Western Railroad Discussion > Day 2: Wyoming/Utah Awesomeness - Green River to Evanston

From July 22-26 TO member "wko" Kirk, our friend Max, and I took a trip across Wyoming and into Utah along Union Pacific's Overland Route along the Laramie, Rawlins, and Evanston Subdivisions. From there, we proceeded onto Provo where we followed the former D&RGW to Helper over Soldier Summit. And to close out the trip, we stopped at the Deseret Power Railway near Dinosaur and Rangely. Then the remaining part of the trip was along the former Rio Grande from Craig, Colorado to the eastern slope on the Moffat Route.

Posts from this trip will follow in this order:

Day 1: Hermosa-Green River
Day 2: Green River-Evanston
Day 3: Evanston-Echo/Weber Canyons & Heber Valley
Day 4: Soldier Summit
Day 5: Deseret Power, Craig Branch, and Moffat

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We began day 2 of our trip at Peru Hill just west of Green River near the tiny town of James Town at the start of the Evanston Subdivision. We were greeted by a few trains on the hill coming to and from Green River. From there we proceeded west to the town and junction of Granger. The junction is where UP's Pocatello Subdivision (OSL) from Pocatello, Idaho joins the Overland Route from Ogden, Utah. After photographing a handful of trains, we raced across the desolate landscape of Southwestern Wyoming to our destination for the day of Evanston.

1) A westbound Z-Train with a new crew on board tackles Peru Hill with an all EMD lash up.

2) A few minutes later, an eastbound manifest creeps down the grade from Peru Hill with I-80 in the background.

3) Smoke and sounds of working locomotives fill the air as a Green River manifest departs Green River westbound up Peru Hill.

There's more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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4) The westbound Green River manifest is seen tackling Peru Hill as the eastbound manifest seen previously is seen creeping towards Green River in the background.

5) Two units lead a westbound manifest by the signal bridge at Granger where the Pocatello Subdivision meets up with the Evanston Subdivision.

6) An eastbound grain train having PTC issues slowly creeps up to the signals at Granger. Eventually, they were told to cut it out until after they crossed over here at Granger and on the move.

There's more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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7) Once the eastbound grain train crossed over, moments later an eastbound stack train slowly follows behind and will also crossover here at Granger. Up ahead was a Z-Train tied down waiting for a dog catch crew and another train having PTC issues, which made these eastbounds crossover.

8) A little while later after one of the trains ahead got moving, the Los Angeles-Denver Z-Train races east through Granger.

9) A westbound vehicle train with an AC4400CW leading solo heads through Granger.

Some more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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10) The clouds have certainly built up as an eastbound manifest races by the old UP depot in Evanston.

11) An eastbound grain train races by the Depot Plaza as seen from inside a Chinese gazebo that is one of a couple of features in the park next to the railroad.

12) A little while later, a westbound manifest rounds the curve through Evanston.

That is it for this day as it was rather a slow day.

Thanks for looking!

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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great pics

Pic 1 is one of my favorites!!

Another great post! Thanks for taking the time to share your work with us that
are stuck in the land of tree tunnels and wedgies.

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com

Love #3

I should have guessed. John Crisanti. One of the top shooters here on TO. The two black & white shoots are stunners.

John Bromley

Pic 3 -- quite the shot.

I think I identified your shooting location, and landscape features. And I put it together superimposed on a Google terrain map.

How did I do?

Editing -- adding a second image, with the annotated map side by side with the photo, and the same elements of each color coded. Certainly is a dramatic photo...

Ted in OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/17 19:03 by gobbl3gook.

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Great shots! Without checking symbols, the "grain train" you saw was quite possibly an empty soda ash train. They tend to draw the grungiest C44's for power.

simply outstanding!

John - Super series of photos. I agree with Bromley.

Paul Brennecke
Golden, CO

John, you've outdone yourself! Nice work and I'm looking forward to more installments...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Another outstanding bunch.
JB

This mind expanding and beautiful landscape is why I became Rio Grande fan backing the 1980's. I do miss the Rio Grande.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

Great series of photos. Congratulations on IOTD.

Ronda Thomas

I was captivated by photo #1 and then I saw photo #3 and said "oh my gawd". If that is not the photo of the year I don't think there will ever be one. Incidentally, do you have a color photo of #3? I know it can not match the mood of the black and white. Or, can it?????

Congrats on IOTD!  Well Deserved!

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

Super work. I am enjoying your travels.