Nostalgia & History > Casper memories for 'superfleet'

A while back TO member ‘superfleet’ sent me a PM with an inquiry about the C&NW’s presence in Casper, WY. In the fall of 1985 my late friend John Arbuckle & I had spent the night in Casper on a 3 day chase of a C&NW special business train from North Platte up into the coal fields via nearby (where-the-hell-is) Bill, Wyoming. Since greater downtown (where-the-hell-is) Bill had no such luxuries to offer we had to find lodging a ways down the road in Casper.

Here are 3 random images I was able to “grab” as John & I were up and on our way back to (where-the-hell-is*) Bill to continue chasing 4 sparkling clean F-units and a shiny string of C&NW office cars…

1. C&NW 4308 sits idle between work assignments.

2. CGW tank car 273 (diesel fuel?) represents a bit of Northwestern heritage.

3. I believe this is the C&NW ‘depot’, certainly an impressive structure for a lightly used branch.
(3 photos taken in Casper, WY on October 16, 1985)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/22 23:33 by santafe199.

---

---

---

Thanks much, now to see if that depot still survives; very much appreciated!!!

Dan in Wichita

CNW depot in Casper was probably a division HQ at one time plus dispatchers. Not sure when dispatchers were consolidated from Norfork and Casper to Chadron. Also at one time CNW had grand designs to go west from Lander to Ogden/Salt Lake City area and this depot might have been in anticipation.

UP still has some property there

Interesting to me is that 4308 has lost its Hancock Air Whistle which sounded like a steam engine.
In the 70's, when this unit was first assigned to Chadron, this engine almost always led any train
it was on, and often the inspection trains.

Thanks for posting, Lance.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

That depot in Casper is long gone, what was left of it (the east wing was already removed) did not even outlast the C&NW being taken over by UP. Already the C&NW agent operated out of the old brick freighthouse near the turntable, by the 4308 in the first photo, and the old depot was occupied by non-railroad offices. All are gone now. 4308 built 10-57 as M&StL 607, became C&NW 607, rebuilt with nose chopped Oelwein 9-72 as 4308, retired 9-90, to Omnitrax Loveland, CO painted primer gray, to Gulf, Colorado & San Saba (in TX) as their 4308, scrapped 6-5-12. === === = === JLH



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/18 09:12 by highgreengraphics.

Thanks, that's what I thought by just searching a short while ago on Google Earth. I also looked at historicaerials.com, interesting that there's a golf course sitting where a huge refinery used to be. I guess that's one way to use possibly questionable soil.... I am thankful for the depots/roundhouses/railroad structures we still have around, but lament for those lost.

Dan

C&NW had built a new yard there in the 1960's by that Amoco refinery, one of their most modern yards, as they attempted to improve service and traffic west of Chadron. No matter, that was ripped out too with the refinery to build the golf course. Nothing in Casper remains to indicate C&NW was ever there, unless it's a photo in a museum. Douglas still has the nice small wood depot in place with C&NW, UP, BN and CB&Q equipment around it. Northwest of Casper, the depot at Powder River was moved, I think it's still in town but I have not found it. At Highland, their tiny wood depot across the highway at a junkyard. A bit of the Moneta depot left but it had been moved, also still bleached ties next to the highway. In Riverton, the old depot in place there, used as a restaurant. === === = === JLH



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/18 18:34 by highgreengraphics.

The CoC uses the C&NW Lander, Wyoming, station. See:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3025089,3025664#3025664

Gerry



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/18 18:12 by GPutz.

Lance, when do we get to see your images of the CNW special you and John chased on that trip ? --Kelly

UP951West Wrote: > ... when do we get to see your images of the CNW special ...
April will be the 1 year anniversary of his passing. I'm working on a memorial thread, probably at least 2 parts. I will pick out images from the half-dozen semi-legendary chases he asked me along on. Besides the C&NW biz train we'll see the Katy Fs in Oklahoma, biz trains from the Mop, the BN (shortly after the Frisco merger), the UP (twice) and of course Uncle John Santa Fe (twice). I'll also introduce all 6 of us KS Gangsters who were constantly chasing around together 2, 3 or 4 at a time between 1978 & 1985. I can't recall one single time when all 6 of us were gathered together. The most was 5 of us for the Cotton Belt biz train in early 1983 over the old Rock Island GSR. With 3 of the gang now passed, the rest of us are (yikes) getting a lot older...

Lance

If I remember correctly that at one time CNW had auto traffic out of Belvidere, IL for interchange at Casper with CBQ to the Pacific Northwest.