Sherman Hill summit

Sherman Hill is Union Pacific's highest crossing of the Rockies on the Overland Route, and the experience of watching heavy freight grind over the summit is visceral. From pullouts along the roads paralleling the tracks between Buford and Dale, railfans can position within a few dozen yards of the triple-track mainline. Eastbound trains labor uphill on Tracks 1 and 2 at a 1.55% ruling grade, moving at 25-40 mph with distributed power — mid-train and rear DPU locomotives are standard on the long coal and intermodal consists. Westbound traffic descends toward Laramie at higher speeds, with dynamic brakes creating a distinctive roar audible long before the train appears. Track 3, built on a gentler sub-1% alignment, handles overflow and priority traffic. The combination of slow uphill movements and the open terrain means you can watch a single 10,000-foot train for several minutes as it crawls across the landscape. The 1,800-foot Hermosa Tunnel, whose second bore opened in 1918, frames trains emerging from darkness into the Wyoming sky — a dramatic photo moment.

The summit sits on a broad, windswept saddle in the Laramie Range at roughly 8,000 feet. The terrain is open high-plains grassland punctuated by weather-sculpted Sherman Granite outcrops, sagebrush, and scattered lodgepole pine. Summers are moderate — typically 10-15°F cooler than Cheyenne down on the plains — but afternoon thunderstorms build fast and dramatically over the mountains. Winters bring snow, ice, and below-zero wind chills; trains pushing through fresh snow make for exceptional photography. Wind is a constant companion year-round, so layers and wind protection are essential. The wide-open horizon and thin, clear air produce vivid sunrises and sunsets, and minimal light pollution means star-lit night shots of passing trains are possible.

Union Pacific is the sole operator on the Laramie Subdivision. Traffic is dominated by unit trains: coal and grain from the Powder River Basin heading east, empty hoppers returning west, double-stack intermodal containers on premium schedules, mixed manifest freight, and occasional unit crude oil or ethanol trains. Distributed-power configurations are standard — expect to see mid-train and rear helper locomotives on most consists, providing multiple locomotive photo opportunities per train. No scheduled passenger service operates over Sherman Hill; Amtrak's California Zephyr routes via the former Denver & Rio Grande Western through central Colorado instead. However, Union Pacific occasionally runs special steam excursions — Big Boy No. 4014 steamed over Sherman Hill on March 29, 2026, on its Coast-to-Coast Tour.

The Hermosa Road area east of the summit is a classic railfan location. The road crosses the UP at grade, and from nearby pullouts, photographers can frame westbound trains climbing the grade with granite ridgelines behind them. Morning sidelight is ideal here. West of the summit near Dale, the tracks curve through rock cuts that create natural framing — afternoon sun floods these cuts and illuminates locomotives emerging from shadow. For wide panoramas, climb one of the accessible granite knolls north of the tracks to capture entire train lengths snaking across the triple-track mainline with the Medicine Bow Mountains on the western horizon. A 200-300mm telephoto lens is useful for compressing distant trains against the landscape, while a wide 24mm captures the sweeping high-plains setting. The thin air at 8,000 feet yields exceptionally crisp colors, especially during golden hour.

Sherman Hill was the first major obstacle the Union Pacific conquered while building west in the late 1860s. The original summit topped out at 8,247 feet — for decades the highest point on any railroad in the world. The small town of Sherman grew up at the summit, providing a roundhouse with five stalls, a turntable, section houses, and water facilities for locomotives needing to rest after the climb. In 1882, the Union Pacific erected the Ames Monument at the summit: a 60-foot granite pyramid designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson, with bas-relief portraits of brothers Oakes and Oliver Ames by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The Ames brothers were the financiers and political champions who made construction of the first transcontinental railroad possible. In 1901, under E.H. Harriman's direction, UP rerouted the line to a lower summit at 8,014 feet, reducing the ruling grade and bypassing the old town of Sherman, which was subsequently abandoned. The 1,800-foot Hermosa Tunnel was part of this realignment, with a second bore added in 1918. The route remains one of UP's most strategically important corridors.

Sherman Hill is one of few locations in North America where a triple-track freight mainline crosses a mountain summit in completely open terrain. The combination of high elevation (8,015 ft), steep grades (1.55% on Tracks 1 and 2), enormous train volume (reportedly up to 100 trains daily), and unobstructed 360-degree sightlines is unmatched. Unlike canyon or valley railfan spots where views are confined, here you can watch trains approach from miles away, labor past at close range, and recede into the distance. The auditory experience — straining locomotives in thin mountain air, dynamic-brake whine, and the ever-present Wyoming wind — adds a dimension that photographs alone can't capture. The proximity to the Ames Monument, a National Historic Landmark commemorating the building of the transcontinental railroad, ties the modern freight spectacle directly to 160 years of railroad history.