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.

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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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

Rolling Art . . .Burlington Northern, Casper Wyoming

Railroads of Albany County

Railroads of Albany County

UP: Steam

UP: Steam

Lysite Wyoming

This is the railhead at Lysite, Wyoming, with photographs also including the J. B. Okie structure, built in 1919.

Lysite is a very small town, although it's seen some rejuvenation recently due to a major natural gas processing plant having been built just outside of town.  It was originally, however, a local agricultural town and it is located quite near Okie's town of Lost Cabin.  Okie had hoped the rail line would go through Lost Cabin, and was disappointed when it did not, but he obviously adjusted and had this structure built near the rail line.  I don't know its original function, but as Okie was a major sheepman, I suspect it was for shipping wool.  Okie had stores in Lysite, Lost Cabin and Arminto as well.

Today this is is a Burlington Northern line.

U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library

U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library

40 Hommes et 8 Chevals

World War One era French boxcar, at American Legion Post in Cheyenne. This boxcar is of the type in which American troops were hauled in World War One, and examples were presented by the French government to American Legion posts after the war.

Union Pacific Big Boy, Cheyenne Wyoming

A Union Pacific roundhouse in Evanston Wyoming.  One of very few left.  This one is now a museum.

Stock Crossing or Railroad Crossing?

The Burlington Northern (CB&Q) in Sherdan, Wyoming

These photographs depict two Burlington Northern depots, or rather former depots, in Sheridan, Wyoming.  The wooden structure is the older of the two, being a 19th Century depot.  It's in private ownership today, and is actually currently for sale.

The brick structure is much later, and it bears a striking resemblance to the BN depot in Casper, Wyoming.  Apparently Burlington Northern depots were built to a standard set of plans. This substantial depot is also no longer a BN depot, but is now a bar and grill in Sheridan.

Also depicted is a decommissioned BN locomotive, built in 1940.