Rail cars sit idle against a cold winter sunset in Shoshoni. (Katie Klingsporn)

Idle rail cars and naked trees are silhouetted in blues as the sun sets over a snowy winter landscape in Shoshoni recently. 

Once a bustling railroad town that boasted 20 saloons, the now atrophied Fremont county community is home to a rail yard, rail repair shop and downtown attraction Tinnelli’s House of Wonder. 

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Wyoming rail business Bighorn Divide and Wyoming Railroad — itself an anomaly in a world dominated by large rail companies — also serves the town. The BDW is the only independent short line operating in the state, according to the Casper Star-Tribune. The company runs three rail yards in Wyoming, and serves as a feeder line for the much more massive Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, hauling commodities like soda ash, sulfur and lime. 

Katie Klingsporn is WyoFile's managing editor. She is a journalist and word geek who has been writing about life in the West for 15 years. Her pieces have appeared in Adventure Journal, National Geographic...

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