March 13, 2010 Equipment moves postponed
No equipment will be moved during the next month or two.
February 21, 2010, 2:15 PM - More equipment move delays
The snow plow will not be moved tomorrow (Monday, February 22). We do not currently have a planned date for moving it.
February 18, 2010, 3:00 PM - More equipment move delays
The earliest that the snow plow will be moved is Monday, February 22.
February 18, 2010 - More equipment move delays
The earliest that the snow plow will be moved is Friday, February 19. Dan Smith, the mover, plans to start loading the plow on his truck today. If everything goes well, it might be moved on Friday. Saturday and Monday are also possibilities. See Feb. 13 announcement below for route.
February 15, 2010 - Equipment moves delayed
Problems with the mover's truck have forced a delay in our scheduled moves of equipment to Railroad Heritage Park. The snow plow will not be moved until Wednesday, February 17, at the earliest. More likely, the move will take place on Thursday, February 18. The route is unchanged.
February 13, 2010 - Equipment to be moved to Railroad Heritage Park
The snow train is about to be assembled in Railroad Heritage Park. The first piece to be moved is the snow plow, currently scheduled to begin its journey through Laramie at 11 AM, Tuesday, February 16. The tender will be moved a few days later, followed by the engine, bunk car, and then the caboose.
The snow plow will travel the following route:
- From its present location west of Cedar Street and University . . .
- North on Cedar to Curtis Street
- East on Curtis, over the viaduct, to 3rd Street
- South on 3rd to Sheridan
- West on Sheridan to Railroad Heritage Park
See our description of Railroad Heritage Park in the "About - Railroad Heritage Park" section of this website for photos of the equipment and other details.
November 17, 2009 -Open House at the Depot This Weekend
The Railroad Depot will have an Open House on Saturday and Sunday, November 21 – 22. It will celebrate all the wonderful things that have happened for us this year and is a small token of our appreciation for the heartwarming support we have received from the community and State – the Railroad Heritage Park, new roof, gutters, and other things to come. We will have tours of the Depot and Railroad Heritage Park, operating HO and N scale trains, a quilt raffle, model train raffle, and “Name Our Cow” contest. Refreshments will be served.
This will be an opportunity to see parts of the Depot, such as the baggage room on the north side, that the public hardly ever sees!
Hope to see you at our Open House!
Best wishes,
Larry
August 25, 2009
The Wyoming Colorado Railroad, Inc. has officially donated the snowplow now in Laramie’s West Side to the Railroad Heritage Park. Our snow train is now complete! Many thanks to Greg Kissel, WYCO Executive Vice President, and to The Western Group, of which WYCO is a subsidiary, for this spendid contribution.
Recent and historic photos of the snowplow and the other equipment to be assembled at the Park are available in the "About - Railroad Heritage Park" section of this website.
The wedge snowplow was built for and by the Union Pacific Railroad in their Pocatello shops in 1953 and was converted from a steam engine tender. The original number was 015. WYCO purchased it from the UP in 1987 and used it on their line from Laramie to Walden, CO. The plow appeared on the cover of The Streamliner, Vol. 6, No. 3, in action blasting through a snow drift near Strasburg, Colorado in 1982. It will be at the head of our snow train.
June 30, 2009
We obtained full funding from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund for our Railroad Heritage Park, as well as partial funding to replace the Depot’s roof. For details, see the WCTF press release at http://wyospcr.state.wy.us/Press/release.asp?releaseID=296, a portion of which is reprinted here:
Laramie Railroad Depot Association, Laramie, Laramie Railroad Depot Re-Roof Project, $10,000
Laramie Railroad Depot Association, Laramie, Railroad Heritage Park, Phase 1, $13,300
Previously, we received grants for the RR Heritage Park from the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, the Albany County Tourism Board, and the City of Laramie. These grants, the one from the WCTF, and public contributions, provide all the money we need to prepare the site, lay the track, and move the equipment. The Wyoming-Colorado Railroad has graciously donated sufficient track for the Park.
June 10, 2009
The Laramie Depot is open for tours on Wednesdays from 1 PM to 4 PM throughout the summer of 2009. Duane Trusty, a member of the Depot Board, will be there to show you around. Come visit this lovely reminder of the glory days of railroading in Laramie, Wyoming!
May 8, 2009
Laramie's first train - 141 years ago today!
Most likely, the first train arrived in Laramie 141 years ago today. At least that is what the evidence suggests from a perusal of items in the Cheyenne Leader, a newspaper of the day.
