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Forget
all this stuff - I just want to see some PICTURES!
In the
deep night time, engine 545, the local switcher, waits under the
coaling tower for the arrival of the next train she'll have to
work in Laurel in late autumn, 1942.
(Select
here for updates)
The CB&Q in
Wyoming (my home state) started life there in the late 1800s as
an extension of the CB&Q from North Platte, Nebraska,
through Scottsbluff, Nebraska and (all in Wyoming) Torrington,
Wendover and into Orin, where it met the C&NW (while that
line was still, perhaps, part of the Fremont, Elkton &
Missouri Valley RR - I'm not sure), and ran parallel to it
through Douglas to Casper (where the CB&Q had a pretty big
yard, plus a big icing facility). A few years later, the
railroad built on westward from Casper. It paralleled the
C&NW closely from just west of Casper to Powder River (on
the bank of the South Fork of the river of the same name), then
parted ways with the C&NW and built along the northern edge
of the Wind River Basin, following Alkali Creek to the Badwater
River to the Big Horn River. At the Big Horn, the CB&Q
turned north and built through the Wind River Canyon. Exiting
the north end of the canyon, the CB&Q passed through
Thermopolis, then went on to Worland and Lovell. The line
finally left Wyoming near Frannie, which became a junction for
the Cody stub branch. From Frannie the mainline ran north to
Laurel, Montana, where it terminated at an interchange with the
Northern Pacific.
My HO scale
railroad is a representation of this line, combining a trip down
memory lane (I lived in several different towns that the
Burlington passed through, and much of my family's travels
through the state when I was a kid were on the highways
paralleling its lines) with nostalgia for the past. Most of my
memories are from the early to mid 1960s, but because of my love
of the steam era, the model railroad is placed in the 1940s.
I could go on and
on, and do in the sections describing the layout and track plan
in detail. At the top left are all the site navigation buttons.
Most are self-explanatory, and for the ones that might not be,
try them and see where you wind up!
I try to update
the site every few months, with new prototype photos and
information, and (hopefully) new layout information as well.
So
don't be a stranger - drop by often and see what's new!
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