Sunday, September 28, 2014

Rio Grande Depot, Salt Lake City Utah.



This very classic city train station in Salt Lake City was built in 1910. A beautiful structure, it now houses Utah's state historical offices, the Utah History Center and the Rio Grande Cafe.

The station is probably also emblematic, in some ways, of the decline in passenger rail service.  Only a few blocks off of downtown, the neighborhood can be a rough one at certain times of the day and the presence of police cars in these photographs isn't accidental, a there is a City of Salt Lake police station very near by.  Early in the morning large crowds of the homeless gather as a Catholic relief mission just across the street.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Lex Anteinternet: Holscher's Hub: Rental housing, Bosler Wyoming

Lex Anteinternet: Holscher's Hub: Rental housing, Bosler Wyoming: Holscher's Hub: Rental housing, Bosler Wyoming   We've had some thread on nicer older hotels up here, so perhaps its time to sh...

Lex Anteinternet: Friday Farming: Shipping cattle by rail.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday Farming: Shipping cattle by rail.: A practice very much of the past.  Once the mainstay of cattle and sheep market transportation, this has been completely taken over by tr...

Monday, May 5, 2014

Lex Anteinternet: The NCSD Bond Issue

Lex Anteinternet: The NCSD Bond Issue: The bond issue goes to the voters tomorrow, May 6.  Please vote yes, if you are a Natrona County, Wyoming voter. Prior threads on the topi...

Monday, November 25, 2013

Lex Anteinternet: The light rail revival of Union Station.

Lex Anteinternet: The light rail revival of Union Station.: One of the classic buildings in downtown Denver is Union Station .  The beautiful 1914 vintage was truly a railroad union, uniting a whole ...

Friday, November 15, 2013

The Burlington, the Great Nortwestern and the 33 Mile Road. Natrona County, Wyoming.




These photographs might not seem to show much, but in a way, the illustrate the rise, decline, and rebirth of American rail.

This is the spot where the Burlington Northern crosses the 33 Mile Road in Natrona County, Wyoming.  While not really detectable here, it's also the spot where the Great Northwestern once joined the Burlington Northern, and where there was a spur line into the Casper Air Base.  Some years ago, all that was taken out.

After that, however, the BN rebuilt their line with modern taller, and uniform, rail, reflecting increased rail traffic in the area.

Up on the hill an abandoned farm house looks down on the long lasting scene. The farm ground is still farmed, but the farmer no longer needs to live there, and hasn't for decades.

Union Pacific Depot, Rawlins Wyoming.


This is the Union Pacific Depot in Rawlins, Wyoming.  The depot was built in the late 19th Century.  Post cards from the early 20th Century show the depot with a nice lawn next to it.

Rawlins is a major Union Pacific town with a substantial rail yard today.  Indeed, in some of these photographs you can see a Union Pacific train in the yard.  But passenger service is long gone.

 The depot as viewed from one of Rawlins' main downtown streets.

The Union Pacific gifted the depot to Rawlins which has converted it into a train museum, a fitting use for a structure that played a major role in the life of the community.





Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Railroad displays at Anna Miller Museum, Newcastle Wyoming

The Anna Miller Museum in Newcastle Wyoming is a local museum hosed in what was formerly the stables for a unit of the 115th Cavalry, Wyoming Army National Guard.  The museum has a small railroad and mining equipment display outside of the building.  As it was closed when we visited, I do not know what is contained inside the museum.




Mine locomotive.

Mining equiment.



Friday, April 5, 2013

Arminto Wyoming



This is what is left of the sidetrack at Arminto Wyoming, and of a hotel along the rail line, which was located where the grove of trees stands.

While now it would almost be impossible to tell, this location once shipped more sheep per year than any other spot on earth.  It was the epicenter of the local sheep industry, and the busiest sheep shipping point on earth.  It remained a significant sheep town well into the second half of the 20th Century, but  the railhead fell into disuse when trucking took over in livestock transportation, and ultimately the collapse of the sheep industry following the repeal of the Defense Wool Incentive in the 1980s completed the town's decline.  The famous local bar burned down in this period, and today the town is a mere shadow of its former self.

More on the history of this location can be found on the entry on this topic at Lex Anteinternet.

______________________________________________________________________________

Ray Galutia very generously provided us with photos depicting Arminto in the  1940s from his personal collection  I'm going to link these photos, which are historically valuable, in here, and also over at Lex Anteinternet, in those instances in which the topics aren't on railroads.  There will be more of those interesting linked in photos posted there.

I'm also going to repost this entry as a new current one, given that it's been updated to such an extent.

Again, many more of Mr. Galutia's fine photographs have been posted at the Arminto entry on Lex Anteinternet, so please check those out if you enjoy these. And heartfelt thanks to out to Mr. Galutia.


Diesel train taking siding for a steam engine at Arminto, 1947-1949.

The location of this photograph, from 1947-1949, is actually quite close to the ones posted immediately above, except it's from a different angle looking back on the town.

Pumping water to a train.


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Lex Anteinternet: What people read

Lex Anteinternet: What people read: We've had this blog up for a couple of years now, with the first posts being in 2009 . There were none in 2010, but we really took off in p...

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Looking at the BN from the old Great Northwestern



Photographs taken from the bed of the old Great Nortwestern line, rails now removed, of the Burlington Northern line that runs nearby.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Depot in Lewistown Montana



This depot in Lewistown Montana has been nicely preserved and converted into a number of other uses, including a sporting goods store, a restaurant, and a gas station.  Given that automobiles displaced trains to some extent, there's a bit of an irony there.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Steam powered rotatry snow plow, Hanna Wyoming

This is a steam engine in a specialized application, that being a rotary snow plow.  This snow plow engine is located in Hanna Wyoming.  The flags and artillery piece in the background are part of the Hanna Wyoming VFW Memorial Park.  The memorial in the foreground is the Carbon County Miners' Memorial.



Medicine Bow Union Pacific Station, Medicine Bow Wyoming


This a classically styled small town railroad station, located in Medicine Bow, Wyoming.  It's now a museum.





View with the Virginian Hotel just in the background, showing the typical arrangement between train stations in hotels in the days when long distance transportation was generally by rail.

Today In Wyoming's History: December 4

Today In Wyoming's History: December 4:

1948 This Union Pacific's City of San Francisco photographed near Cheyenne.