I awoke rested and ready to go at Terry Bison Ranch then loaded the luggage into my car.
The herd of bison was closer to us this morning.
The windmills on the far side of the ranch. I awoke Robin and soon we checked out of our room and drove south on Interstate 25 to Colorado Highway 52 east. In Hudson, we crossed the BNSF mainline and saw a headlight approaching.
BNSF 3003 East at Hudson. We stayed on Colorado Highway 53 east to Colorado Highway 79 south to Bennett, then US 40 east to Strasburg and the Comanche Crossing Museum.
Comanche Crossing Historical Society and MuseumThe Museum is situated on 2.5 acres of landscaped grounds. Historic Buildings include the Living Springs School (1891), Homestead House (1910), Wolf Creek School (1904) and the Strasburg Union Pacific Railroad Depot (1917). All are furnished with period artifacts.
Outdoor displays include a UPRR Caboose, antique wooden windmill, operational wigwag RRXING signal and antique farm equipment.
Three additional buildings house a wide variety of artifacts, from Strasburg's first fire truck (1917 Ford), original Post Office, Bank and Soda Fountain to tools, house wares, clothing, military equipment, sewing machines and a Blacksmith Shop. The Museum's Collection consists of over 8,000 individual items.
Strasburg is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the site where the Kansas Pacific Railroad finished laying the tracks that formed the first continuous chain of rails from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast.
Comanche Crossing Historical Museum scene.
Grade crossing highway warning signal.
Union Pacific bay window caboose 24522, nee Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific 17104, built by International Car in 1966.
Union Pacific Strasburg station built in 1916.
The display board about the completion of the Kansas Pacific Railroad in Strasburg.
Denver and Rio Grande Western tool car X3339, nee Denver and Rio Grande baggage-railway post office car 624, built by American Car and Foundry in 1914.
Canadian National passenger car 59340 "White Court", later used in maintenance-of-way service as a kitchen-dining car, east of the grade crossing.
KRXX 1230, New York Central slumbercoach 10380 "Tonawanada Harbor", ex. Amtrak 2053, exx. Amtrak 2005, exxx. Penn Central 4207, exxxx. New York Central 10817, nee New York Central 10380, built by Budd in 1949.
KRXX 1232, New York Central slumbercoach 10800 "Loch Tay", ex. Amtrak 2089, exx. Amtrak 2031, exxx. Northern Pacific 333, nee New York Central 10800 built by Budd in 1949. Both these were sold to Colorado Railcar in 1996 and were planned as crew-dormitories for the Marlboro Unlimited.
Both slumbercoaches.
Coronet Phosphate 0-4-2T 6, built by H.K. Porter in 1913 for Cia. Generale Des Phosphates 6 at Pembroke, Florida then sold to Coronet Phosphate Company 6 at Coronet, Florida. In 1953 a merger occurred and it became Smith Douglas Company Incorporated 6, then in 1964, a corporate sale to The Borden Company, followed by being sold in 1967 to R.L. Johnson & George Silcott (dealer) then to John Thompson at Markham, Illinois and moved to Monee, Illinois in 1968. It was then moved to the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson, Indiana until July 2015 when the owner moved it to Strasburg.
Pacific Fruit Express NW-2 1048, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1946 for the Union Pacific and was in service until October 1974. It was then sold to UP's subsidiary Pacific Fruit Express Company, co-owned by the Southern Pacific, and started work at the PFE facility in Roseville, California. However, it spent most of its working life at PFE in Tucson, Arizona. In the 1980s, after the owners split the company, 1048 continued to work for SPFE (Southern Pacific Fruit Express). When the merger with the Union Pacific occurred, it returned to UP ownership. In 1998, 1048 was bought by a private owner and moved to Strasburg.
We returned to Interstate 70 towards Limon but had to pull off for a train.
Union Pacific 8505 West on the old Kansas Pacific mainline east of Byers. From here we went east to Limon for the railroad museum.
Limon Heritage Museum & Railroad Park ComplexThe Limon Heritage Railroad Park & Museum Complex is a facility firmly grounded in its pioneer roots with varied adventures waiting for the visitor, whether your interests are railroads; famous area ranches, cowboys and western saddles; Native American artifacts; growing wheat; award-winning photos of the short grass prairie and vintage photos celebrating 100 years of small town growth and change; or ever changing exhibits such as our new Dust Bowl and Changes in Communication collections. Our park houses eight windmills; a distinctive 11-foot bronze "Prairie Odyssey" sculpture by cowboy artist Herb Mignery and lovely memorial gardens; and a Pioneer Monument with 1892 Cattle Scale dedicated to area ranchers.
The Museum is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day from 1pm - 8pm Monday-Saturday and on Sunday's from 1pm - 4pm. Admission is free but donations are appreciated.
Milwaukee Road branchline combine 2758 built by the railroad in 1938.
Union Pacific caboose 25670 built by International Car in 1967.
Great Northern 14-section sleeping car built by Pullman in 1914 and later converted to maintenance-of-way diner/office car.
The crossing stop sign gate.
Where the Rocky Mountain Rocket section ran to Colorado Springs.
Limon Union station built in 1910 and used by the Rock Island and Union Pacific railroads.
A semaphore signal.
A lineside block signal.
Grade crossing warning signal.
Milwaukee Road coach 660, nee Milwaukee Road 550, built by the railroad in 1948.
Milwaukee Road coach 665, nee Milwaukee Road 538, built by the railroad in 1948.
Rock Island wedge snow plough 95580, built by the railroad, year unknown.
The display train.
Kyle Railroad yard scene.
Two Limon scenes. We continued our journey and drove US 287 east to Hugo.
