Orem Interurban Electric Railroad

The Orem Electric Interurban, often referred to simply as "The Orem", was a train which ran south from Salt Lake City to Payson. The train ran straight through Provo. The Provo depot was located where the NuSkin building now stands on the south side of Center Street. The train was financed by Walter C. Orem and Simon Bamberger's Interurban Construction Company of Portland, Maine. The "Bamberger" line opened in 1896 when the section running northward between Salt Lake City and Ogden was completed. Steam Locomotives pulled the train until May 28, 1910 when it was converted to electricity.

The "Orem" line was completed from Salt Lake City to American Fork on March 23, 1913 and reached Provo in July of 1914. ¹ The line extended further south to Springville by July 1915, Spanish Fork in November, 1915, and Payson on March 24th, 1916. ² There were plans to extend the line even further, an additional 25 miles out to Nephi, and though the surveying was completed in 1917, the extension was never constructed due in part to the United States entering World War I. ³ The line continued through the 1920s and 1930s and eventually ceased operation in March of 1946. In 1937 the railroad was sold to George S. Eccles and M. A. Browning. They supplemented the train operations with bus service covering the same territory.

Notes

1. Stephen L. Carr and Robert W. Edwards, Utah Ghost Rails (Salt Lake City, Utah: Western Epics, 1989) 111.

2. ibid.

3. ibid.