Re: Why tear it down?

Jason,
While what you say is now true, it wasn't before the merger with the MP. Prior to the suits from St. Louis getting into a position of power the UP did much the same thing that the D&RGW did.
F'r instance:
The depot in Cheyenne was still being used to house the Superintendent and his staff. The downstairs was used for crew calling and for the clerks there employed. In Cheyenne the backshop still stood, firmly connected to the roundhouse, which had all but its South stalls. The car shop was still standing. In Laramie the old Freight Depot was being used as a Yard Office and Trainmaster's and Road Foreman's Office. In Rawlins the Depot was being used for the Trainmasters and Road Foremen (as well as Amtrak). The old stone Freight House in Rawlins was being used to house the Mechanical Department.
Then the merger came... Art Shoener (now president of the KCS) rode out in his business car with a spray can of yellow paint. First the Backshop in Cheyenne fell. It was then the Laramie Freight depot that was demolished and plowed into its basement, to be replaced by two leased double-wides in a different location. After a $250,000 upgrade six months previous, the Rawlins Freight House fell to the wrecking ball and was replaced by a double-wide moved in from Hanna and the Rawlins Depot was "Donated" to the City, Amtrak was moved to a Wells Cargo Trailer and the Trainmaster and Road Foremen were moved into another nondescript double wide.
Back to Cheyenne. The Superintendent and staff were moved to a vacant Chinese Restaurant at a very health remodeling cost. The roundhouse and the only drop pit on the system big enough to handle 84" drivers were scrapped. The drop pit was moved into the remnants of the backshop (then being used as a diesel pit for the Hanna coal power). All but 7 stalls of the roundhouse were demolished, and those stalls were saved at the last minute by some very vocal employees contacting the Chairman of the Board's wife (who liked the Steam engines). So the company had to remodel the Diesel Pit when regular Hanna Coal Traffic ceased for the Steam Program. This was AFTER it was determined that it would be uneconomical to move the Steam Shop and steam program to Omaha. As for the car shop and its transfer table, they are a large vacant spot in Cheyenne Yard.
That's what you get when you Bean Counters in charge. That's the way of business today and there isn't a damn thing that any one of us can do about it unless one of us has enough money to buy enough stock to gain control of the UP. So Don't lament it, just live with it, it's the only option you have.
Rick Steele