Mason Bogie locomotives were first developed in the early 1870s. An articulated tank locomotive (no tender and the drive wheels swivel), it was intended to be used on poor track with sharp curves. 146 of these engines were built between 1872 and 1890.

The most famous of these engines ran on the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad which operated 23 of them.

The only surviving engine of this type is the "Torch Lake" which is operational and lives at Greenfield Village outside Detroit.

Built in late 1873 by the Mason Machine Works of Massachusetts for use in the copper country on the Keweenaw Peninsula off Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the Calumet & Hecla Mining Co operated the engine as its #3 locomotive. It was obtained by Greenfield Village in 1968 and was once the oldest operating steam engine in the country. (In 1981, the 1831 John Bull operated under its own power but it is now on static display at the Smithsonian).

Several engines of the same era are operating or undergoing restoration at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, the most famous of which is the 4-4-0 Reno built in 1872. Once common in westerns, the Reno was damaged in a fire at Old Tucson and has since been moved "home" to Carson City where it was once the primary passenger engine of the Virginia & Truckee of the Comstock Lode days. The 4-4-0 narrow gauge Eureka, also from Nevada, was built in 1875, is operable, and is often seen on the Durango & Silverton Railroad.

Last time I visited Greenfield Village, the Torch Lake was undergoing maintenance and parked in a roundhouse replica. I played around with the processing a bit - here are the reasonable results.

In the background sits an 1870 0-4-0 unnamed switch engine once used at one of Thomas Edison's companies. Henry Ford purchased the engine in 1932 for his museum after rebuilding it into a 4-4-0 configuration and named it "Edison". Both engines operate at the museum on a regular basis.

On the western fringes of Colorado Springs and across US24 from Manitou Springs sits a region of raw sandstone formations. It was dedicated to the city in 1909 by the rancher that owned the property under the provision it remain free to the public. The park is actually on the smallish side with development approaching the park boundaries. Rock-climbing and hiking are popular activities.

Being so close to a substantial city, it receives something in the neighborhood of 2 million visitors per year - it can be crowded at peak season.

Not ones to pass on an opportunity to collect money, the city has attempted to collect a $500 fee from "professional" photographers. It is uncertain what constitutes a "professional" photographer. There have been attempts to get around the "free admission" provision, including putting the park into the National Park system but such attempts have failed.

Definitely worth a visit if in the area; not sure I'd plan a long trip with the park as a destination. Valley of the Gods in Utah near Mexican Hat is in the red rock country and does not have the feeling of being in someone's back yard.

Rock Springs, Wyoming is/was the site of large coal deposits, first discovered by Americans in the 1850s. Nothing much was made of it - the pioneer routes were 40 or 50 miles north.

In the 1860s, Ben Holladay set a stage station at a site near potable water springs ("rock springs") when he moved the Overland Stage Route south; the beginnings of a settlement.

The Union Pacific side of the transcontinental railroad passed through here in 1868, noting the extensive coal deposits as a fuel source. The UP built a coaling depot along with freight and passenger stations here in 1868. Rock Springs became a town.

The original passenger depot was replaced with the current structure in 1900 which saw its last passenger train in 1997. But this isn't a story about railroads or coal mines.

Down on Main St in old town Rock Springs Wyoming, right across from the railroad station, sits the old Fountain Club saloon. Once a hangout of Butch Cassidy's along with a variety of people passing through when the train stopped here - among them, Calamity Jane. She didn't live here but, being a known drunkard with the Fountain Club directly across from the train station; a handy spot for a quick one while the train was readied for its next leg of the journey.

(Butch Cassidy picked up the name "Butch" when he worked at a butcher shop across the tracks on Front St. It's not inconceivable the Wild Bunch gang had its beginnings at this bar in 1896 after Butch was released from prison (when Butch was 30). The gang occasionally frequented the bar when they were in the area. It's been said by some, including his sister, that Butch did not die in South America but returned here to his home in Rock Springs.)

[As a personal note, in 1980 I had occasion to meet an elderly woman in Doyle, California when my girlfriend of the time started talking with this woman. Said woman claimed her husband had worked for Butch Cassidy as a stable hand when a boy sometime around 1910-1915 in Nevada and insisted Butch Cassidy did not die in South America.]

But Butch Cassidy is not this tale. There actually isn't a tale ...

The building left of the Fountain Club is the old National Bank building, built 1892. The larger building to the right was also a bank, the First National Bank built in 1887. It has been lost to time when the Fountain Club was built but probably a bit earlier than the banks. The 1892 National Bank building is abandoned now but the company is still in business in Rock Springs. The 1st National Bank underwent corporate and name changes; the company was shut down in 2000. the building is being renovated.

The Fountain Club building's in sad shape now - perhaps beyond restoration. This was the core of the original town but over the years, much of modern Rock Springs has built to the east of this part of the historic district - which, other than a block or two along Main St, is mostly empty with a few modern commercial buildings. Front St on the other side of the tracks from Main St, has some historic buildings still standing but for the most part, they've been "modernized".

Going over many of my photos taken over the years, some "themes" become obvious. One of those is "roads". Bare trails through dusty sage, bustling multi-lane highways through busy urban centers.

Y'all can probably guess which is predominate in my collection ...

This one here splits the difference: I-80 in Nevada.

Now - of more interest to me ... if one looks just left of the center, a thin dark trail heads up into the mountains.

I couldn't estimate the number of times I'd have gotten off the highway to see where that road goes. More often than not, nowhere in particular.

But every so often ... when the phase of the moon is right ... when I hold my tongue in the proper position ... I run into something from places long abandoned of times even longer past.

I breathe easy ... and I kind of feel at home.


But this ... this wasn't one of those times; my journey to wherever continued.

A few up-to-the-minute headlines in today's local news.

And that's today's big news from the big city ...