Front view of Uintah Railway engine #30 at Dragon, Utah. Men pictured are from left to right , Roy Eno, MR. Fueler, Mr. McAllister, Mr. Grant. penciled on the back is "Sunday, Watch day at Dragon".
I've always thought that the Uintah was unique in the fact that it did not run on Sundays, but I wonder how many other narrow guage common carriers did not either. I always supposed tha thte D&RG ran on Sundays, but I'm not sure, how about the RGS, and C&S, SP ????
Also, does anyone know where the term "watch day" came from?
I imagine it came from "watching" the engines, rather than running them.
Dragon, Utah was the base of operation for engine #30 for all of its life from 1911, untill they cut her up in 1939. To big to go back over Baxter Pass for even major repairs, it stayed in Dragon, and a crew was "with her" all the time, living in Dragon, and somewhat distanced from the goings on in Atchee (the main engine repair and terminal).
I forget for how long it had the "largest narrowguage engine in America" title, but for a few years in the early teens. Does anyone have the link to the cool "largest by tractive effort" narrow guage chart that was posted here a couple of years ago?
It is photographed here on the tracks that led up to (behind the engine) the Dragon Mine. The tracks on the far right went on to Watson, utah. The water stand to the left was fed by gravity from a large wooden tank on the hill to the far left(not pictured). You can make out the "T" handle that turned on the valve to let the water flow. Interesting that all the water at this location first had to be brought in by the Uintah by tank car and drained in to a cystern near this same location. A gas powered pump was then used to pump the water up the hill to the tank.