Rocky Mountain News, January 13, 1916.

 

Looking at, and for, railroad maps.

A long time ago, I published this item, which I'll post in its entirety down below, regarding a railroad map from 1916.  I could not longer find it, but the item noted that later maps demonstrated the same thing.  Here's one I found from 1918.

Ths map also covered motor vehicle highways, which I was also going to try to look up.  Frankly, the highways are much easier to read.

Lex Anteinternet: Wyoming Railroad Map, 1915: The Wyoming State Library has published a series of historic maps of the state, including railroad maps.  I'd been hoping to find one fo...

Wyoming Railroad Map, 1915

The Wyoming State Library has published a series of historic maps of the state, including railroad maps.  I'd been hoping to find one for 1915 (book research, which I've been turning to again, which probably makes this blog a bit more like it originally was, and a bit more dull for the few people who actually stop in here), and low and behold, they had one.

1915 Wyoming Railroad Map.

Interesting map, it shows some things that I'd wondered about.

It shows, for one thing, that Casper was served by the Burlington Northern, which I new, and the Chicago and North Western, which I sort of knew, but it was celled the Great North Western in its later years.  It served Casper up until probably about 25 years ago or so.  There's hardly any remnant of it here now, and its old rail line here was converted to a trail through the town.  The old depot is a nice looking office building, but I don't know if that building dates back to 1915.  I doubt it.  I don't think that the Burlington Northern one isn't that old either.

 

Former Chicago and North Western depot in Casper.

 Burlington Northern Depot in Casper.

A really interesting aspect of this is that it shows two parallel lines actually running from where the railroads met in Douglas.  I knew that there were two depots in Douglas, and I knew there were remnants of the North West line east of town, but I didn't realize that the two lines actually ran astride each other, more or less (within a few miles of each other), from Douglas to Powder River, where they joined. The depot at Powder River is no longer there.

 

Former depot for one of the railroads in Douglas, now used as a railroad interpretive center.

 

 The other depot in Douglas, now a restaurant called "The Depot".

After that, interestingly, the Chicago and North Western ran to Shoshoni, while the Burlington Northern did not.  Now, a local short line runs to Shoshoni and links in somewhere with the  BN, but I don't know where.  Not in Powder River, that's for sure.  The BN still runs north through the Wind River Canyon, however, taking a turn at Shoshoni, which did not at that time, still passing through Lysite as it then did.  No rail line runs from Shoshoni to Riverton, and on to Hudson and Lander like this map shows.  And as with one of the Douglas depots, the old Riverton line is now a restaurant, although I've apparently failed to photograph that one (note to self, I suppose).  It's pretty amazing to think, really, that Fremont County's rail service has really declined pretty significantly in the past century, with Lander no longer being a terminus.  

Rail facilties in Lysite, which are probably nearly as old as the map being discussed here.

Going the other way, the results are even more surprising.  Orin Junction is still there, and is still a railroad junction, but just for the Burlington Northern.  The railroad still runs east to Lusk, but that's a Burlington Northern line today, apparently running on the old path of the Chicago and North Western.  Going south east, that line is still there up to Harville, but from the there what's indicated as a Colorado & "South 'N" line is now a Union Pacific line.

I honestly don't know, and really should, how far south that UP line runs, which shows that this is one of those areas of my state's history and present that I don't know that much about.  It's funny how something like this can really surprise you, and make you realize that you don't know aas much as you think.  I know that the BN runs as far south as Chugwater today, and further south than that, but I don't know if it runs into Cheyenne like it once did (or rather the Colorado did).  The main line of the UP runs through southern Wyoming and there's a huge yard in Cheyenne, so presumably there's a junction there somewhere.

The former Union Pacific depot in Cheyenne, now, of course, a restaurant and a museum.

This map in fact answered a question for me which I had, which is that if you wanted to travel from Casper to Cheyenne on a timely basis, what route would the train take. Well, now I know.  In 1915, you'd take either of the railroads serving Casper east to Orin Junction, and then take the BN south to Hartville.  From there, you'd take the Colorado south to Cheyenne.  From there, the extensive UP lines opened up the path west, south and east.

