The line was abandoned around 1982, nearly a decade after the smelter closure and the end of production at the nearby Carr Fork Mine.

[10][11] Construction started shortly afterwards with surveying commencing in December, and the first train was run behind borrowed locomotive SPLA&SL #3605 as far as the Middle Canyon trestle on April 1, 1909.

[14][15] During construction of the railroad in 1909, it would be reported two workers who were part of over 100 Mexican immigrants who were hired for the project; got into a duel in Tooele where they inflicted bullet and knife wounds on each other.

[20] It was reported at the time of the railroad's opening nine clerks worked the line dedicated to way bills, wages and ticket sales along with representatives of American Express for package shipping.

[20] The Tooele Valley Railway would host celebrations of "Old Folks Day" a local holiday at the time, with special excursions from Warner to the Smelter.

[19] An unknown man who was traveling in a party of six, was shot at by Earl M. Parson for approaching the Middle Canyon Trestle after refusing to yield on October 7, 1917.

[25] With heightened security during World War One two guards were assigned to the bridge to prevent sabotage, and it was assumed the six strangers were potential saboteurs.

[22] The locomotive was flipped on its side, but the only injury to the five crew members riding in the engine cab was a dislocated vertebra suffered by Albert Petras.

[31][32] A strike at the International Smelter in 1936 lead to then superintendent Joseph Earl Tate deputizing six railroad employees in response.

[34] Shortly afterwards Claud LeRoy Blackburn, 16; was killed when a train collided with a truck he was riding in along Vine Street.

[38] Permission to drop public passenger service was finally given in 1941 due to anticipated freight traffic increases from the Elton Tunnel branch.

[5] In 1942, a fire would break out at the International Smelter, which would spread through the Tooele Valley Railway's locomotive shop destroying the structure.

[40] On February 2, 1955, a special train event ran on the Tooele Valley Railway featuring steam locomotive #11 and visiting Budd Rail Diesel Car #375 from the Western Pacific Railroad running a railfan excursion to the smelter.

[7] Discussions on abandoning the railroad from parent company Anaconda Copper began in 1971 as the smelter's shut down approached.

The Tooele Valley Railway was considered as a potential option for ore haulage out of the Carr Fork Mine, however a new rail spur off the Union Pacific mainline was considered as well to bypass the Tooele Valley Railway to allow the Union Pacific direct access to ore trains and the slag piles at the smelter for use as potential railroad ballast.

[47] Union Pacific Railroad's Warner depot which had served the interchange point between the Tooele Valley Railway and the UP, burned down in December 1975.

[32] After a minor derailment, and difficulties with SW900 #104's throttle cut-out, #11 would be successfully freed from the park and brought to the new museum site.

Restoration of the #11 back to operation was considered for the rebuilding of The Great Saltair in 1968 to coincide with the centennial of the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad, and again in 1969 with the planning for the Wasatch Railway Museum.

The museum also preserved the snowplow mounted to locomotive #12's tender, several pieces of Maintenance of way equipment, and a pair of caboose from the railway.