C&S 2-10-2 903 rolling through the Wyoming hills, Horse Creek, WY, October 3, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate) C&S 2-10-2s 900 and 903 near Farthing, WY, October 3, 1957 (Al Chione photo)
CB&Q 2-8-2 5506 south of Horse Creek, WY, October 4, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate) C&S 2-10-2 902 at Horse Creek, WY, October 11, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate)
The second photo at the station seems very forlorn. I'm a Midwestern boy, and I'm used to cornfields. It must be very lonely out in the High Plains region of this country, with such few signs of habitation. Looking out into the distance and seeing literally nothing must be a strange feeling. The date of this photo is relatively late, but pre-war and before better roads, the railroad and these stations must have been a lifeline for the towns around them.
That's a similar situation to some communities along CN's former National Transcontinental line running almost straight from Quebec City to Winnipeg, going through some very remote communities in northern Quebec and Ontario, especially in winter. On a regular schedule, there were school cars, doctor's cars, dentist's cars (there's one of those at the railway museum in Smith's Falls, ON, complete with furnished interior), etc. The railroad gave these communities much-needed services that would have needed days of trudging through the wilderness, sometimes at -50 degree temperatures.
Just for fun, I was looking at the satellite views of Horse Creek. Can't really tell there was ever much of a community there. I am guessing that the time these photos were captured, the days of an agency there were long in the past. It was just a train order office. At least it had a good snow roof for the winter months. But really interesting for me is that in my collection, I have a two train order set copied here for the #902, dated almost a year after this picture.
Water here was probably really poor, so skipping a stop would have been welcomed for the boilermakers. I lived just a few miles from here in Cheyenne, and never chased this line. Now I regret not doing so.
C&S 2-10-2 914 at Denver, May 12, 1956 (Al Chione duplicate) C&S 903 and 902 rolling along near Altus, WY, October 13, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate)
Nice views again of those 2-10-2s, Bill. In the first photo, the lighting effects are great. But combine the lighting angle from the left, parallel to the tracks, and the reflections off those way too shiny GN and P&LE box cars, with the absence of a backdrop, it almost convinces me it's a cleverly staged model! That's impressive.
C&S 903 and 902 rolling through the Wyoming Hills, Farthing, WY, October 13, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate) C&S 2-10-2 902 in a spot of trouble at Horse Creek, WY, October 25, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate)
C&S 2-10-2 900 near Horse Creek, WY, October 25, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate) C&S 2-8-2 805, Cheyenne, WY, November 8, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate)
C&S 2-8-0 634 at Wellington, CO, December 7, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate) C&S 2-8-0 608 rolling down Mason Street, Fort Collins, CO, October 21, 1957 (Al Chione duplicate)
Ooooo. Cool! I have C&S train orders from Wellington. Neat to see where they were copied. And some from Fort Collins also! What is in those gondolas? Perhaps sugar beets?
I was thinking that those loads were sugar beets, too. This series on C&S in WY and northern CO is just MINT!!!!
They sure look like beets to me. Used to be big bidness at harvest time. Now the RR's are much too busy to take care of such mundane services
A steam special behind C&S 2-10-2 900, Denver, CO, July 27, 1958 (Al Chione duplicate) C&S 2-8-2 807 and 2-10-2 900 rolling into Longmont, CO, September 14, 1958 (Al Chione duplicate)