It's also interesting to see some lines that I knew once existed, but which are now defunct, shown here on the map.  The Saratoga & Encampment, for example, is shown.  I didn't know it was that told, but I should have.  The Colorado & Eastern running from Laramie up to the Snowies is also shown.  I knew that some railroad had done that, and that the lines are still there (a shortline serving skiers was attempted a few years ago, but no longer runs), but I didn't know what line that was.

Very interesting stuff.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Postscript

Out of curiosity, I took a look at the map for 1930, the last one they had up.  The rail lines were the same in 1930 as they were in 1915.

That shouldn't, I suppose, surprise me really.  For one thing, all the basic service lines appear to have been in by 1915 (or earlier, I'll  have to see if there's an earlier rail map).  And the last 1930 map was a "travel" map, not specifically a rail line map, like the 1915 one was, so perhaps it may have omitted any newer lines, although I doubt it.  Of interest, that travel map for 1930 only showed rail lines, not roads, so the presumption was obvious that if you were going to be doing much traveling, it was going to be by rail. 

Postscript II

Another thing that occurs to me from looking at this map is the extent of rail service, particularly passenger service, but all rail service in general, at a time when the state's population was less than half of what it present is. Very extensive.  Quite a remarkable change, compared to now, when some of these lines and many of the smaller railroads no longer exist here at all.

Of course, that no doubt reflects the massive changes in transportation we've seen, the improvement of roads, and of course the huge improvement in automobiles over this period.

Sleeper Cars.

I've started to look into sleeper cars a bit, connected with the purpose of Lex Anteinternet.   In doing so, I've learned that I don't know hardly anything about them.

Pullman sleeping car, late 19th Century, early 20th Century

For one thing, I didn't know that they were an introduction, in the US, via George Pullman, of the Pullman Company.  I was aware of Pullman porters, an all black occupation, but I guess I never put the two together.

I also didn't realize how spartan they could be, as i the photograph from above.  My mental image of them is really based on movies like North By Northwest, which depicts really nice and private ones, and there were pretty luxurious sleeper cars at that. But there were also pretty plain ones, which makes sense in the era when town to town transportation was by train.  Not everyone was on a holiday by any means.

Another thing I didn't appreciate really is that the cars usually didn't belong to the railroad itself  One website on the Union Pacific notes:

How many sleeping cars did UP own over its lifetime? A quick answer would be 55 heavyweight clerestory-roof sleepers, and 191 lightweight sleepers. But a definitive number has two important considerations; the difference between operated, leased, and owned, and the difference between heavyweight and lightweight.

The difference between a heavyweight car and lightweight car is mostly the era it was built, rather than the material it was built from, meaning that cars of an earlier era were built with heavyweight materials, while newer, more modern cars were built using lighter materials. Heavyweight cars were built using riveted carbon steel body-frame construction, and concrete floors. Most were built in the 1910s and 1920s and due to their weight, were equipped with six-wheel truck and wheel assemblies. These have been known as heavyweight cars since the 1940s to distinguish them from the lightweight cars built using either much lighter aluminum or welded alloy steel, or combinations of both. Lightweight cars had non-opening windows, and full-width arch roof. Most were built after 1935 and were equipped with four-wheel truck and wheel assemblies.

Union Pacific did not own any sleeping cars until the government's forced breakup of Pullman in 1944. Until that date, all lightweight sleeper cars used by Union Pacific on their trains were "operated" by UP, but owned by The Pullman Company. After that date, sleeper cars operated on UP trains were either owned by UP, or owned by UP and its SP and C&NW partners; all were leased back to Pullman for operation.

I should have known that.

Pullman's hold on the industry was so pronounced that sleeping cars used in World War One belonged to them.

All of this no doubt just scratches the surface of this topic, about which I'm nearly completely ignorant.

