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Terry Bison Ranch to Pueblo 7/10/2016

I woke up rested and ready to go at Terry Bison Ranch. I had a great shower, shaved then loaded the luggage into my car.

The herd of buffalo was closer to us this morning.

The windmills on the far side of Terry Bison Ranch. I awoke Robin and soon we checked out of our room and headed south down Interstate 25 to Colorado Highway 52 east. In Hudson we crossed the BNSF mainline and we 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.

The 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, Colorado 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.

For further information or special tours contact: Curator, Comanche Crossing Museum, P.O. Box 647 Strasburg, Colorado 80136.

Comanche Crossing Historical Museum scene.

Grade crossing highway warning signal.

Union Pacific bay window caboose 24522 built by International Car in 1966 as Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific 17104.

Union Pacific Strasburg station built in 1916.

The display board about the completion of the Kansas Pacific Railroad in Strasburg. From here we will see other railroad related items.

Denver and Rio Grande Western tool car X3339 built by American Car and Foundry in 1914 as baggage-railway post office car 624.

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.

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 corporte 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.

My last picture in Strasburg. We took 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 where we gassed up before we headed to the railroad museum there.

The 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.

Union Pacific caboose 25670.

Milwaukee Road coach 660 built by the railroad in 1948 as 550.

Milwaukee Road coach 665 built by the railroad in 1948 as 538.

Rock Island wedge snow plow 95580 built by the railroad.

Display train.

Limon Kyle yard scene.

Two Limon scenes. From here we went east on US 287 to Hugo.

The sign at the Hugo Union Pacific Roundhouse restoration.

The Union Pacific Hugo Roundhouse built in 1909.

USA caboose which is really CB&Q cabose 135--.

Pacific Fruit Express Mechanical Refrigerator car 300944.

Union Pacific flat car 909231.

A Hugo Colorado scene. Next 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.

Union Pacific caboose 25400 built by the railroad in 1959.

Kit Carson plaque.

Railroad buildings and speeder.

A Kit Carson scene. Next we headed to Lamar but made one stop 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 outside.

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 would use one of these anytime I needed to wash my car. Then we drove to Las Animas.

Las Animas Santa Fe station, built in 1908, where it was 105 degrees. We then drove to La Junta but had to stop for pictures.

We saw a headlight and pulled off the highway at MP 546 which is east of La Junta on the former Santa Fe line now operated by BNSF.

BNSF 5762 East with DPUs on the rear end at MP 546. From here we drove into La Junta where it was 107 degrees.

La Junta Santa Fe station built in 1955.

Santa Fe caboose 999602 built by the railroad in 1949 as 2261. We the drove 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.

There is another railroad display in La Junta.

Plymouth switcher 7573 built by the company in 1939.

One last view at the surprise of the day. Next we drove out to Delhi.

Santa Fe wig wag crossing signal, the last one in Colorado, at Delhi.

A closer view of the Santa Fe wig wag signal before we drove into Rocky Ford.

BNSF 6268 East at Rocky Ford. We would take pictures of the remaining Santa Fe stations on the way to Pueblo.

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 is this off-red color from the smoke of the fires in the Colorado Mountains.

BNSF 8796 East was at East Pueblo under smoky skies.

The smoke is 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 cause is unknown. We drove to the Ramada Inn and checked in for the night.

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