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GARTNEY Established Station: March 1, 1888
Formally Abandoned: July 30, 1957
Named after nearby Gartney Mountain, Gartney Station was on the SP mainline from San Francisco to Ogden between Tecoma, Nevada and Lucin, Utah. Tracks were laid through that area in March 1869. It was likely not a regular maintenance station as were Lucin and Tecoma, which lay about 12 miles apart from one another. Rather, it was established as an important link in locomotive operations as well as operating as a freight station. Its operational role was likely as an engine turning facility for helper engines assisting trains moving westward up Gartney Hill. There is a 1.3 percent grade between Lucin and Montello. 1 The earliest date known for operations at Gartney is 1888 when it is written in the station list between Tecoma and Utah Line. 2 After that the name is printed. It is likely that sometime during the 1890s, perhaps even when it was established, a turntable was built there to turn helper engines. A newspaper article concerning a fatal accident confirms that a turntable existed at Gartney, at least as early as 1898. From the Ogden Daily Standard of 1898: ... Early in the morning an engine ran off the Gartney turntable 37 miles west of Terrace, near Tecoma. The engineer and fireman barely escaped with their lives, and the engine plowed down the steep bank and buried itself in the sand. A large gang went to work at the wreck and a wrecking train went out from Terrace. [Jack] Rouse [General Foreman] and [Peter] Meaden [mechanic] were of the party and were deep in the work all day. The engine had been blocked up and at about 5:30 p.m. a rope, passed under the
Milepost: 678 miles from San Francisco
trucks and looped through an eye; an engine was attached to pull the truck up, when the strain proved too great for the rope and it broke. The brake released the end of the rope in which was the loop; in the loop was a steel eye, and this eye flew out and struck these two men, breaking Meaden's skull over the right eye, and crushing in the back of Rouse's head. The facts were wired to Ogden, and... a special [was sent] out from Ogden with Dr. Perkins and nurses. The specials were of no avail, however as Meaden died at 6:05 and Rouse at 6:30, before the train reached Terrace .... 3
SP Station lists show a turntable still in operation at Gartney in 1907, but it seems to have been removed by 1908.4 A number of train wrecks occurred on Gartney Hill over the years, the worst seems to have been in 1907 when a number of men were killed on the job and many lawsuits filed of which SP lost on most if not all. For instance, Mary R. Schuler received $9,000 from a lawsuit against the Southern Pacific for the death of her husband, a mail clerk killed in the January 1907 wreck. 5 The line from Montello to Lucin was double tracked in 1911, reducing the grade which: ... eliminated westbound helpers on Gartney Hill, two miles of 1.3 percent grade near Tulasco. The new westbound line was separated from the old line and followed creek up a gentle 0.6 percent grade through Grouse, effecting quite a savings on helpers. 6
