The "Orange Special" Wreck
You are now standing on the historic railbed and to your right at
the gate that separates the old railbed fromt he highway, the Southern
Pacific covered an old trestle with fill on the steepest grade on
the Promontory Mountains. For years helper engines called "hogs"
stationed at Promontory Station were used to assist in getting heavily-
loaded trains up the hill and to hold back freight cars coming down.
Spring 1888:
"During the heavy orange season whole fruit trains wer eput on
'passenger schedule' and rushed east at speeds averaging almost
30 miles an hour. Even while going down treacherous East Promontory
Hill there was a sense of urgency; so desire for speed sometimes
got the better fo caution, and at one such time and probably
for that reason, four or five box-cars in the middle of an 'orange
special' jumped the track on the 'hill fill' and rolled down the south
embankment for some short distance causing the box cars to split
open and scattering of the orange crates over the hillside with many
of the crates themselves splitting open... A large quantity of these
oranges were subsequently retrieved in a more or less bruised
condition to the point where all the close ranchers on East Promontory
mountain and local railroad employees in the area were eating more
oranges in the ensuing two weeks than they would ordinarily
consume in an entire year." (W. A. Clay)
Don't miss the rest of our virtual tour of Golden Spike National Historical Site in 660 images.