Orem Train And 4th Ward Chapel

In this undated photograph, the Orem train is shown traveling along 1st North past the LDS 4th Ward Chapel at 315 East 100 North, which is, today, occupied by the San Andres Catholic Church. 

The Orem line was completed from Salt Lake City southward to American Fork on March 23, 1913, reaching Provo in July, 1914.  The line was extended further south into Springville by July of 1915 and Spanish Fork in November of 1915, arriving in Payson City on March 24th, 1916.  Plans to extend the line 25 miles further south to Nephi were never completed, due in part to the United States entering World War I. However, surveying was completed in 1917.

The Orem line was among transit systems in central Utah that were sent into receivership during the Great Depression. “Their demise was helped by an active campaign by oil and auto conglomerates to buy up interurbans only to shut them down,” according to a Payson Historical Society account. “World War II brought a temporary boom to the line. But after the war, Utah railroads lost money, while their petitions to the Public Service Commission to shrink services and thus costs were rejected. In 1947 the last line ceased operation.”