Overnight in the Denver-Metro, an average of around 4" of snow fell. The Zephyr is running about two hours late this morning, and a few westbound freight trains have already come through, cleaning the snow off the rails.
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As the westbound Been Run makes its way on the Golden Sub through Arvada, an RTD Gold Line commuter train overtakes the freight on its (dedicated) single track mainline.
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An SD70ACe and an SD70MAC lead two SD40-2s and train on the Beer Run, heading to Golden. The two SD40-2s will be used as power on the "Golden Switch", which runs six days a week out of the (upper) Golden Yard.
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BNSF's Beer Run is crossing underneath Ralston Road on the east side of Arvada. The trains is running parallel to RTD's Gold Line (commuter rail). The G-Line drops from two tracks to a single track when heading west here.
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Three units emerge from Tunnel 1 on the point of a westbound oil empty that is climbing through the terrain of the front range of the Rockies. The back of the train is visible at the top of the frame, and is in fact about 100 feet lower in elevation then the head end of the train.
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An oil train consisting of roughly 90 cars is making its way around Big Ten Curve. The three units on the head end are rounding the curve from Big Ten in to Eisele (Clay). The single DPU is several feet lower, climbing up toward Big Ten from Rocky.
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A westbound UP oil empty wraps around the east edge of Big Ten Curve along the wind break hoppers. The head end is now on the south edge of Big Ten, heading toward Eisele (Clay). The buffer car is a classic CP Rail "Pac-Man" covered hopper.
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The engineer of the westbound Zephyr gives a friendly wave out the window as the train moves at track speed up toward Tunnel 1.
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The overcast skies provide a nice opportunity to get a shot of the Zephyr wrapping through the curves at the base of Coal Creek Canyon. In the distance, you can see the steal tower that lies right along the rails between Leyden and Rocky.
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The westbound Zephyr is moving at track speed as it approaches a clear (green) signal at the west end of Leyden. The Zephyr is still sporting the typical seven Superliner consist that it has generally had throughout the winter.
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On a chilly, overcast January morning, the westbound Zephyr passes by a string of empty well cars that were seemingly placed in storage the previous day here in the siding at Leyden.
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A look down in to the inside of an empty well car sitting in storage on the siding at Leyden. As you can see, most well cars do not have a solid base, but rather are mostly open. They only need enough strength to support the containers placed in them. This patchwork is sturdy, yet keeps the overall car weight much lighter as less steel is used.
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You can clear see the derail is set here at the east end of Leyden as a 6,400 foot long string of empty well cars sits in the siding without power. It appears that there will be no meets here at Leyden for the foreseeable future, as these cars appears to be in storage.
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A massive string of empty well cars, measuring around 6,400 feet, was taken out to Leyden (from Denver) by UP early in the pre-dawn hours of January 3. The power cut off and returned light to Denver. It would appear that UP is planning to keep them in long term storage here at Leyden!
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A single ES44AC brings up the tail end of an eastbound coal load, rolling through Barbara's Gulch. In the distance, you can see a trio of mid-train swing helpers that will be removed from the train once it reaches Denver.
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