The strongest evidence for an arrival date of May 8, 1868, is the first and last items reprinted here from the Cheyenne Leader, May 11, 1868. Track construction was progressing at two to three miles per day on the Laramie Plains, so if on the 11th they were 8 miles west of Laramie (i.e., westbound on the railroad, which in Laramie is compass north), then three days earlier they would have been in Laramie. The tracks were obviously completed no later than the 10th because Durant arrived in Cheyenne on a train from Laramie that evening.
The first train would have been a work train carrying ties, rail, spikes, nuts, bolts, tie plates, fish plates, tools, etc. A train with bunk cars, commissary cars, and supplies would have been close behind. The scene may have looked something like the following:
Hollywood's depiction of railroad construction in 1868. From Cahill & Piade, The History of the Union Pacific, Brompton Books Corp., Greenwich, CT, 1989, p. 22.
The first scheduled trains to Laramie began arriving a few days later, on Friday, May 15, 1868. The previous day, May 14, the Union Pacific ran a special excursion train carrying Generals Sherman, Gibbon, and other dignitaries from Cheyenne to Laramie. See the article (in PDF format) "To the Summit and the City Beyond", from the front page of the Cheyenne Leader for a colorful description of that excursion.
Here is the first Union Pacific advertisement in the Cheyenne Leader that included service to Laramie:
Oddly, this ad appeared the day after service to Laramie began (May 16). The ad printed on the 15th did not include service to Laramie.
The tracks that came through Laramie that eventful day are located to the west of the present UP mainline. When next you walk across the footbridge, count the tracks as you head west – the 7th track over is where the original mainline was placed. The present mainline did not exist until after the disastrous fire of 1917 wiped out the original depot. Visit our History page to see a picture of the first depot (hover on the ABOUT tab at the top of this page).
The clippings from the Cheyenne Leader are from the Wyoming Newspaper Project.
Happy Birthday, Laramie!
May 5, 2009:
News Update
Several train-relevant dates are just around the corner:
Saturday, May 9: National Train Day. See http://www.nationaltrainday.com/2009/
Wyoming doesn’t have any planned events that I’m aware of; the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden will let Moms in for free and will host a Goosefest (several motorcars affectionately called “Galloping Geese” will run).
Sunday, May 10: It has been 140 years since the Union Pacific tracks met those of the Central Pacific at Promontory, Utah, to complete the first Transcontinental Railroad. By way of celebration, steam engine UP 844 and its train will be in Ogden, Utah. On or about the same day (sources vary) in 1868, the first train entered Laramie. Later in 1868, as a result of the railroad’s construction, Wyoming became a Territory.
Tuesday, May 12: Steam engine UP 844 will return to Laramie, probably about 3pm to 4pm. The train has an on-board GPS which you can follow at http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/excurs/trace.cfm You can also follow it on Twitter (it tweets its location periodically).
Best wishes,
Larry
April 7, 2009:
Steam Coming to Laramie
One of the steam engines (844 or 3985) will stop briefly at the Laramie Depot this Saturday, April 11. It is bound for California on a month-long trip and will have a long string of gorgeous yellow passenger cars in tow. Scheduled departure from Cheyenne is 8 AM, arrival in Laramie 9:30 AM, departure from Laramie 10:00 AM.
More details here.
April 4, 2009: Depot Receives Grant
We were just awarded a grant from the Wyoming State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO). This grant, together with your contributions, is sufficient to pay the cost of moving the bunk car, snow plow, caboose, and track to Railroad Heritage Park. If the City Council approves the creation of the Park in its meeting next Tuesday (April 7), we will seek additional grant funds, perhaps from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, to move the engine as well, thus completing our train.
I don't know whether or not it is appropriate to send a letter or email in support of Railroad Heritage Park to the Mayor or your representative on the City Council, but I can't imagine it would do any harm. So if you have a spare minute, please send a short note expressing your support.
March 20, 2009: Bunk Car Saved
The Laramie Railroad Depot Association bought the bunk car from Smiley's Salvage. This was made possible by the generous donations of money, time, effort, and good wishes of over 70 people. The Depot Board gives its sincere appreciation for your wonderful support.
We hope to put the bunk car, the engine in LaBonte Park, the caboose on South 3rd, and the snow plow in a Railroad Heritage Park located south of the Depot. A scale model of the equipment, the proposed park, and the Depot will be on display in the Rec Center beginning next Wednesday (March 25). A few photos of the equipment and the model of the park are online at picasaweb.google.com/LarryOstresh/RailroadHeritagePark#
One of the photos has been digitally altered so as to indicate what our bunk car will look like after being painted silver with black lettering, as it appeared in the mid-1950s.
Best wishes and profound Thanks,
Larry