Three ES44s and an SD70ACe lead a fairy lengthy BNSF Provo-Denver manifest down from Tunnel 1 toward the base of Coal Creek Canyon. There is not much snow left here as we have had about a week of clear, sunny weather. In the background, no construction has started on houses in the Canyon Pines neighborhood.
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Six units lead this BNSF oil empty as it approaches the east portal of Tunnel 1. Because the train is indeed empty, it is (relatively) light and, consequently, does not have any issue maintaining track speed.
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A westbound BNSF empty oil train rounds the bottom of Big Ten Curve just west of the west switch of Rocky. Indeed, the back half of the train in this shot is still between switches on the main at Rocky. You can see a covered hopper buffer car on the tail end of the train, headed for the transload oil facility at Wellington, UT.
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UP 6891 is sporting the newest UP paint scheme, which has done away with wings on the nose and returned to the simple UP shield. It is the sole DPU on the tail end of a 6,000-foot MGJNY manifest, rolling east on the main at Leyden.
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A single C44ACM brings up the tail end of UP's MGJNY in a snowy scene just west of Leyden. UP 6891 was originally UP 7003, and was one of a handful of AC6000CWs from the mid-90s when 6000 horsepower was a goal UP gave both EMD and GE. The 6000 horsepower units did not work out from either manufacturer, and 4400 horsepower became the standard that still remains as the standard today, roughly 30 years later.
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UP's MGJNY is crossing over Indiana Street, just west of the west switch of Leyden. At some point, once funding becomes available, this scene will change a bit as there is a push to widen Indiana Street to four lanes. That will necessitate the rebuilding of the bridge to accommodate four lanes. Of note, the second unit (UP 6331) is used to the rails as it was once SP 281!
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After an overnight and morning storm, the clouds cleared out and the sun has already started to melt away the fresh powder. However, there is still plenty on the ground as UP's MGJNY approaches the west switch of Leyden.
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UP's only-remaining manifest that runs on the Moffat runs six days a week. The train alternates west and east every other day, with one day where it doesn't run at all. The train runs from North Yard to Grand Junction and back. Here, the eastbound version has five units on the point. The train is right around 6,000 feet long.
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Just west of Blue Mountain Drive and the hotbox detector at MP 22.6, the westbound Zephyr is having no issues moving along at track speed in the continually-falling snow. Without question, passengers aboard the Zephyr are going to have a better experience on the trip west today compared to folks driving in the high country on I-70!
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AMTK 140 and AMTK 207 have the duty to lead the westbound Zephyr this morning. The train is approaching the Blue Mountain Drive grade crossing in a winter wonderland as fresh snow continues to fall.
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A pretty substantial snow storm has set in along the Front Range. A total of 5-6 inches (12-15 cm) is forecast to fall, with right around 3 inches (7 cm) having fallen so far. The westbound Zephyr is indifferent to the snow, however, as it approaches the Blue Mountain grade crossing, moving along at track speed.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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