Crew Clears 100+ Derailed Freight Cars From Track Near Cheyenne In 18 Hours

 

Crew Clears 100+ Derailed Freight Cars From Track Near Cheyenne In 18 Hours

Towns and Nature: Dubuque, IA: Lost/CGW Depot

Towns and Nature: Dubuque, IA: Lost/CGW Depot: ( Satellite , as is rather typical, the depot's land got used by a highway. It looks like the Milwaukee tracks have also been moved in t...

NTSB, Union Pacific Mum On Hazardous Cargo On Train Near Gas Line Breach

 

NTSB, Union Pacific Mum On Hazardous Cargo On Train Near Gas Line Breach

20-Car Derailment In Albany County Starts Fire, Leaves Packages All Over Tracks

 

20-Car Derailment In Albany County Starts Fire, Leaves Packages All Over Tracks

 

88-Year-Old Cheyenne Railroad Veteran Donates Entire Railroading Collection To UW

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, July 19, 1900. Métro

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, July 19, 1900. Métro: 

Thursday, July 19, 1900. Métro

The first line of the Métro was inaugurated in Paris. 

Towns and Nature: Cheyenne, WY: Big Boy 4004 Static Display and Stor...

Towns and Nature: Cheyenne, WY: Big Boy 4004 Static Display and Stor...: ( Satellite ) Joss Moni posted that is at Holiday Park in Cheyenne, WY correct. been there to eat lunch many times Curt Schnitzer : August 1...

Railroad Bridge over the Platte near Orin Junction.

Railroad Bridge over the Platte near Orin Junction.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, June 12, 1945. Penn Station.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, June 12, 1945. The suicide of the Japanes...: 

Penn Station, June 12, 1945.

 

Freight Containers Topple Off Train North Of Rock River 

Blog Mirror: Casper to support Douglas Rail-Trail study

 

Casper to support Douglas Rail-Trail study

Lex Anteinternet: Canadian railroad dispute ordered into arbitration.

Lex Anteinternet: Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or les...:

August 23, 2024

The Canadian government has forced the Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National railroads into arbitration with their unions, so rail traffic in Canada will resume shortly.

After no agreement was reached, the railroads had locked their workers out yesterday.

Towns and Nature: Salt Lake City, UT: UP, D&RG and Amtrak Depots

Towns and Nature: Salt Lake City, UT: UP, D&RG and Amtrak Depots: UP: ( Satellite ) D&RG: ( Satellite ) Amtrak: ( Satellite ) Street View , May 2024 [It appears that Salt Lake City has a streetcar syste...

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, .April 30, 1909.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, .April 30, 1909.:  

Friday, .April 30, 1909.

 

Last prior edition:

Thursday, April 29, 1909. Tornado devastation.

1900s, 1909, Disaster, Iran, Persia, Russia, Weather

Tornado v. Train. 4/26 in Nebraska

Tornado v. Train.

Blog Mirror: Wyoming History: Golden Era For Railroads Brought Status, Luxury And Money

 

Wyoming History: Golden Era For Railroads Brought Status, Luxury And Money

Towns and Nature: Willow Island, NE: Wood Grain Elevator and UP Depot

Towns and Nature: Willow Island, NE: Wood Grain Elevator and UP Depot: Wood Elevator: ( Satellite ) Original Depot Location: (Satellite?, you can see the siding in the aerial photo below, but I could not find a ...

Two Man Crews.

The United States Transportation Department has determined to maintain two-man crews on railroads.

Industrial History: 1885 Viaduct near Sherman, WY

Industrial History: 1885 Viaduct near Sherman, WY: ( South Satellite and North Satellite ) Canvas Art posted Dale Creek Bridge, an iron bridge in Sherman, Wyoming, USA. A dangerous crossing t...

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, March 22, 1944. Rationing.

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, March 22, 1944. German defeat in the B...: 

Sarah Sundin's excellent blog on daily events in World War Two, whose feed updates are no longer working, notes this item:

In US, “A” gas rationing cards (basic passenger car ration) are cut from three gallons per week to two gallons. 

Two gallons per week.

