100 empty coal cars led by a pair of SD70ACes roll east at Blue Mountain crossing. These coal cars had been stored in some siding on the ex-DRGW (or possibly in Grand Junction) and are now being take east.
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A pair of SD70ACes leads an eastbound coal train out of Tunnel 1. However, you might notice something a little bit different about this train. It is an empty! The first UP coal empty I think I've ever seen run eastbound on the Moffat. The cars were pulled out of storage somewhere west on the Rio Grande.
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Not a lot to be said about this shot. Headlights from an eastbound train light up as the train approaches the east portal.
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On a beautiful morning at the end of November, a westbound UP coal empty headed for the West Elk mine on the North Fork branch is climbing up to Tunnel 1. The three units on the head end are all there is on the 98-car train.
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Just beyond the base of Coal Creek Canyon, a westbound UP coal empty is climbing the roughly 2% grade up to Tunnel 1. One of the alignments considered by David Moffat for the line was up Coal Creek Canyon, but that was (obviously) not the ultimate alignment chosen.
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Coal traffic has picked up slightly on the Moffat in the past few months. Not to say coal traffic is anything like it was 15 years ago, but there has been 1-2 trains a week lately. A year ago, there was maybe one a month.
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In and out of Tunnel 1. The head end of the Zephyr has exiting the west portal while the last few Superliners have yet to enter it. The tunnel is 366 feet long, so not nearly long enough for the entire Zephyr to be inside the tunnel at once.
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The westbound Zephyr climbs toward Tunnel 1, which is clearly visible center frame. In the distance, you can see the freshly paved road that is part of the new Canyon Pines neighborhood. No houses have been built...yet...
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The Zephyr is just over an hour late as it passes the west switch of Eisele (Clay). The Zephyr overtook a westbound UP coal empty at Rocky.
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A former Espee AC4400CW is DPU'd on the tail end of a westbound work train headed to Plain. UP 6304 here (former SP 252) will be the leader when the train returns east.
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This interesting looking UP manifest has a single AC4400CW on the point (and one more as a DPU on the tail end). The train is only 36 cars, most of which are empty, low-side gondolas.
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After meeting BNSF's Provo-Denver, whose DPUs are still visible in the distance, this westbound UP manifest is climbing out of Rocky and up and around Big Ten Curve.
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Three units lead BNSF's Provo-Denver east down Big Ten Curve toward the west end of Rocky. There, it will enter the siding as a westbound UP manifest is holding the main.
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I sure wish this last DPU, BNSF 5827, was facing away from the train so the its nose could have lined up with the nose of BNSF 8044 on the head end of the train! The train is wrapping around Big Ten Curve, heading for Rocky and points further east.
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The amazing architecture of Big Ten Loop allows for the crew on the head end of trains to get a good look at the tail end of their trains. Case-in-point is this shot of an eastbound BNSF manifest making its way east around Big Ten. The head end in the distance is descending toward Rocky as the last DPU in the foreground just departed east Eisele (Clay).
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