Thompson Section House

: looking from the south
: looking from the east
: looking from the northwest

This was one of the Rio Grande original structures that remained along its route in Utah; the section house at Thompson.


ICC valuation map of by then Thompson’s Station, drawn in 1919 and revised in 1927, shows this structure. According to the map, this, 40’ x 40.5’ one-story wood-frame structure, gable roof, and walls finished with straight cut singles, is the section house.

Smaller D&RGW bunkhouse at Chama, NM has a similar façade: a door and four windows in symmetrical order. It was built in 1881, ten years prior to the depot. D&RGW section house at Sublette, NM also has a similar façade. It was built in 1880, two years prior to the depot. Accordingly, this section house may be built prior to the original Thompson depot which was built in 1883.

The book Moab and Grand County barely shows the structure in the photo may be taken in the ’30s[1]. In the photo, we can see wainscot. Accordingly, straight cut singles on walls we see in the photo must have been the later modification.

: part of ICC valuation map showing the section house, courtesy of Utah State Archives


Section foremen were assigned at Thompson since its establishment. Depot housed the agents, bunkhouse accepted the section hands, and later, signal maintainers had their housing next to the track on the south[2, 3]. Accordingly, this structure must have housed successive section foremen.

Extracted successive section foremen assigned at Thompson are:
John McCartin in 1892[4].
J. U. Coleman(1868 – ), John H. Brady(1849 – ), A. F. Crispin(1856 – ), S. P. Brown(1863 – ) and James Ryan(1856 – ) in 1900[5].
Maurice Sullivan Sr. in 1908[6].

Antonio Cianio(1878 – ), Peter Colombas(1892 – ), Luciano Cesario(1894 – ) and Joe R. Dimas(1897 – ) in 1920[7]. Luciano was also placed here in 1930[8].

Geo Saker in 1933[9].
James M. Noblitt(1892 – 1967) at least from 1940 to 1958[10, 11]. But whether he was assigned at Thompson or Cisco is uncertain: 1940 Census lists four names including James as section foremen at Cisco[10]. 1950 Census lists James, Theodore Herman "Ted" Miller (1912 – 1990), and Glenn William Marler(1924 – 2016) as foremen at Thompson, but only James and his wife Eva(1886 – 1964) must have been lived in this house at that time[12].

"Ted" Miller was assigned at Thompson since the '40s, at least from 1964[13, 14]. He and his spouse Lillian "Nana" Lois Sando (1914 – 1996), their children Bill, Sharon, Bruce, and Lillian's grandmother lived in this house. Lillian worked as a waitress at the Silver Grill Cafe opposite the depot. Ted finally retired from the railroad in 1977, but kept living in this house to the '80s [13, 15]. Millers seems the last occupant of this house.

The company telephone number for Thompson Section was GJ 77-155, according to Rio Grande System Telephone Directory issued in January 1973. Ted Miller also had the public phone [phone] according to the 1974-1975 Continental Phone Company of Utah telephone directories.

Unfortunately, the structure was demolished together with the depot in 2016. To leave something on record, I decided to draw plans of the structure. The result is shown below.

All photos taken on Sep. 11, 2014.

revised, Jun. 7, 2017

revised, Feb. 21, 2020

revised, Jun. 8, 2020

revised, Jul. 24, 2022

[1] Schenck, Travis (2013) Moab and Grand County, Arcadia Publishing
[2] Jul. 13, 1960 Times-Independent;
[3] Dec. 10, 1964 Times-Independent;
[4] Mar. 9, 1893 Provo Daily Enquirer;
[5] 1900 Census;
[6] Mar. 28, 1908 Emery County Progress;
[7] 1920 Census;
[8] 1930 Census;
[9] Feb. 2, 1933 Times-Independent;
[10] 1940 Census;
[11] Apr. 13, 1967 Times-Independent;
[12] 1950 Census;
[13] Feb. 14, 2020 Times Independent;
[14] Dec. 24, 1964 Times-Independent;
[15] Mar. 2, 1977 Times-Independent;

: south, east, north and west elevations


ユタ州における元Rio Grande沿線に残るRio Grandeの遺物を紹介している。
この建物は一見ふつうの住宅のようだが、Thompson駅に併設された、元Rio Grandeの「Section House（保線区現場監督官舎、とでもいえばいいのだろうか)」である。以前に紹介した「Company House」の東隣りに建っていた。

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)が1919年に制作した地図には「Section H’se, Frame」と記載されている。当時は廻りに工夫宿舎や倉庫、石炭庫、便所などが建っていたようだ。

2016年に駅舎と時を同じくして取り壊されたのをきっかけに調べたところ、Rio Grandeの遺物だと知った次第。たまたま撮っていた四面が分かる写真を参考に、記録図面を起こしてみた。