Photo ID: 110442 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, April 21, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 104 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak A trio of elephant-style P42DCs lead the evening eastbound Zephyr down the north edge of Big Ten Curve. Note the oil covering part of the long hood on AMTK 142, the trailing unit. Wondering if it might be headed for Beech Grove, IN, Amtrak's maintenance facility. If so, it'll very likely emerge in the Phase 7 scheme. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110441 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, April 21, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 107 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Downtown Denver is cast in shadow as the eastbound Zephyr comes around Big Ten Curve. You can clearly see the windbreak hoppers that were placed on the inside of the curve over 50 years ago, in the early 1970s. This is a shot I've wanted to get for awhile, but the last few times I've tried, the train was in the shadows. Denver in the shadows is better, but I still want to try to get the shot when the skies are crystal clear. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110440 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, April 21, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 110 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak A quick roster shot of AMTK 161, sporting the Phase 1 Heritage scheme, second out on the eastbound Zephyr. The train got here literally seconds before the sun dipped behind the mountain to the west. Indeed, I lost a bit of light even between the previous shot with the train a few hundred feet west, and here. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110439 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, April 21, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Detector (MP 22.6) Arvada, CO 98 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak After getting a few shots of the Zephyr at East Portal at the Moffat Tunnel about 27 miles to the west, I was unable to catch up to the Zephyr again until this shot here at Blue Mountain Drive and the hotbox detector at MP 22.6. When there is no opposing traffic and no slow orders, the Zephyr really moves quick from the Moffat to the Tunnel District. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110434 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS016 (East Rocky) Arvada, CO 89 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A pair of GEs bring up the tail end of an eastbound UP coal empty, heading out of the siding at Rocky and on to the main, around the bend in to Barbara's Gulch. The train is running on an Approach (yellow) signal, following behind the Rocky Mountaineer on an overcast April afternoon. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110433 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS016 (East Rocky) Arvada, CO 80 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Crazy how things change over time. 20 years ago, nobody would ever expect to find an empty UP coal train running over the Moffat. That's exactly what we see here, however, as this empty departs east out of the siding at Rocky after letting the Rocky Mountaineer overtake it. This train will load in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, and then head west (loaded) on the Overland. The eastbound empty comes east across the Moffat to remove a slower, lower priority train from the Overland. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110432 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Arvada, CO 76 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Rocky Flats Industrial Lead (UP) Union Pacific Just west of the switch that leads to the main at Rocky, a track tamper is tied down on the Rocky Flats Industrial Lead. The West Local runs up the spur on Tuesdays. Since today is Friday, MOW crews do not have to worry about the equipment being in the way for several more days. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110431 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 105 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Rocky Mountaineer Near the east end of Rocky, the Rocky Mountaineer is approaching a clear (green) signal. The train will continue to town, but may get briefly held up at C&S Jct while waiting for one of the two Bypass tracks to open up. A westbound in one of the track is expected to roll about five minutes after this picture was taken, so any delay to the Mountaineer should be minimal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110430 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 111 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Rocky Mountaineer The eastbound Rocky Mountaineer overtakes an eastbound UP coal empty that is sitting in the siding at Rocky to allow the passenger train around. The conductor from the coal empty is on the ground to give the Mountaineer a roll by on the way east. It is a very interesting compare/contrast between the EMD spartan cab of yesteryear and the standard GE wide cab of today. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110429 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 100 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Rocky Mountaineer The Rocky Mountaineer GP40-3s (rebuilt from GP40-2s) are fit and ready to go for the 2024 season! The matched paint scheme with the rolling stock looks really fantastic as the train rolls east through a semi-snowy scene at Blue Mountain Drive. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110421 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 88 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak On this particular morning, Big Ten Curve is pretty close to the boundary between snow on the ground and the ground just being wet. The snow was not able to push much to the east of Rocky overnight. Snow in April in the Denver area is certainly not uncommon, but this late in the season, the accumulations tend to be very low. Makes for a great look as the Zephyr rounds the wind break at Big Ten. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110420 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 77 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak It's rather nice that Amtrak has been running these two freshly painted P42DCs on the Zephyr for the past week or so. The irony being that, as great as it is to catch these units now, looking back ten years from now, when the Phase 7 scheme is completely ubiquitous, the Phase 5 scheme will be missed. The Zephyr is climbing the north side of Big Ten Curve in some powdered snow. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110419 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 105 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr is making the climb up and around Big Ten Curve with a pair of very colorful units on the point. In just a minute, the train will be knocking down a clear (green) signal at the east end of Eisele (Clay) in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110418 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 86 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak As of this picture, Amtrak had repainted three P42DCs in the new Phase 7 paint scheme. Two of them are leading the westbound Zephyr on a cold, somewhat snowy spring morning. The train is rolling a few minutes late, just west of Leyden. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110417 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, April 18, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 87 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr arrived in Denver 9 minutes late, but ended up departing 1 hour and 45 minutes late. The reason being that AMTK 139 (the second P42DC) developed a mechanical issue. AMTK 142 is a "protection unit" that has been kept in Denver. Essentially, it's a spare unit for just such an occurrence. Three units is a little unusual to see on the Zephyr. Unfortunately, it mean that AMTK 161 (the Phase 1 Heritage unit) was no longer leading. Here, the westbound highballs through Leyden. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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