Photo ID: 111410 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 5, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 144 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF With the short winter days and tower Rocky Mountains to the west, much of Eisele (Clay) is pushed into the shadows by 2:30pm. By 3:00pm, much of Big Ten and Little Curves are in the shadows. And, as you can see, at 3:30pm, the shadows are nearing the head end of this eastbound BNSF manifest, currently stopped on the main due to a mechanical issue. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111409 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 5, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 168 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This GP39-3 (rebuilt from a GP39-2) has likely been assigned as a switcher in either Grand Junction or Provo. It is also likely due for a 92-day FRA inspection, and is therefore being taken to Denver on this Provo-Denver manifest. The unit was shut down, and simply enjoying the ride this afternoon. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111408 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 5, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 172 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This eastbound BNSF manifest went into emergency when it was coming around Big Ten. The conductor walked the train and, a short time later, the train slow-rolled down and stopped on the main between switches at Rocky. I did not have a scanner at the time, so I did not hear what was wrong. But, at the time of this shot, the train continue to sit on the main. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111407 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 136 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Two DPUs bring up the tail end of this westbound oil train in Barbara's Gulch. Oil trains have become the new coal trains on the Moffat. While the oil trains are still not nearly as plentiful as coal trains once were, you can pretty well count on seeing a couple of them in any 24 hour period. This one is going to take the siding at Plain and wait for about 90 minutes for the eastbound Zephyr. DS-378 does not want to risk trying to make it to Cliff ahead of the Zephyr. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111406 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 107 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP 7634 and three additional units lead a westbound oil train in the east end of Barbara's Gulch. The tower in the background is a bit of an icon among railfans in the Arvada area. It has been here for about 50 years, originally built as part of a coal mine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111405 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 102 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The days are short in the winter months, but the quality of light is absolutely fantastic! Four units lead this westbound oil empty on the main between Leyden and Rocky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111392 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 142 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF 85-90% of BNSF manifests on the Moffat (not including oil trains) run with a 3x2 power configuration. This morning is no exception as a pair of ES44ACs bring up the tail end of the Provo-Denver. Interestingly, BNSF 6149 led the Provo-Denver three days earlier. So, it clearly had a quick turnaround and was sent west on the Denver-Provo and, now, is once again coming east! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111391 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 139 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A few hundred feet west of the west switch of Leyden, BNSF 8761 crosses over Indiana Street on the bridge that still bears the "Rio Grande" lettering. I've been trying to get various shots of this area because there is a push to widen Indiana Street to four lanes. As you can clearly see, the bridge will not accommodate any additional lanes. That means, eventually, this bridge will be replaced and the view will significantly change! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111390 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 167 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF An SD70ACe leads an ES44AC and another SD70ACe on the point of the Provo-Denver. The train took the siding at Rocky to meet the westbound Zephyr and is now on the approach to Leyden. The Zephyr is actually somewhere in the background in the area of Plain. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111389 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 165 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Just west of Leyden, the Zephyr has a pair of "sister" P42DCs for power. I use the term "sisters" because the two units are next to each other on the roster. AMTK 180 is leading with AMTK 179 in the trailing position. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111388 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 140 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The morning Zephyr is right on time at Leyden as it passes by a string of open gondolas in the siding. The gondolas are in long term storage. They showed up about two months ago and the start of October. The question, of course, is how long will they remain? Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111387 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 1, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 142 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Montana Rail Link, BNSF The Montana Rail Link paint scheme is probably my favorite paint scheme in existence today. Full disclosure, my favorite color is indeed blue, so that certainly creates a bias for me. It is unfortunate that this scheme will soon fade into history as BNSF took ownership of MRL (and all its assets) 11 months ago, at the start of 2024. MRL 4319 will eventually be repainted in BNSF orange. It will also, eventually, have PTC installed as the MRL did not get around to implementing PTC across its system. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111386 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 1, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 131 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF BNSF 9181 and MRL 4319 (which is now owned by BNSF) bring up the tail end of this Provo-Denver manifest. The train is on its final 13 or so miles of the journey to Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111385 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 1, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 226 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF BNSF 6149 is crossing over Indiana Street in western Arvada. The expansion of the City of Arvada is quite apparent in this shot. 20 years ago and, other than a house or two, this shot would have had the train and wide open spaces and not much else. It is pretty great that, in 2024, the bridge over Indiana Street still sports the "Rio Grande" lettering. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111384 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 1, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 135 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF With the 80s and 90s being the era of mega-mergers in the railroad industry, mega-railroads like BNSF and UP are, of course, the result. Both railroads have thousands of units and it has taken a long time for the fleet to receive fresh (matching) paint. Indeed, there are still a lot of units left to be painted. However, it has been long enough now that it not uncommon to find a matched set of units. Such is the case here, on the point of this Provo-Denver manifest, as all four units sport BNSF's New Image paint scheme. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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