The train continued to take the curves on this line.
The hills certainly drew my interest.
Curves to the right and left.
Another view of the hills.
Scenes along the way.
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More curves.
Bluff off to the west.
Curves to the left.
LaGrange, at an elevation of 4,587 feet, was established in 1889 and named for Caleb LaGrange, an early rancher. This is the largest community along the "Cut-Off" line. There were water facilities here for steam locomotives. The depot was closed in 1976 and became a mobile agency.
Bluff to the west.
Our train curving to the right.
More views of the bluff.
A new siding being installed at Meier for Powder River coal traffic. Meier, elevation 4,507 feet, was named for adjacent prominent ranchers.
More of the bluff.
Construction at Meier.
Another bluff.
Our train takes more curves.
Still more curves.
Hay in the fields.
This curve took our train into Hawk Springs, elevation 4,388 feet. A town and reservoir named for "Black" Hawk, salooon keeper. The springs are now covered by the reservoir. We cross US 85 at this location. During the steam era, this was a water station for locomotives. Plenty of sugar beets were grown in this area. The station was closed in 1974 and became part of the South Torrington mobile agency in 1976.
Proceeding the final miles to Yoder.
This track used to go all the way to Torrington, Wyoming.
I had finally made it to Yoder, Wyoming! The train paused for a few minutes and since Union Pacific did not want the E-units to use this siding, our trip will continue east to a siding into Nebraska. Now the tracks will go almost straight east.
Leaving Yoder.
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Scenes along the way to Kiowa, Nebraska.
Lyman, Nebraska with the House of Hose, a company specializing in hoses.
Our train arrived at Kiowa, MP 166.75, at 12:46 PM. The E units cut off, ran to South Morrill and turned on the wye there before returning to the train. We departed at 2:23 PM and started back for Cheyenne as I relaxed most of the way.
At Yoder, another photo runby was offered and this is the reverse move.
Photo runby 2 at Yoder, Wyoming.
A butte to the east of the train.
The water tower at LaGrange.
A big sky view. The train stopped again at MP 215 for the last photo runby of the day.
The reverse move.
Photo runby 3 at Milepost 215. Back on the train, I relaxed as we made our way to the Union Pacific mainline.
The Union Pacific mainline at Egbert, where we rejoined it and had a high speed trip back to Cheyenne. However, we were stopped by Union Pacific 5494 East before we could cross over to Mainline 4 so passed the switch on which we had come out and went by Cheyenne station, pulling far enough west to clear the switch to the track back to the boarding area. We arrived at Cheyenne at 6:35 PM. Thank you to the Union Pacific Railroad for allowing this trip to occur and to the Union Pacific Historical Society for planning and making it happen.
I drove south to Fort Collins for the night at the Motel 6 there.
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