Pergelator: Bootlegger Train Tunnel Utah

A view of these ponds showed up in my screensaver, and so I thought I'd see if I could locate it on the map. I found it, but then I notice a portal to a train tunnel, so I go digging some more and I found this on Train Sim World 3:

By American railroad standards, the Cane Creek Branch is a newcomer. In the late 1950s, plans took form to tap massive potash deposits found along the Colorado River in eastern Utah. By 1960, development of what would evolve into today’s sprawling potash mine and processing facility south of Moab and near Cane Creek were rapidly taking form, and the Denver & Rio Grande Western agreed to build a new branch from its main line at Brendel. Grading and construction of the new branch line was contracted to Morrison-Knudsen and work began in August 1961. Morrison-Knudsen completed its work in September 1962 and D&RGW crews moved in to lay the tracks.

The potash mine and facility at the south end of the line began production in late 1964 and the branch was operated by D&RGW as its Cane Creek Branch until the road’s merger into Union Pacific (D&RGW was combined with the Southern Pacific in 1988 and merged into Union Pacific in 1996). While there have been fluctuations in the amounts of potash being moved over the Cane Creek Branch, it has been in nearly continuous use since the 1960s.

Remarkably, the Cane Creek line gained a second purpose – and source of extensive tonnage – in 2008. Moab had long been the site of a Uranium mill which closed in 1984, leaving approximately 12 million tons of dirt tailings behind. While these tailings are only modestly radioactive, the risk of their erosion into the nearby Colorado River required eventually reclamation. Under the auspices of the United States Department of Energy, a burial site for the tailings was developed at Brendel and train loads of the contaminated soil began moving over the length of the Cane Creek Subdivision to Brendel. These unusual rail movements, nicknamed “the dirty dirt trains,” are expected to continue until approximately 2028. Given that both the potash and contaminated soil tonnage involves carrying loads northbound, the climb from Potash and Moab to Brendel requires plenty of horsepower.

Bootlegger Train Tunnel Utah