Photo ID: 113344 Date Shot Photo By Friday, November 14, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Arvada Siding (MP 6 to MP 7) Arvada, CO 40 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Canadian National, Union Pacific Welcome to mid-November! The sun has fully set behind the mountains here at 4:30pm as a westbound coal empty, with a pair of Canadian National units for power. The two cars to the right are at a local industry that has a lot of tanks that presumably hold petroleum products. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113343 Date Shot Photo By Friday, November 14, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Arvada Siding (MP 6 to MP 7) Arvada, CO 48 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Canadian National, Union Pacific CN 8840 has slowed to a stop on Main 1, facing a red signal ahead at Arvada (CP DS007). The train will hold here for a little over an hour, waiting for the eastbound Zephyr to come by on main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113342 Date Shot Photo By Friday, November 14, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Arvada Siding (MP 6 to MP 7) Arvada, CO 38 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Canadian National, Union Pacific This westbound coal empty is only going to make it as far west as Arvada for awhile. A tie gang is still working around Leyden, and the eastbound Zephyr is in the picture. The train here is on Main 1. The next track to the right is Main 2. Next over is UP's Arvada Siding. The siding is not CTC-controlled (other than the switch at the west end). It was built to allow coal hoppers to be transferred from UP to BNSF to be taken to the Coors Brewery. The fourth track over is the transfer track from UP to BNSF's Golden Sub, the final track to the right. After Coors switched to natural gas from coal, the transfer track was not really needed anymore, and the Arvada Siding is really only used for temp storage now. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113341 Date Shot Photo By Friday, November 14, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Arvada Siding (MP 6 to MP 7) Arvada, CO 33 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Canadian National, Union Pacific A pair of Canadian National units lead a westbound coal empty on Main 1 between C&S Junction and Arvada. It is golden hour and the train is passing underneath Sheridan Blvd. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113323 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 43 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A pair of tampers work to ensure that the ballast is properly set, the ties are positions, and the rails are aligned and stabilized so that trains can run over the rails after new ties have been inserted under the tracks. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113322 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 45 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This machine is a continuous-action surfacing tamper. It lifts, lines, and tamps the track, as well as dynamically stabilizes the rails so that trains can safely run at track speed over the track. This is the final piece of equipment in the tie gang. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113321 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 41 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Here, we see a Union Pacific track tamper. It moves from tie-to-tie...every tie, regardless if it is new or not...grabs the tie and shakes it to ensure the ballast falls properly under and around the ties. The long pole/extension in front of the tamper ensure that the rails are aligned and in gauge. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113320 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 35 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This machine is a small tamper that is making sure that the new ties are positioned properly under the rails before they are spiked down. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113319 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 51 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This tie plate inserter is setting out new tie plates on top of the new ties that have been installed just minutes earlier. Once the tie plates are in place, a spiker will come next and spike down the plates/ties. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113318 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 36 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This Tie Extractor/Inserter (TE/IE) is currently working as an inserter. A crane has placed new ties along the right-of-way and the inserter is sliding the ties underneath the rails. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113317 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 40 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A string of maintenance equipment works to replace the ties along the right-of-way west of Leyden. UP has laid new ballast and is now replacing thousands of ties on the Moffat over the course of the next few months. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113316 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 41 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific In this overhead shot of the mainline west of Leyden at MP 14.5, you can clearly see the tie gang and the work they are doing. All of the ties you see that are perpendicular to the rails are new ties that are waiting to be installed beneath the rails. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113315 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 44 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This is what a major maintenance project on a Class 1 railroad looks like! A long line of machines, each with its own specific purpose, stretch west on the tracks west of Leyden. At the front of the line (closest to the camera) is a crane that is piling up old ties. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113314 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 50 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Here in Barbara's Gulch east of Rocky, a UP tie extractor has shifted and, instead of pulling ties out on the south side of the tracks, it is now pulling them out on the north side of the tracks. Maintenance workers are walking the rails and make sure old tie plates have been moved out of the way ahead of a crane that is piling up old ties. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113313 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 49 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A Union Pacific tie extractor is pulling designed old ties out from underneath the rails, leaving them along the right of way. A hundred feet or so behind the extractor, a crane is working to clean up the old ties. It is picking them up three or so at a time and putting them in piles along the right-of-way to be picked up by a work train in the future. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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