Semis, stock trailers and farm machines keep the roads around Torrington, WY, busy, and D&J Towing brings heavy-duty towing, recovery and equipment hauling to them on US 26 and US 85. One dispatch line answers day and night.
The work on US 26 and US 85 follows the seasons: beet trucks and stock trailers in the fall, wind and snow in winter, machines heading to the fields in spring. Pick a month, then choose whether a unit is down or you are planning a move.
Sugar beet harvest starts in mid-September, and receiving stations open in early October. Beets are piled in Torrington and trucked to Scottsbluff for processing.
Weaning in October and November sends cattle to the Torrington Livestock sale barn, and the third Friday of November is usually its biggest cull-cow sale of the year.
If a unit is down
If you are planning a move
Blowing snow and high wind are the big risks on the long two-lane runs in and out of town. WYDOT can close a road to light, high-profile vehicles when gusts reach 60 mph, and empty or lightly loaded rigs are the ones that end up in the ditch.
If a unit is down
If you are planning a move
Machines head back out to the fields, and bare ground plus high wind can lift dirt across the highway. On windy spring days, blowing dirt can drop visibility to zero, and WYDOT has closed US 85 near Torrington for it.
If a unit is down
If you are planning a move
All summer, tractors, implements and farm trucks share the two-lane highways with freight.
If a unit is down
If you are planning a move
Torrington has no interstate. Everything runs on two US highways, so the best location you can give is the highway, the direction and the nearest milepost or town.
US 26 follows the North Platte valley through Lingle, Fort Laramie and Guernsey and meets I-25 at Exit 92, Dwyer Junction, just under 50 miles out. From there Wheatland is the next town south on the interstate. WYDOT notes that the National Guard training area at Guernsey can put slow convoys on this road.
Tell dispatchThe nearest town or milepost, and whether you are east or west of Guernsey.
US 85 runs south through Meriden to I-25 at Exit 17, just north of Cheyenne. It is long, open ranch country.
Tell dispatchThe milepost, northbound or southbound, and whether you are closer to Meriden or Torrington.
US 85 shares the road with US 26 for about 10 miles to Lingle, then turns north and runs about 46 more miles to Lusk. Past Lingle the two highways split, so say which one you are on.
Tell dispatchWhether you are before or past the Lingle split, and the milepost.
Heading east, US 26 reaches the Nebraska line at Henry in about 8 miles and is signed for Scottsbluff.
Tell dispatchWhich side of the state line you are on, and the nearest milepost.
Tell dispatch what you are pulling and what it carries; a loaded beet truck and an empty cattle pot need different setups.
Grain and beet trucks, stock trailers, buses and work trucks off US 26, US 85 and the county roads, including units that slid off a soft shoulder.
Tractor-trailers and cattle pots that quit between Torrington and I-25, hauled to a shop in town or wherever you need them.
Field-to-field and dealer runs for tractors, combines and implements, with offloading at a tight farm gate.
Need a car or pickup towed, a jump start or a tire change in Torrington? Call (303) 674-0198 and ask dispatch what we can do where you are.
Most of the heavy traffic in and out of Torrington traces back to the farms, ranches and sale barn around it.
The Torrington livestock market holds auctions twice a week, and the fall cull-cow sales put the most stock trailers on the road.
Beets piled at the Torrington yard are trucked to Scottsbluff, so harvest season adds loaded trucks on US 26 east.
Beans, sugar beets, corn and alfalfa keep tractors, implements and farm trucks on the highways from spring planting through fall harvest.
WYDOT reports that wind energy work and oversize and overweight loads like towers and turbines have worn on roads in this corridor.
Sources: WYDOT corridor plan for I-25 to Torrington, Cowboy State Daily, Sugar Producer, Wyoming Livestock Roundup.
A loaded stock trailer changes the whole call. The animals come first, and the tow has to be planned around them. Work through it in this order.
Wind closures on WYDOT roads
Know these before you pull an empty trailer
Source: WYDOT. Check current closures at wyoroad.info.
Answers for carriers, ranchers and equipment owners around Torrington. For anything else, call dispatch and ask. See all our Wyoming service areas.
Yes. Give dispatch the machine, its folded road width, both addresses and the date. Book early in harvest season, when beet and cattle traffic slows every run.
Cash, Mastercard and Visa, for tows, recoveries and equipment hauls alike.
Give us the highway, the milepost, what you are pulling and whether it is loaded, and dispatch will plan around the load, the animals and the road. Family-owned since 1984.
