| In some ways Cheyenne is not a lot
different to North Platte. It is another town which would not exist
but for the railroad. I'm getting some ribbing because we do not seem to
have been able to avoid railroads for several days now. This is the yard in
the centre of Cheyenne looking west to where you can just make out the
mountains on the horizon. |  |
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We went into the station building only to find that because it was a
holiday, the local model railroad club were there in force. Here we have a
couple of first generation diesel E9 'A' units. |
| However more interesting,
beautiful, and representative of the fringes of modelling is this wooden
model of a rotary snowplough. The maker, Wilbur Craig, was there showing
about a dozen of the fabulous models he makes. This is about eighteen inches
long and six inches high. However he prefers to call it 'wood art in
motion'. His models can have anything up to 9000 parts which are precision fit.
He does not use glue or nails, or anything except wood and they can all be
completely disassembled. He also doesn't use plans or blueprints. It is all
done by eye. |  |
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The craftsmanship is fabulous with the inside cab fully detailed. He had
taken off the roofs so you could see inside. Those levers actually move. |
| Another of his models, a Pioneer steam train.
The wheels and coupling rods all go round and it is all made of wood. |  |
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This is a model of the 'Aerotrain'. It's a work in progress - he has completed the
outside but has yet to finish the interior. Note the 'engine' has been
removed. |
| Bear in mind this is all
made of wood. He told us that if you take the top off, you will find the
pistons. If you take the pistons out you will get to the crankshaft. The
crankshaft goes round and the pistons go up and down! |  |
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This model of a 'Big Boy' has over 9000 parts and took 18 months to build.
It is over 6 ft long and has been appraised as being worth over $100,000.
To see more go to
http://woodartinmotion.com |
| Part of the station
building houses a museum displaying many
early photographs of Cheyenne. Here we see one of the building
superintendents looking over the first trackbed to be built here. The sleepers have been laid using
timbers brought in from the east, as there is very little timber here. The
rails have yet to be laid. It just vanishes away into the distance. |  |
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A photo of one of the construction trains bringing in supplies. Everything
had to be brought in for everything that one did out here. The railroad made
that possible. |
| An aerial photo from 1948
showing the size of the railroad yard then with the huge 18 road roundhouse
in the centre. It is all much smaller today. |  |
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It isn't all railroad. We did find cowboy boots on all the street corners. A
reminder that this was a frontier town and that it celebrates that with
Frontier Days for two weeks in July. |
| The old roundhouse seen
above is now a museum which is only open a few days each year. This was one
of those days. |  |
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We asked how far it was and were told it was a mile and far too far to walk.
We took the camper anyway and discovered it was rather further than stated.
We wondered if the camper would fit under the bridges, but it did. We found
another model railroad, HO scale this time, and a few full size exhibits.
This was the business end of the rotary snowplough, the model of which you
saw above. |
| And one of UP's heritage
diesel fleet. They have a few heritage locomotives used for special trips which
are kept here. 951 is an E9 class built in 1955. This one was rebuilt in
1995 using modern components but retaining the look. |  |
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Another heritage diesel of the Centennial DD40X class built in 1969 and
retired in 1984. This is the only one of the 47 built which is still owned
by UP. Another 11 were donated for public display. They were actually two
diesel engines on a single chassis. They were built for high speed use and
most freight today is low speed. |
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