High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Thistle is a ghost town in Utah County, Utah, United States, about 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Salt Lake City. During the era of steam locomotives, the town`s primary industry was servicing trains for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (often shortened to D RG, D RGW or Rio Grande). The fortunes of the town were closely linked with those of the railroad until the changeover to diesel locomotives, when the town started to decline.