Hi Folks

I found another box of Freight Conductors' Train Books in the Laramie Depot attic the other day. There are 27 of them and they are in addition to the 128 Train Books discovered in the attic about a year ago.

The new Books are from the Laramie North Park & Pacific railroad, a UP subsidiary which ran from Laramie, Wyoming, to Coalmont, CO, a distance of 111 miles. There were no branches off the LNP&W and no connecting lines other than the UP in Laramie. The Train Books might provide some interesting information about freight car movements and distributions on branch lines.

The Books do not appear to have been compiled by a single conductor - rather, the "author" is typically an "Agent" and there are entries by several different conductors. Dates of the Books are:

9/7/1928 to 12/10/1928
12/13/1929 to 12/3/1930
1/27/1932 to 6/21/1933
6/23/1933 to 10/24/1934
10/26/1934 to 12/20/1935
11/15/1935 to 12/25/1936
9/23/1943 to 12/4/1946
9/18/1944 to 8/11/1944
4/24/1946 to 11/28/1946
1/9/1948 to 5/21/1948
3/25/1948 to 9/9/1949
5/24/1948 to 9/24/1948
9/25/1948 to 12/31/1948
1/1/1949 to 6/23/1949
6/1/1949 to 12/17/1949
6/24/1949 to 10/5/1949
9/13/1949 to 7/14/1950
10/6/1949 to 2/8/1950
2/9/1950 to 6/8/1950
2/22/1950 to 5/24/1951
6/9/1950 to 9/4/1950
7/16/1950 to 11/3/1950
9/5/1950 to 11/30/1950
12/1/1950 to 5/31/1951
6/1/1951 to 10/10/1951
10/10/1951 to 12/14/1951

Parenthetically, the LNP&W had many other names:
1901 to 1914 - Laramie, Hahns Peak & Pacific
1914 to 1924 - Colorado, Wyoming & Eastern
1924 to 1924 - Northern Colorado & Eastern (only a month's duration)
1924 to 1951 - Laramie, North Park & Western
1951 to 1986 - Union Pacific's Coalmont Branch
1986 to date - Wyoming Colorado RR (WYCO)

WYCO operated the railroad as a tourist line between Laramie and Foxpark before ceasing operations in 1996 and then removing the tracks. WYCO still owns some yard tracks in Laramie.

Most of the Train Books found a year ago were from the UP mainline between Laramie and Rawlins. But some of them were from another branchline, the Saratoga and Encampment Railroad (later the Encampment Branch of the UP), which ran from Walcott Junction, WY, on the UP mainline to the small towns of Saratoga and Encampment, WY. This was another branch with no connections (other than at Walcott) and was about 44 miles long. Its tracks were torn out a couple of years ago. These Books could provide additional insight into freight car operations and distributions on branch lines. The S&E Books are by a conductor named Young. The dates are:

3/12/1937 to 6/25/1937
6/28/1937 to 9/27/1937
10/1/1937 to 12/27/1937
10/18/1937 to 8/1/1938
12/29/1937 to 4/20/1938
8/3/1938 to 10/31/1938
11/1/1938 to 2/10/1939
2/13/1939 to 6/14/1939
6/16/1939 to 9/22/1939
9/24/1939 to 12/22/1939

Best wishes,
Larry Ostresh
Laramie, Wyoming

Larry,

Are you going to transcribe the information in these books? Being an avid
fan of the LNP&W, this information is invaluable. I spent 10 years in
Laramie and often treked along that line, especially from Centennial South.
That had to be one of the most picturesque lines in Wyoming.

Jerry Michels

Hi Jerry

Yes, I'll be transcribing them as soon as I have the time. I have a personal interest in them, because my N scale model railroad, the Laramie, North Park and Pacific, is based on this line. For many years, my "era" has been September/October, 1949. Some of these books cover that exact time period, and I'll be transcribing them first.

I'll be happy to send you a copy if you want one.

Best wishes,
Larry Ostresh
Laramie, Wyoming