Could you get by on two gallons per week?  Most days I drive a 1/4 ton Utility Truck, which is better known as a Jeep, and while it's small, it gets terrible mileage.  I know that I use more than two gallons per week, but I would if I was driving my fuel efficient diesel truck as well.  If I was limited to two gallons per week, I'd have to make major life changes.

Should I be pondering this as Congress, through the neglect of Ukraine, pushes us ever closer to a war with Russia, should she invade the Balkans?

During World War Two I know that my grandfather had a different class of ration ticket as his vehicle was used for business.  His car was a "business coupe", which is about all I know about it.

I know it had a gasoline personnel heater, which probably provides a clue, but I still don't know who made it.

I had a 1954 Chevrolet at one time, and it got really good mileage.  Interestingly, a 1973 Mercury Comet, with a really powerful V8 engine we had, also did.  According to one site about older cars, the business couple should be something like this:

My '38 gets around 17-18 MPG @ 50 MPH. It drops to around 12-14 @ 60. She just doesn't like being pushed that hard.

My 54, and the 73, got much better mileage than that.

Whatever mileage the business coupé got, my father sort of brushed gasoline rationing off when I asked him about it, due to the other category of ticket.  I don't know what that really meant, however.

Of course, for most long travel of any kind, people took the train.  Something that we might want to consider as potentially being something that may very well return.  High speed rail, for that matter, may be coming to Wyoming.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, March 21, 1944. Dear John.

1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Churches, Continuation War, Kamikaze, Miles City Montana, New Guinea, Operation Margarethe, Operation U-Go, The relationship between men and women, The written word, World War Two

Blog Mirror: Casper City Council OKs mayor’s letter supporting Cheyenne’s effort to secure passenger rail service in Wyoming

 

Casper City Council OKs mayor’s letter supporting Cheyenne’s effort to secure passenger rail service in Wyoming

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, March 12, 1944. Derailed.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, March 12, 1944. Derailed.: 

Sunday, March 12, 1944. Derailed.

Today In Wyoming's History: March 12: 1944  Nineteen cars of a Union Pacific train derailed near the location of old Ft.Steele.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

A few photos of Ft. Steele (more are on the linked in site.

Ft. Fred Steele, Carbon County Wyoming

In the past, I haven't tended to post fort entries here, but for net related technical reasons, I'm going to, even though these arguably belong on one of my other blogs.  I'll probably cross link this thread in.

These are photographs of Ft. Fred Steele, a location that I've sometimes thought is the bleakest historical site in Wyoming.

One of the few remaining structures at Ft. Steele, the powder magazine.  It no doubt is still there as it is a stone structure.

The reason that the post was built, the Union Pacific, is still there.

Ft. Steele is what I'd regard as fitting into the Fourth Generation of Wyoming frontier forts, although I've never seen it described that way, or anyone other than me use that term.   By my way of defining them, the First Generation are those very early, pre Civil War, frontier post that very much predated the railroads, such as Ft. Laramie.  The Second Generation would be those established during the Civil War in an effort to protect the trail and telegraph system during that period during which the Regular Army was largely withdrawn from the Frontier and state units took over. The Third Generation would be those posts like Ft. Phil Kearney that were built immediately after the Civil War for the same purpose.  Contemporaneously with those were posts like Ft. Steele that were built to protect the Union Pacific Railroad.  As they were in rail contact with the rest of the United States they can't really be compared to posts like Ft. Phil Kearney, Ft. C. F. Smith or Ft. Caspar, as they were built for a different purpose and much less remote by their nature.

Ft. Sanders, after it was abandoned, remained a significant railhead and therefore the area became the center of a huge sheep industry. Quite a few markers at the post commemorate the ranching history of the area, rather than the military history.

One of the current denizens of the post.

Suttlers store, from a distance.

Union Pacific Bridge Tenders House at the post.

Current Union Pacific bridge.

Some structure from the post, but I don't know what it is.

The main part of the post's grounds.

This 1914 vintage highway marker was on the old Lincoln Highway, which apparently ran north of the tracks rather than considerably south of them, like the current Interstate Highway does today.