Western Railroad Discussion > Wyoming Wanderings

I'm in Cheyenne from warm Upstate NY to attend "Depot Days."

I began railfanning early today, experiencing the wind tunnel known as Otto Road, approx 7 miles west of Cheyenne. I believe the wind was a steady 30 MPH.

Later, since the Steam Shop tour was cancelled today (re-scheduled for tomorrow, hurrah!), my brother and I took a long drive, heading up north on I-25 to Exit 92 where we got on US 26 East, thence to Torrington where we got on US 85 South, thence onto Wyoming 151 East, thence south on County Route 162 to Albin, thence County Route 215 to I-80 and back to Cheyenne.

So, here are some photos from my wanderings through the Cowboy State today:

1. Eastbound past Otto Road, 6:18 am.

2. Westbound nearing Otto Road, 6:40 am.

3. A few moments later, passing under Otto Road.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/17 21:12 by ut-1.

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4. Easterly end BNSF Guernsey Yard, 11:05 am.

5. A coal train (far left) heads out at 11:07 am.

6. I climbed a roadside bluff to get a better view, 11:11 am.

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7. Westbound empty, Fort Laramie, 12:35 pm.

8. Union Pacific tracks/tunnel under County Rd 162, north of Albin. No train but I liked the scene regardless. Would someone please tell me a little about this line? It appears to branch off the transcon in Egbert and runs at least to Torrington, I can't trace it on my map after that.

9. Not railroad-related but thought this was a great photo: County Rt 215.

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Back to Otto Road (no wind and much warmer than this AM).

10. Westbound stacker in late evening sunlight, 7:17 pm.

11. A few moments later, 7:18 pm.

12. UP emblem brilliantly illuminated by sunlight.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/17 21:12 by ut-1.

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The line from Egbert to Yoder with a branch off to South Torrington and the line (North Platte Sub) from Yoder to Joyce and South Morrill used to be my favorite run on the 4th district where I held seniority. We used to run an occasional Local over that way. The North Platte Sub from South Morrill to North Platte is the line to the Powder River connection. From Joyce it heads up toward Lingle and on to the old CNW line west to the junction into the Powder River Basin.
They still run Colorado Springs coal trains up the Yoder line to Joyce to head up to Powder River.
I am glad you enjoyed that line as I did.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Nice Series!

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

Nice work, rough weather.

I used to attend school in LaGrange, so I'm familiar with that area, and I do indeed miss it. It's a wonderful area.

Yes, nice photos. Rough weather. You can deal with any temperature, but that wind chill will wear you out pretty quick.

Posted from Android

Guernsey has quite a few photo spots out there, plus or minus a few miles. Surprised to see how much better the weather was over there. I traveled around there last January with 10 degree weather, not sure that was a good idea. The route along I-25 is famous for truck roll-overs due to wind. The joke had been that all the snow that falls in Wyoming lands in Nebraska, but Cheyenne gets a good dump every so often.

Torrington has a small museum with some C&NW equipment. The Sugar Mill in Torrington appeared to be operating recently. the C&NW route would be found at Orin/Douglas and east-west from there. In Wyoming there's always something interesting 'a few hundred miles' up the road.

If I remember correctly, there is very nice railroad bridge over the North Platte River, just west if downtown Guensey. Also, the main line goes through the Glendo State Park where the Guernsey Reservoir is (usually drained in the winter). There used to be a VERY problematic tunnel in that State Park, but the BNSF finally had to daylight the whole mess, and constructed a nice new road overpass so all the construction could be viewed, all within the park.

Yep, the daylighted tunnel is very impressive, it's inside the park and has a fee. There's a nice overlook for the bridge with a long lens. The trail to the bridge gets very gnarley with mud but there's a lot of cool angles there, not sure if it's worth the effort as it's a long mud road. There had been some nice angles from the east end of the bridge but there's a lot of signage there now.

Clean photos at the fueling area, the east end overlook. Good town for gas and a road coke.

don't have the image on this computer for some reason, here's a link to it on my PBase 'gallery':

http://www.pbase.com/clivew/image/124572592



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/17 10:34 by TCnR.

A little different landscape from Matt's brewery, eh? The flag may have been displayed because yesterday was Armed Forces Day. Looking forward to your report from the Cheyenne open house.

I like the photos at Otto road.