Photo ID: 111356 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 25, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 154 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak AMTK 168 and AMTK 81 lead the westbound Zephyr along the north edge of Big Ten Curve. It is the week of Thanksgiving, so the Zephyr is probably pretty booked with passengers making their way to friends and family for the holiday on Thursday. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111355 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 25, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 150 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Just west of Rocky, the Zephyr is making its way up the roughly 2% grade of Big Ten Curve. As the elevation slowly increases, so does the morning frost, clinging to the foliage. In short order, the frost will completely melt under the morning sun. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111354 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 25, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, Co 172 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak A fairly decent sized herd of elk are enjoying the morning on the north side of the rails. The engineer let the conductor know so, in turn, the conductor could announce the herd to the passenger so they could try to get a view of them. The Zephyr is on time on the main at Rocky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111353 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 25, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 113 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak 90 minutes before this picture was taken, there was a thick layer of low clouds completely obscuring this view. The cold also contributed to a bit of frost that has formed on a lot of the foliage. The sun has now burned off the clouds as the morning Zephyr charges west on the main at Rocky alongside the house track. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111352 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 173 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The wind is only gusts to about 15 MPH right now. However, the forecast says there could be wind gusts of up to 40 MPH. Consequently, UP currently has a 10 MPH slow order around Big Ten Curve. The Zephyr is creeping along on the south end of Big Ten now, running about 10 minutes early. When departing Denver, the Zephyr usually has to realign some switches behind it. That was not the case today, allowing the train to get out of Denver quickly. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111351 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 185 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The morning Zephyr is actually running a few minutes early as it makes its way around the open hoppers serving as a wind break on Big Ten Curve. These hoppers have been here for over fifty years, and will likely remaining for decades...if not centuries...to come. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111350 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 191 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak As we continue to closer to the shortest day of the year, now about a month away, the tracks around Big Ten Curve are closer to being in the shadows in the morning as the Zephyr climbs westbound. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111349 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS016 (East Rocky) Arvada, CO 189 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak AMTK 170 and AMTK 82 leads the westbound Zephyr through a clear (green) signal at the east end of Rocky. AMTK 82 is, of course, sporting the new Phase 7 paint scheme. This is the first non-Phase 5 unit on the Zephyr in at least a couple of weeks. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111348 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 157 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF BNSF's Provo-Denver manifest is waiting in the siding at Rocky for the westbound Zephyr. The conductor got off the lead unit and is waiting for the Zephyr to show up so he can conduct a roll by. The power on the manifest is set up in a 5x0 configuration instead of the more-typical 3x2 configuration. The train is also quite a bit shorter than the average train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111347 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 18, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 161 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF With a new (dummy) wheel set placed under BNSF 5767, crews are very slowly starting to lower the front end of the unit back down to the rails and onto the waiting wheel set. Once complete, the crews will pack up and head back to Denver. The unit will remain on the house track at Rocky until a train, most likely a BNSF Provo-Denver, can pick up the unit and take it back to Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111346 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 18, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 145 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A CAT front loader has a bad wheel set and traction motor on a chain. This was just removed from BNSF 5767, sitting in the house track at Rocky. The loader will take the wheel set to a flat bed truck that is waiting to receive the wheel set so it can be taken back to Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111345 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 18, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 179 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A wheel set with a bad traction motor has been removed from BNSF 5767 and has also been removed from the rails that will take it to a flatbed truck, waiting to receive it. A dummy wheel set has been placed under the unit, and it will soon be lower back down. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111344 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 18, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 192 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This is railroad equivalent of AAA coming out to do a roadside tire change! A bad traction motor had to be removed from under the unit before the unit could be moved. I suspect the traction motor seized, meaning the wheels were not freely rotating. A dummy wheel set will be placed under the unit so it can be transported (on the rails) to the shop for further repairs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111343 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 18, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 162 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This BNSF crew has successfully raised the front half of BNSF 5767 off the rails and removed the wheel set with a bad traction motor. A dummy wheel set has been placed on the rails and will be slid under the unit and used until it can get to a shop and have a new traction motor wheel set added. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111342 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 18, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 207 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF You cannot quite see if from this angle, but the front loader has a dummy wheel set attached and it is positioning itself on the house track. The dummy wheel set (meaning it has no traction motor) will temporarily replace the wheel set currently under the unit (that has a traction motor) until the unit can make it to the shop. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

Previous Page     Next Page