Small photo, but of UP 2-8-0 535 in August 1956, at Laramie. It was last used as the switcher there, but was painted up on this day for an excursion on the North Park branch. Now rusting away on display in Laramie, a good one to put in the roundhouse at Evanston:http://www.colong.com/photos/56-08-25.jpgDark photo, but one of the excursion, on 8/4/56:http://www.colong.com/photos/56-08-29.jpgOn the excursion. This track later became the Wyoming/Colorado RR, operating ex-Alaska F units and cars on excursions, but is now gone.http://www.colong.com/photos/56-08-08.jpg

[quote="bobyar2001"]UP 2-8-0 535 .... rusting away on display in Laramie, a good one to put in the roundhouse at Evanston[/quote]What's going on with the Evanston Roundhouse??

Isn't she one of the so-called "Harriman Standard" Consolidations?

I haven't had contact with Evanston for a while. The city's energetic director of the project took a job elsewhere, so perhaps not much has happened. I believe they still have their yearly festival, however. The local paper came out in favor of adaptive use a year or so ago, stating that it was too expensive a project just to put old locomotives in there.The problem with that is, though, that adaptive reuse costs a fortune, and such buildings really don't adapt well. Used as a an authentic, gritty old roundhouse, however, it would require little work; just repair the roof and roof drains, put some glass in broken windows, remove a few apurtenances that post-date the steam era, bring in a few appropriate pieces of railroad shop machinery, and sweep the floor.. There are numerous pieces of historic UP equipment that once called the place home, so stocking the place would not be difficult.

That series Consolidations are sort of a mix between the Harrimans and the 400 series. Boiler looks a lot like a Harriman, but they have Walshaerts valve gear and square counterweights on the drivers. There are three of these extant, 535 at Laramie, 533 at Rawlins and the 529 (sold in 1949 to Hines Lumber in Oregon), at Snoqualmie, Washington. All were originally Oregon Short Line engines.

Google Streetview captured someone standing on top of UP 535 in Laramie.

Hey you, get down off of there!!!

No, actually it's probably a worker doing the asbestos abatement on this loco. I wonder what the current status of that work is?

I have to say, I really like this plow train idea and display.

That pic is at least a year old, if not older. A sleeveless shirt in Wyoming in November??

It's all done now, and has won at least one award.

I didn't know this one existed when I drove out to Salt Lake City in August.

Anyone have a recent picture?

Not a recent picture. but an old one. I took this in Laramie on August 15, 1957, from the old footbridge that spanned the terminal area.

The photo linked in the post that began this thread doesn't seem to be there any more.

That is a neat photo. The one thing I noticed when driving through, after Laramie, Wyoming might as well be on the surface of the Moon. I noticed when we passed through a large brick smoke stack with "UNION PACIFIC" on it. A neat relic of a bygone era.

Richard -

Great in-service photo of the 535. But in addition to the Consol, what a great lineup of freight cars! Milwaukee Road and IC heralds on the ice bunker refrigerator cars; a stock car; El Capitan and The Chief ads on the Santa Fe box cars; a New York Central box; a wood boxcar coupled to a SP&S box which is coupled to an SP boxcar. And a neat old covered hopper behind the 535's tank. A really nice vintage photo freight could be made up from these cars. The 2-8-0 survived, but probably not many examples of the cars!

Les

Right, Les. In those days I was focused almost exclusively on locomotives, and ignored rolling stock and structures. I had no clue that those other things would be of interest six decades later.

This is the best recent foto I could find. Taken August 2013. Looks like work is comin' along.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37908073@N ... otostream/

My understanding is that it is being worked on as funding permits, so there are times when it appears nothing has been or is being done, and other times when there is frenzied activity taking place.