Photo ID: 110615 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 28, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tunnel 1 (MP 23.4, 366 ft) Arvada, CO 59 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr just emerged from the first of the 28 tunnels between Denver and the Moffat Tunnel. Amtrak has increased the pricing for hauling private cars and also reduced the number of stations from which they are willing to pick up or drop off the cars. As a result, private cars have become something of a rarity on the Zephyr. This morning, however, the Bella Vista dome car did indeed show up on the journey west. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110614 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 28, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Detector (MP 22.6) Arvada, CO 46 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Just west of the hotbox detector at MP 22.6, we find the Bella Vista a private dome car, hitching a ride on the tail end of the westbound Zephyr. Coal Creek Canyon runs up through the mountains in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110613 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 28, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS022 (West Eiesle (Clay)) Arvada, CO 55 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak There are a lot of bushes and trees near the west end of Eisele (Clay), which means this spot always make for a really nice picture. Here, the westbound Zephyr just knocked down a clear (green) signal at the west end and is continuing west. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110612 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 28, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 47 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The south edge of Big Ten Curve is not actually a curve at all! There is a straight stretch of track that is about 1,500 feet long between the east edge of Big Ten (by the wind break hoppers) and the curve that heads in to Eisele (Clay). Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110611 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 28, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 45 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak As the westbound Zephyr heads along the straight south edge of Big Ten Curve, we observe the private car Bella Vista, catching a ride on the back of Amtrak this morning. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110610 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 28, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 45 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The sun is shining and it is a beautiful morning as the Zephyr makes its way around Big Ten Curve. The train is passing by the open hoppers serving as a wind break on the inside the curve. Those hoppers have endured a lot of graffiti over the last few decades. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110609 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 28, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 58 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak AMTK 18 and AMKT 157 are the power on the westbound Zephyr this morning. The train is running on time, although losing a little bit of time as UP has a 10 MPH slow order out and around Big Ten. So the train is slowly making its way up and around. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110608 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 28, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS019 (West Rocky) Arvada, CO 44 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Climbing out of the west end of Rocky, the Zephyr has a private car on the tail end. The private car Bella Vista is catching a ride on the train this morning. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110607 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 28, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Little Ten Curve (MP 18.7 to MP 18.9) Arvada, CO 54 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr is coming through Little Ten Curve toward the west end of Rocky. Until the mid-1980s, the west end of Rocky was actually located right near the end of the Zephyr in this shot. Rio Grande extended the siding west through Little Ten Curve to accommodate longer trains...mainly coal trains. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110606 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 66 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF, Norfolk Southern Bringing up the tail end of this BNSF Provo-Denver manifest is a BNSF ES44AC and a Norfolk Southern AC44C6M (an NS rebuild from a C44-9W). Norfolk Southern has long been known for conducting rebuilds itself at its Altoona shops rather than contracting out for rebuilds. This is a practice that other Class 1 railroads are starting to embrace to avoid having to buy new, expensive Tier-4 compliant locomotives. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110605 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 69 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF In the OS at the east switch of Leyden, two ES44ACs with an SD70ACe sandwiched between them lead the eastbound HPVODEN. After meeting two trains at Rocky, the manifest now has a straight shot the rest of the way in to the yard in Denver. As is extremely common in summer, clouds are forming over the Rockies to the west, and will like come spilling out over the plains this afternoon. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110604 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 63 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF After about four months of being used for storage, the siding at Leyden has now been open and available for meets for the last month or so. An eastbound BNSF manifest is not meeting anyone this here this morning, so it is on the roll on the main track. If you look in the distance on the siding, you can see switches for the house track, which has been out of service now for many years. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110603 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 54 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Barbara's Gulch is located between Leyden and Rocky (closer to Rocky), and much of the gulch is pretty wide open. However, the gulch narrows considerably at its west end, as the tracks pass through a wall of bushes and trees on either side of the tracks. Here, a westbound UP oil train is that narrow portion of the gulch, just a few seconds away from the east end of Rocky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110602 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 60 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP 6207 leads two other GEs on a westbound oil empty through the narrow portion of Barbara's Gulch at the west end. UP 6207 originally started life as SP 183, delivered to Espee in May 1995. As you can see, eastbound passenger trains can increase to 60 MPH just ahead, whereas eastbound freight trains are still limited to 30 MPH. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110601 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 64 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific It is only 10:30 in the morning, yet the sun is already high in the sky as this westbound UP oil empty snakes its way through Barbara's Gulch between Leyden and Rocky. The large lake in the background is Standley Lake. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

Previous Page     Next Page