The sign at the Hugo Union Pacific Roundhouse restoration. Constructed in 1909, the Hugo Union Pacific Railroad Roundhouse is one of only three remaining from the original pre-merger Union Pacific Railroad, with this being the only one in Colorado. It is one of only four historic roundhouses left in Colorado and the only one associated with the Union Pacific Railroad. It’s also the only surviving brick roundhouse in the state and one of the most significant historical sites on Colorado’s Central Plains.
Roundhouse Preservation, Inc., the non-profit formed by concerned local citizens to develop and implement a preservation plan for the Roundhouse, has produced a great deal of progress and success in recent years. Even after strong winds toppled nearly the entire north wall, insurance funds were fortunately available to complete a high-quality masonry reconstruction. Due to an ongoing cooperation between Roundhouse Preservation, Inc. and the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Roundhouse was selected to receive $555,000 in federal stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the rehabilitation of the entire roof structure. Restoration of the windows and doors started in 2016 with funding from the State Historical Fund, the Gates Family Foundation, and CDOT. Future plans focus on reusing the Roundhouse as a museum and community meeting space.
Never intended for more than servicing and running repair of locomotives, the roundhouse has eight stalls, all 85 feet in length. The hand-powered deck-girder turntable, long removed, was 80 feet long. The facility also had a 50-ton coaling plant, a 65,000-gallon water tank, and in later years, a wye (which surrounded the roundhouse) for turning locomotives too long for the turntable. The roundhouse itself is of brick construction, designed for locomotives to enter smokebox-first, with typical wood timber framing to support the roof and front wall. It is believed to be identical to one which once existed at Sharon Springs, Kansas, the next crew change point to the east, approximately 100 miles away. Others which were of identical design, but different size, were once located at LaSalle, Colorado (four stalls) and Sterling, Colorado (10 stalls, 6 of which are still extant). The floor today at Hugo is mostly concrete, with replaceable end-grain wooden blocks in some places. It is unclear whether the concrete was original or added by a later owner, but the wooden block flooring was common for roundhouses of that era. UP records show "concrete engine pits- creosote block floors". The roof was the typical wood plank, tar and gravel type, with asbestos cementboard smokejacks at the ends of the stalls. All windows are an elegant arch-top design, with frames of wood.
"USA" caboose which is really Chicago, Burlington and Quincy caboose 135xx, full number, builder and year of construction unknown.
Pacific Fruit Express mechanical refrigerator car 300944.
Union Pacific flat car 909231.
A Hugo scene. We drove to the restored station in town.
Union Pacific Hugo station.
Highway crossing warning signals.
Baggage wagon. We next drove to Kit Carson.
Kit Carson Union Pacific station built in 1904. In addition to handling passengers and freight, this depot also served as the station agent's residence. A prominent bay window located in the office area provided the agent with an unobstructed view of the track in both directions. With minor exceptions, the interior of the depot retains its original layout and materials. Although moved from its original track side location by the Kit Carson Historical Society for use as a museum when threatened with demolition in 1969, it remains architecturally important as the most intact Colorado example of this depot type.
Union Pacific caboose 25400 built by the railroad in 1959.
Kit Carson plaque.
Railroad buildings and speeder.
A Kit Carson scene. Robin and I proceeded to Lamar, but stopped along the way.
In Eads, Colorado, the Colorado Eagle once ran on these former Missouri Pacific tracks. We drove to Lamar where it was 103 degrees.
Santa Fe 2-6-2 1819 built by Baldwin in 1906 as a coal-burner but converted to oil in 1941. 1819 worked on the AT&SF's Missouri, Kansas and Colorado divisions and was last in service in October 1953 having clocked 916,626 miles. It was donated to the town in 1956.
Lamar Santa Fe station built in 1907.
Lamar stands apart from other boom-and-bust agricultural communities, in part because it is making use of what has always been considered the bane of existence here: the wind. In the grass in front of the Colorado Welcome Center, the Lamar Chamber of Commerce displays a 111-foot-long General Electric wind turbine blade.
I took Robin to Walmart, then we washed the car at the most automatic self-service car wash I had ever experienced before resuming the drive to Las Animas.
Las Animas Santa Fe station, built in 1908, where it was 105 degrees. We then drove to La Junta.
We saw a headlight and pulled off the highway at MP 546, east of La Junta on the former Santa Fe line now operated by BNSF.
BNSF 5762 East with DPUs on the rear at MP 546. We arrived at La Junta and it was now 107 degrees.
La Junta Santa Fe station built in 1955.
Santa Fe caboose 999602, nee Santa Fe 2261, built by the railroad in 1949. We went to Carl's Junior for an early dinner before finding the steam engine.
Santa Fe 2-6-2 1024 built by Baldwin in 1921.
A Santa Fe semaphore signal. I spotted some box cars where there should not be any, so we went to investigate.
A second railroad display in La Junta.
Plymouth switcher 7573 built by the company in 1939. We continued to Delhi.
Santa Fe wig-wag crossing signal, the last one in Colorado, at Delhi. We made our way to Rocky Ford.
BNSF 6268 East at Rocky Ford.
The Santa Fe Rocky Ford station built in 1907.
The Santa Fe Manzanola station built in 1913; "manzanola" is Spanish for red apple.
The Santa Fe Fowler station built in 1913.
The Santa Fe Boone station built in 1913.
CSX SD70MAC 4763, built by Electro-Motive Division in 2003, at Avondale.
The sun was this off-red colour from the smoke of the fires in the Colorado Mountains.
BNSF 8796 East was at East Pueblo under smoky skies.
The smoke was from two fires. The one here is from the Hayden Pass fire caused by lightning and the rest of the smoke is from the Nederlander fire that at this point, the cause was unknown. We drove to the Ramada Inn and checked in for the night.
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