When I left my hometown to go to Laramie this summer, I did so with the goal of fulfilling two different requests:
- From my father: "Go take your brother Coyote out for a steak and make sure he's eating."
- From my husband: "Go spit on a train for me."
I guess that tells you, in a tacky sort of way, where trains rate in the Laramie experience. As you know, in the first play, the railroad plays an important part in setting the scenery in setting up Laramie's mythical landscape. This is a ranching and railroad town, we learn. And, even today, that's true, even if the railroad isn't as central-- or as busy-- as it once was. The enormous rail-yard bordering the edge of the downtown district and dividing east from west Laramie is still one of the focal points of Laramie culture. Some of us go to the catwalk over the switching yard to think, or to spit on trains. Some people go there to make out. And there are always photographers hanging about trying to get pictures of the engines which go zipping through the town.
So, I wanted to give you some idea of what kind of experience the Laramie rail-yard affords in pictures: by day, by night, and from the catwalk.
And did I spit on a train, you ask?
Well, I couldn't leave my husband disappointed, now could I?
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