End of Track

One of my earliest train photos, taken in Riverton, Wyoming back in 1975. Riverton was the end of the line for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, being as far west as the railroad still ran. It didn't run much, only two or three times a week, as there was little business on the line. At one time the line had extended another 30 miles west, to Lander, the town where I lived. That line had been pulled up some years previously. Back in the golden days of railroading, the 1890s, plans were made to extend the line over South Pass to connect with the Central Pacific Railroad in Ogden, creating another transcontinental mainline. The financial panic of 1893 killed that, and the line was destined to be just a long branch. Another financial panic, the recession of the early 1980s finally killed the line, and the rails were taken up not too long afterward.