Friday, June 3, 2016, Part Two
Cheyenne to Gillette, Wyo.

Photos by Dave Ingles

Welcome to Wyoming, our least populous state, which our ride through it amply illustrated! After Cheyenne, I put away the camera for a while. The scenery was bland, just rolling prairie hills, not much vegetation, and I'd covered it in 1959 on a C&S fan trip set up UP's Jim Ehernberger for 2-10-2 900's last revenue run, from Cheyenne to Guernsey and back, on which we had two dozen or so photo runbys. My first photo here is of the first real change in "scenery," the Laramie River crossing at 4:11 p.m.at Moba Jct. (Basin Electric power plant spur), at Mile 220 (from Denver). The only towns of note en route here are Chugwater ( a great name, but there was nothing to photograph to identify it) and Wheatland (ditto)..The next shot is courtesy passenger Bob Lenz of Waunakee, Wis., who graciously e-mailed me his shot of this butte, location not noted, when I had only my slide camera handy. It typifies the countryside we passed through up toward Wendover. The third shot is mine, of a bluff to the east, with some trees, just before Wendover.

Well, enough scenery for now. We arrived at the south wye switch at Wendover at 4:51 to change crews. This is the former north end of the C&S, where it joined parent CB&Q's Billings, Mont.–Casper–Guernsey–Northport, Neb. line; at Northport,coal trains can go north to Alliance, Neb., or south to Brush, Colo., on BNSF's Omaha–Denver main (Amtrak CZ route). The red wooden CB&Q Wendover depot is long gone, but we proceeded there and waited from 4:53 to 5:14 for an eastbound coal load to pass, 6247/9373 up front with rear DPU 6154.

Shortly after resuming our trek north, we entered what is to me the best scenery of the entire week, Wendover Canyon, inaccessible by auto. The lighting was perfect, us on the west side of the North Platte River and well-lit bluffs on the right.

Rick Moser and Tony Marchiando might be still going "Wow!" about the canyon scenery, but then again, it had become cocktail hour.

At Elkhorn siding at 6:11 p.m., we met 6653 South, a merchandiser off the Montana Rail Link at Laurel with 5 units, the trailers being a KCS, a CSX, and 2 more BNSF. Wish i'd been on Caritas for a going-away clear shot of that consist. Soon, at 6:21, we crossed the North Platte.

We passed Bridger Jct. at 6:22, entering "new mileage" for most passengers, then 1 mile later, Orin Jct., the official south end of the "Coal Line," our target this day. Never mind the late hour, we had sunlight, but only moderate traffic, as we sped up the westerly track at a steady 50 mph or better. This photo shows what was Fisher Jct., the west end of former C&NW "Cowboy Line" track, which we passed at 6:28. UP's connection is ahead 6 miles at Shawnee Jct. 8 minutes later. I was on the wrong side of the dome to photograph the control-point signs.

At Crossover 95.5 (descending mileposts now from Donkey Creek Jct., east of Gillette, north end of the Coal Line) at 7 p.m., we met our first coal train, UP 7204 East, and after my fuzzy thru-the-dome distant shot, the two clear photos, taken from Caritas, are courtesy Phil Gosney, with permission.

Next was a BNSF load, 5853 East, with DPUs 9377/9372, a few minutes later.

Photos from the dome of opposing trains not only are not that great, they are hard to time just right, but the next coal train we met HAD to be published, as it's a BNSF train with a "UP engine number" on the lead unit, at 7:12 p.m. not far south of Bill, the UP's former C&NW Coal Line terminal. As we sped by Bill at 7:20, we were squinting into the low sun in the west, and no photo turned out that is worth posting.

Beyond Bill it was time for dinner. Our table included John Arbuckle, on board for only this one day, Rick Moser, and Chuck Weinstock.

After dinner, nearing sunset, I went to a vestibule to enjoy the breeze at 50 mph. These shots were around Milepost 35 to 33, after 8:15 p.m. approaching Coal Creek Jct. During dinner, etc., we'd seen and met perhaps 3 or 4 other coal trains, I didn't count, but most of the activity was in the middle of our run, with no action at either end.

This large cracking plant (I'm told) surprised me.

The sun finally went down behind Caballo Rojo Mine, Milepost 15, at 8:45 p.m., for my last shot of the day. We reached West Donkey Creek Jct., MP 0.9 (having entered the Coal Line at MP 127.3 at Bridger Jct.), at 9:14 p.m. and rolled on west 10 miles into Gillette at 9:30. Fifteen minutes later we tied up on a side track downtown near the old depot site, south of the main track. It didn't take me long to fall asleep!

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