TOP: When this photo was taken on September 5, 1999, all rail between Laramie, Wyo., and Northgate, Colo., had been removed. In this view looking west near Miller siding all that remains is a milepost sign and discarded ties.


LEFT: WYCO No. 6323 has five loads of 133-pound jointed rail, which will depart Northgate, Colo., the following day and arrive in Laramie in the late afternoon.


the Forest Service and today sits peace- fully on a short section of track, located at Lake Owen at milepost 47. From the Laramie, Hahn’s Peak &


Pacific Railway in the early 1900s to the Union Pacific years starting in 1950s, time was running out on the Coalmont Branch. The Wyoming Colorado tried to operate the line in a profitable fashion, but the high cost of operating the line and lack of a customer base was more than it could handle. In the heart of the Albany switch-


backs sits Harrison cut, known for mas- sive snow drifts, as high as 15 feet in the winter months. It was a thorn for the railroads that operated this line. After nearly 90 years of battles, Harrison cut continues to stand guard, overlooking the beautiful Centennial valley below. As the fierce Wyoming wind begins to shape another massive snow drift within the cut, the battle is finally over for the railroad. The tracks are long gone and the Snowy Range Route is all but a dis- tant memory now.


SEE ALSO: “Red F-units and Yellow SDs” by Walter Weart, RAILFAN & RAILROAD, January 1991


ABOVE: On September 9, 1999, ex-Union Pacific caboose No. 25170, now lettered as “Great Western” No. 3870, sits on a section of rail and has the distinction of serving as the Forest Service’s Lake Owen trailhead. In the summer of 1996, this caboose was owned by a WYCO employee and sat on the wye at Fox Park, Wyo., before being moved to the present location.


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