It has been a great week or so for me as far as unpatched Espee units go! There are only eleven such unpatched AC4400CWs left on UP's roster. Eight days ago I caught SP 343 on the MNYRO at Leyden. Today, I caught SP 192 as a swing helper on an eastbound coal load.
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Once numbering 279, at the time of this photo there were only 11 unpatched Espee AC4400CWs left. I suppose that, considering it has been close to 17 years since the UP/SP merger, 11 units isn't that bad! In any case, SP 343 was the third of three units on the head end of the MNYRO on this chilly morning.
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The big yellow patch, just like the one seen here, has now been applied to all but 11 of the 273 AC4400CWs that Espee had on their roster. The scarlet and gray is fading and not looking too well. Unfortunately, Espee is getting very close to being nothing more than a museum railroad.
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After departing Byers Canyon westbound, trains have a chance to "stretch their wheels" for a bit and pick up some speed. For a ten mile stretch, freights can run up to 60 MPH! The westbound MNYRO is doing its best to reach that goal here in the town of Parshall, CO about a mile east of Flat. Note the super-elevated curve the boxcars are coming around in the distance.
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Ewww...I'm not exactly sure what that is in the water and I'm not sure I want to know! The MNYRO follows the head water of the Colorado River west through Byers Canyon with a lot of the water's top still frozen.
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Not too hard to determine where this was taken! The winter ski season is getting close to an end as this westbound MNYRO pops out of the west portal of the Moffat Tunnel and passes by a still-busy Winter Park ski resort. This former Espee AC4400CW is one of a handful that got double UP shields on the nose when it was patched.
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Wheel flanges were whining as the MRONY winds its way through Byers Canyon. You may notice the train has a special visitor. The third unit is a GP40-2 that was picked up at Grand Junction. It has been switching on locals and is headed to Denver for an routine inspection.
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On a cloudy Wednesday afternoon, a coal train holds in the siding at Leyden to wait for the westbound "West Local". The local only has a pair of GP40-2's for power and a string of heavy covered hoppers, so the geeps are working very hard.
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Progress is being made on the addition of a second main track between C&S Junction and Arvada. In the last two weeks, concrete ties have been laid and a couple stretches of welded rail can be seen alongside the ties. A westbound UP coal empty departs from Bypass 1 westbound.
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After completing its work on the Rocky Spur, the West Local is now headed south back toward the main track. On the way back, the train will first have to run through the wye where Rocky Flats used to be located. This will allow the train to back down the Spur out onto the main and head east back to town.
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I love the classic sound of EMD's 645 two stroke engine! So, when the West Local was getting ready to start pulling on the string of hoppers, I decided it was a good time to make a recording. I was not disappointed and I hope you're not either. Click on the "Hear It" link above to download the sounds associated with this shot of the train throttling up.
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Peekaboo! UP 1482 (ex-SP 7112) peaks out from behind a hill of sand/dirt/aggregate as it prepares to start pulling south. Switching is complete at the TXI Aggregate plant and the brakeman is knocking off brakes.
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The West Local switches out covered hoppers at the TXI Aggregate plant at the north end of the Rocky Flats Industrial Lead. The West Local typically had two geeps until 2003 or so when it went to a standard of three. There was a time when it ran with four! However, now that the Rocky Flats cleanup has pretty well completed, the local is back to just two geeps most of the time.
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Who knows how much longer this branch line will remain active! For the time being, however, it sees a train about once a week when UP's South Local comes to switch out one or two industries on the branch. Here, the power for the South Local is return light to the Joint Line, which crosses over Oxford on the bridge in the distance.
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The branch line at Military Jct runs across Santa Fe Drive west a few blocks along Oxford Avenue to Western Metals Recycling. I've wanted to get a shot of a train on this branch for years and finally got the opportunity on this afternoon.
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