Show IN RAILWAY CIRCLES Consolidation of the Oregon Short Line and Utah Northern THE THREE OTHER COMPANIES Interesting Developments May be Expected at the Coming Meetings The Bio Grande Extension General For some time past the question of a consolidation con-solidation of the branch lines of the Union Pacific system centering at Ogden has been under consideration The necessary papers have been drawn up and the directors have before them the immediate consolidation of cnsoldaton the Oregon Short Line and the Utah Northern railroad companies Tha first step to bring about this arrangement arrange-ment was taken at meeting of the trustees of the Oregon Short Line last week and the succeeding steps will be taken as rapidly as circumstances will permit By the consoli dation of the Oregon Short Line and the Utah Northern companies all questions of rates and division of business as between these two companies will be settled The consolidated company will operate 1077 miles of railroad between Granger and Ogden on the south and Huntington and Butte on the north and west Tho gross income of tho consolidated companies for the past year was 1777000 operating expenses 2850000 net revenue 1130000 or 375000 above fixed charges The question of incorporating with this company the other Utah lines of the Union Pacific system is also under consideration i There are three of these companies the Utah Central operating 2SO miles the Salt Lake St Western sb = t eight miles the Utah Nevada thirtyseven miles Should this largo consolidation be decided upon 1212 miles of road would thus be brought under one management instead of being under four managements as at present The proposed consolidation if carried out in all of its parts will undoubtedly exercise an influence not only upon the affairs of the Union Pacific but upon the future development of the whole territory tributary tribu-tary to Salt Lake city and Ogden The above is from the Omaha Herald which is recognized as an authority upon all Union Pacific movements It is also learned that steps will be at once taken to change the gauge of the Utah Northern t standard width At the conclusion of this work the trains will run direct to this city thus avoiding the annoyance of transfer trans-fer at Ogden That the Utah Central people peo-ple have decided to build to the coast is be iond question that both the owners of the local road and the managers of the great Union Pacific system have agreed that the work should be done is beyond douot And I it has been hinted in certain quarters that the only reason why dirt has not commenced com-menced to fly ere this is because of a disagreement dis-agreement between the two companies as to terms What these terms are or the difficulties in arriving at an understanding our informant does not state but he hinted that the obstacles in the way are not so serious as to be insurmountable That all disagreements will be brusned aside within the next two weeks is almost certain and we may expect some interesting developments develop-ments not only at the coming meeting i to lOJ held in Boston but also at the meeting of the Utah Central stockholders which occurs oc-curs on Saturday next The purchasing by 11 Hubbard of the ground in the vicinity of the Utah Central railway depot may after all have more significance sig-nificance than would at first appear That the Union Pacific people have always looked upon Salt Lake as being virtually the terminus of their road is evident from the fact that their headquarters are located here here it is where their big officials congregate and here is all their business done doneI is not a wild guess to say that we shall have sOle important railway news for our readers ere a month has elapsed |