Nostalgia & History > Abandoned UPRR Transcontinental RR through Carbon, Wyoming

The ghost town of Carbon, Wyoming traces its roots to the 1868 construction of the transcontinental railroad through the vast open land between Laramie and Rawlins, Wyoming. It was a coal mining town that once boasted a population of 1,000 people at its peak in the late 1800's. After the Union Pacific Railroad rerouted the mainline a few miles north through Hanna in 1900 the towns fate was sealed.   
A few years ago I visited this beautiful, desolate place and walked along the grade of the original Union Pacific Railroad. The ROW was overgrown but still discernible in most places.  

---

---

---

Now we're along the ROW. The first picture shows it passing through a small canyon just to the west of town. The second picture is of an old fishplate nut and the third a piece of "L,G,T, & Co."  (Tillotson) threadless telegraph insulator. 

---

---

---

The first picture shows the ROW in the foreground. It makes a sweeping turn to the west towards the top of the pic. 

---

---

---

An old bottle seen sticking out of recently washed away dirt along the ROW and another shot of "downtown" Carbon.

---

---

Now we're at Carbon Cemetery. Cast iron posts surround some of the grave stones on this wind swept hillside. 
One thing a person notices when they walk though old cemeteries is the abundence of children always buried in them. It was a very difficult life back then.
Our "problems" of today are often very small compared to the people who sometimes had to struggle just to survive another day in the previous decades and centuries. 

---

---

---

Another shot of the cemetery and also looking north along county road 115. (which leads to Carbon)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/20 15:51 by mkancle.

---

---

An old snow fence near the county Road 115/ Route 30 intersection and a westbound Union Pacific train on the current transcon just east of Hanna. 

---

---

---

Really desolate!  The windmills mar the beauty of it.   I'll bet it wouldn't be hard to find rattlesnakes out there.

I hope you don't mind my posting a few more pictures taken on a visit to Carbon last September. I walked up to the cemetery and just sat against a fence watching the clouds roll by on a sunny fall day.  

---

---

---

Hope you enjoyed!!

---

---

---

Thanks for this series of great photos.  The ones of the cemetary are touching.  You captured the sense of place very well!

Thank you!!

Thank you for sharing the images and the history ... we too often
forget how this country was actually built and the struggles/hardships the early
settlers endured ... all with no guarantee of survival beyond the moment

a very nice set of images!

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/20 20:13 by Odyssey.

Nice series of photos, I like exploring old, abandoned RR right of ways and related ruins of of towns, etc. 

Very incredible and interesting set of photos.  Many thanks for showing here.
Definitely a place I will take time to see next time I'm driving across the country.

Very interesting and a great set of photos in this historical area.
Gary

Boy did I enjoy!

Now back to the fast moving world.

Thank you for posting.  Based on your photos and narration, I was able to find what is left of Carbon, WY on Google Maps (I think!).  Very interesting.  There appears to have been a wye along the mainline east of town. 


 

---

I really wanted to thank everybody for the kind words about my pictures!  
Seventyfive, just let me know if you need directions to find Carbon. It's only about 4 or 5 miles off of Route 30 near Hanna.
Really interesting photo, sgriggs, of that area from above! Thanks for posting it. 
 

Great series of photos. one Q those graves look pretty well looked after as if they are attended to from time to time?