I had been in Colorado last weekend for a good friend’s wedding. The visit also gave me the chance to visit one of my favorite preservation railroads, the Shay-powered Georgetown Loop. I also took advantage of this outing to briefly re-visit a place I hadn’t been to in 26 years: Cheyenne, Wyo. Thanks to a friend of a friend, two local guides showed me around famous Sherman Hill. We spent a day observing Union Pacific trains climbing up or coasting down the grade made famous by Big Boys, Challengers, and Northerns in the steam era as well as gas turbines and Centennials in the modern age. The kindness of a local rancher gave us a magnificent place from which to view the action, and for that I am most grateful. We delighted in tracing the path of the original transcontinental railroad, watched antelope (but no deer) play, and reveled in the good fortune of a dozen freights passing before us.
My guides and I dined at Shadows restaurant in the restored Cheyenne depot (be sure to try the Big Boy amber beer), and after they departed, and using Trains’ own Bill Metzger’s all-time guide to Sherman Hill map as a guide (and available in our Railroad Maps special, which hits newsstands July 30, 2013) I spent another hour and a half watching trains off Otto Road. Even the yardmaster, heading to nearby Speer, Wyo., to pick up an outlawed crew, stopped to ask if I was getting good pictures. I appreciated his genuine enthusiasm, and it capped this visit after such a long time.
Or so I thought.
Monday dawned beautifully clear, and with the prospect of a 10:30 a.m. flight out of Denver International Airport, I got up early and headed downtown to film a video introduction to the next issue that will go on www.TrainsMag.com later this month.
As I was leaving the depot and driving toward Interstate 25, I saw a westbound and decided to take a quick look. It was a mixed freight, heading out track 3 toward Speer and the junction with the line to Denver. It was heavily backlit by the rising sun, and I could not make out the power until it was right beside me. To my amazement, behind leading AC44CW No. 7080, the engine consist included two patched former Chicago & North Western Operation Lifesaver units, a rare find. The backlighting meant my quick grab shot from Otto Road was insufficient, so I headed toward Speer to catch the consist in better light.
After winding around the dirt roads of a developing office park, I found a place at the edge of the UP property line where I could get a decent shot. The train was still moving when I had last spied him from I-25, but now I was getting worried: He was nowhere in sight. My Droid phone gave me a quick calculation of the drive time to the airport. The train needed to show by 7:15 for me to make my flight. I waited. But no train came. I drove along the fence and came to a place where I could spot my target stopped at a signal. Moments later, a rumbling from the south announced a northbound auto rack train — the reason for my train’s tardiness. The auto racks rolled by and picked up speed on the downhill into Cheyenne. They cleared the switch, and moments later I heard the train I was after blow two short blasts on his horn and begin to move. I retreated to the location I had picked out earlier for the best view, and moments later, my train rolled into slight. A friendly horn blast and wave from the crew and a wave back from me, and both of us were off to Denver.
I made my flight with time to spare, pleased with the good luck that had followed me to Wyoming.
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