Nostalgia & History > CB&Q and C&NW branches in WY inquiry

Hello all,

I was scouting around Google Earth and I've run across a few places on the old CB&Q/C&S and C&NW lines in Wyoming that looked like there are grades of long abandoned branch lines and I'm hoping somebody has some info or can point me in a direction about these branches. First off there appears two branches that leave the Front Range sub. One is north of Wheatland,WY and the other is south of Wheatland, both head more or less west from the mainline. I've followed them for a ways, but the grades disappeared in some fields. Where did these go and what did they serve? Second, I noticed there appears to be a branch running north from Lost Springs, WY off of what was the C&NW's old Cowboy Line, now UP's main artery to the Powder River. I also noticed there appears to be another branch at Shawnee, WY heading off in the same direction. Once again I followed these for a while, but the grades petered out. I'm figuring they served some mines of some sort? Since there isn't hardly anything out there. So, any info or references for these would be appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

Tim Stricker
Gillette, WY

The two branches out of Wheatland went west to haul primarily livestock and in later years, sugar beets. There were a couple very entertaining stories posted here about a derailment near town of a beet train on the north line and the human side of handling the depot in Wheatland, you might find them in a search.
Not familiar with the line north off the CNW line but the grade west out of Shawnee is the line that used to run through Douglas to Casper and beyond to Lander. The track is still in place between Shawnee and to a spot near a junction with the BNSF line east of Orin but is not in service except for about the first mile out of Shawnee. From Orin to Casper everything is gone but the roadbed is clearly visible around Douglas and then again around Casper if a person knows where to look. Google may not see it because it wasn't all that different from the surrounding landscape; not much ballast out there! The CNW began using BN trackage rights from Orin to Casper in January of 1989. I have video of the old flyover west of Orin showing a BN train going over the top of the abandoned right-of-way taken in August of 1989. The tracks were still in place at that time but were gone a year later when headed through on the way to Montana.
Thanks to TO'ers HighGreenGraphics and DRGW0579 I was able to follow the CNW from Orin to Casper on three occasions in the last year of service and shoot tons of photos and video. HGG shot a ton of good video west of Casper on the line to Riverton too. That video has been edited into a program that I intend to offer as part of a look at the CNW in Wyoming however the computer crashed a couple months ago and I have to start over. Hopefully one of these days!
Kirk O.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/15 09:47 by kwo.

Thanks for the info. I'll do a search for on here for the stuff about Wheatland. As for Shawnee, I knew the line heading west was the old line to Casper and Lander, the rails are still tied in to the the UP at Shawnee and still run all the way to Fisher on the BNSF where they end and at the edge of BN's ROW. But there is also what appears to be an old grade heading north out of Shawnee as well.

Tim Stricker
Gillette, WY

sp4294 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello all,
>
> I was scouting around Google Earth and I've run
> across a few places on the old CB&Q/C&S and C&NW
> lines in Wyoming that looked like there are grades
> of long abandoned branch lines and I'm hoping
> somebody has some info or can point me in a
> direction about these branches. First off there
> appears two branches that leave the Front Range
> sub. One is north of Wheatland,WY and the other is
> south of Wheatland, both head more or less west
> from the mainline. I've followed them for a ways,
> but the grades disappeared in some fields. Where
> did these go and what did they serve? >
> Tim Stricker
> Gillette, WY
**************************************************
Both branches were still in place as recently as 1973, but by that time they were classified only as "Business Tracks" in the BN/C&S Timetable No. 2 dated 6/10/73. The one to the south of Wheatland was the Ayers Branch, while I believe the one on the north side of town was referred to as the Hightower Branch. I never worked on them but recall being told by other employees that operations were pretty much limited to the beet campaigns.

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