Western Railroad Discussion > UP 7753W on CNW Cowboy Line thru Lusk, WY 9.21.19

2x1 empties at the end of summer head back to the mines for reloading...EDGX hoppers...symbol help always welcome......SHM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/19 17:34 by the_expediter.

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headed into the sun...

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dpu...

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Adios, Amigo...

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I'm always happy to find RR watertanks that still stand...This is just east of Lusk, WY town center off Hwy 20...Stevie

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old CNW depot at Lusk, WY...Thx for lookin...Stevie

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Nice........

Very nice. I especially like the water tank photo. I was under the impression that this line was abandoned and converted to a rail trail.

Posted from iPhone

The Eastern end was washed out. upkpfan

Downtown Lusk.

If you look a little to the east of the water tank there is a building with the distinct curved front to it that appears to be a section of a roundhouse. Confirming on Google streetview  there are some CNW historical items around the Hiway 18 overcrossing, a bay window caboose in the park, the distinctive freight house is being used as the RR offices and some other items.

This is the section of the Cowboy Line around the Wyoming / Nebraska border, UPrr built a north-south segment to connect Scottsbluff with the old CNW Cowboy line, the old line crosses a summit and then turns north into the Powder River area. They connect with the well known 3-track main at Shawnee Junction. The CNW line west of there is a distinct ballast pile missing the rail and ties. East of where the new UPrr section connection is one again a nice ballast pile with some bridges in place but missing rail and ties.

The old CNW becomes active again east of Crawford, I forget which regional is out there.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/19 20:00 by TCnR.

AmericanFlyer Wrote:
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> Very nice. I especially like the water tank
> photo. I was under the impression that this line
> was abandoned and converted to a rail trail.
>
As stated, the east end is gone.  TheCNW built a connector from South Morrill, NE, northward to the "Cowboy" line just west of the
Nebraska border.  (IIRC Van Tassel is the closest town.)  This was to avoid the expense of having to rebuild the entire "Cowboy" 
line across Nebraska.  And while most of it west of Norfolk is in fact a trail, there is still some of it left either side of Chadron, the
former division headquarters.  In fact, from Dakota Junction, west of Chadron, to Crawford is the now RCPE's connection to the BNSF.
(The diamonds in Crawford are long gone.)  However, to the west of Van Tassel to Shawnee it's a heavy duty heavy haul main.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

The sign telling about the water tower that the original railroad was the Wyoming Central in the late 1800 or early 1900.  The Wyoming Central became Part of the CNW and then Up.  It is because of this tower that I named my model railroad the Wyoming Central.

TCnR Wrote:
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> Downtown Lusk.
>
> If you look a little to the east of the water tank
> there is a building with the distinct curved front
> to it that appears to be a section of a
> roundhouse.

Thats because it is a roundhouse.
 

Trying to find the water tower, I found this.....  Headend power    and the    SP DPU

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/19 10:14 by hawkeye.

Yep, it looks like a pig farm though, what happened to the turntable? Scrapped? Moved for re-use? Sold at market?

> -----
> > Downtown Lusk.
> >
> > If you look a little to the east of the water
> tank
> > there is a building with the distinct curved
> front
> > to it that appears to be a section of a
> > roundhouse.
>
> Thats because it is a roundhouse.
>  

Thank you all. Appreciate the history. I really want to bike the Cowboy trail next year. The pictures make me want to head west to see that beautiful sky.

Posted from iPhone

I hi-railed the CNW line near Lusk back in the 80s as we prepared to upgrade the line into the Powder River Basin on our Connector Line project.  The track was in poor shape with lots of tie ends sticking up on both sides of the track.  We crept along fearful of derailing.  I was astonished the CNW was still running trains over that track but my hosts assured they did.  The Connector Line was opened in 1984.  I well remember the water tank in Lusk.

John Bromley - Omaha

My father was a former CNW station agent with numberous CNW operating personel friends.  They talked about CNW ran at least one heavy coal train over the original Cowboy Line which tore the hell out of the tracks.