133 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 13, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Helper, UT 239 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Union Pacific UP 6370 is waiting for a recrew to arrive. Once the new crew has arrived, the train will pull forward and cut off one of the two units on the tail end. The four units that served as mid-train swing helpers for the climb over Soldier Summit are visible in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109132 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 13, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Helper, UT 343 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Union Pacific A shot giving an overview of both the main part of town and the yard at Helper. These days, most the tracks in the yard lie empty. The "upper yard" still has a few hopper sets in storage, but not much else is found here in the yard. A ballast train is preparing to depart east after being put back together, its mid-train swing helpers now cut out. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109131 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 13, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Helper, UT 236 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Union Pacific While a crew works to put a ballast train back together after cutting out mid-train swing helpers, a foreman discusses work on the construction of a new platform for Amtrak at Helper. Note the red flag in between Main 1 and 2. The Form B protecting the work crew is only in effect for Main 2 alongside the platform. Similarly, the red board only affects trains on Main 2, not Main 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109130 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 13, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Helper, UT 242 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Kansas City Southern de Mexico, Union Pacific Helper is not quite as much a hub of activity as it was 20 years ago. With manned helpers replaced by DPUs, and the disappearance of coal, it is a bit more quiet. But not totally inactive. An eastbound Herzog ballast train removes some mid-train swing helpers, leaving them in the yard. Meanwhile, power from a westbound oil empty that arrived the day before sits waiting for its next assignment in the yard. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109109 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 13, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helper Helper, UT 276 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Amtrak Siemens ALC-42 Chargers continue to be delivered to Amtrak as eventual replacements for the aging P42DC fleet. AMTK 330 and AMTK 331 both sport the newest paint scheme Amtrak has to offer, the Phase VII scheme. The Zephyr is on Main 2, approaching the platform at Helper. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109108 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 13, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG627 (West Helper) Helper, UT 316 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Amtrak At the West Helper Crossover, the eastbound Zephyr proceeds on Main 2 toward its station stop at Helper. Freshly painted Phase IV heritage unit AMTK 164 leads a standard-painted P42 and a pair of brand new Phase VII Chargers. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104290 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 14, 2012 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Kyune Helper, UT 2337 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Utah Railway The curves at Kyune make for some really nice rail photography. In this shot, this Utah Railway coal load is headed west on Main 2. Next to it is the siding of Kyune and on the far side in Main 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104289 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 14, 2012 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Willow Creek Helper, UT 2574 (2 Comments Posted) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Utah Railway A few miles west of Utah Railway Junction (or "URJ" as it is referred to on the railroad), all five of these units are in Run 8 working hard to pull the train up Main 2 on the eastern slope of Soldier Summit. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104288 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 14, 2012 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Martin Helper, UT 2078 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Utah Railway The view from above Utah Railway's Tunnel 1 is a great one! In the distance, you can see the base of Price River Canyon. To the right is UP's Provo Subdivision just west of Helper. To the left is Utah Railway's Martin Yard. The two come together at Utah Railway Junction at the base of the canyon. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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