Thistle, UT
Site of the 1983 Thistle landslide that buried the original UP main and rerouted both road and rail. Public US-6 and US-89 pullouts pass the landslide scar and the rebuilt railroad alignment. The drowned remains of Thistle townsite are still visible from the highway. The active UP Provo Sub passes through the new alignment.
US-6 / US-89 are busy roads — park well off, set hazards. The Thistle area is geologically active; rockfall is possible after wet weather. The rebuilt rail tunnel and slide-prevention infrastructure are UP property; do not approach.
Roadside pullouts along US-6 / US-89 in the Thistle area. The Thistle Tunnel approach has informal capacity.
Morning best — east-facing canyon walls. The narrow alignment limits direct sun to a few hours daily.
High — same UP Provo Sub traffic that runs over Soldier Summit. 25-40 trains/day.
Thistle (the historic townsite) is essentially abandoned. Spanish Fork (~12 miles north) and Helper (~30+ miles south) have services.
Hotels and rail experiences nearby. Links earn us a small referral — we only surface partners we'd use ourselves.
The starter kit serious railfans wish they'd bought day one. Each link earns us a small Amazon Associates referral — we only list gear we'd actually carry.
The definitive volume of US railroad maps — every mainline, every branch, every connection, with mile markers and dispatcher territories. You will memorize this. Multiple regional volumes; pick the one for where you railfan. ($30-$50 per volume)
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A 70-200 or 100-400 at full reach gets shaky after a few minutes of waiting. Carbon-fiber monopod folds to ~16in and weighs nothing. Worth its price the first time you nail a 1/250s shot of a stopped train. ($40-$80)
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The no-setup railfan scanner. Comes pre-loaded with AAR railroad band channels — hear road comms, dispatchers, defect-detector calls. Knowing a train is 20 minutes out beats staring at the horizon. ($110-$130)
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