Photo ID: 110566 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, June 9, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sedalia to Orsa Castle Rock, CO 64 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF In between Sedalia and Orsa, a southbound BNSF J-Train (a special) rolls through an S-Curve. The train just crossed over East Plum Creek, or rather the dry creek bed as there currently is no water in the creek. The train, which includes new Department of Energy cars heading for the testing center near Avondale, CO. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110565 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, June 9, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Orsa Castle Rock, CO 61 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A pair of SD70ACes brings up the tail end of this southbound BNSF coal load at Orsa just north of Castle Rock. A bit of dust is being kicked up along the right-of-way. The track to the left is the siding of Orsa, which is hardly ever use due to directional running on the Joint Line. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110564 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, June 9, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Orsa Castle Rock, CO 81 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Just north of Colorado Springs, a southbound BNSF coal load on Main 1 passes by the only siding on Main 1 between Littleton and Palmer. The siding of Orsa. The siding is not CTC controlled and, since Main 1 is almost always limited to southbound traffic only, the siding is hardly ever used. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110156 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, January 21, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 147 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF An ES44DC and an ES44C4 lead a southbound intermodal train over West Plum Parkway in Castle Rock alongside I-25. This scene changed fairly significantly in 2011 when West Plum Parkway was actually built. Prior to that, there was no bridge (for the tracks) in this scene. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109924 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 17, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 130 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Several years ago, UP did some preliminary work to upgrade Main 2 on the Joint Line to CTC. However, progress seemed to drop off and the track is still controlled by Track Warrants and Automatic Block Signals. If you look on the opposite side of this northbound BNSF manifest, you can see an intermediate signal. But note the signal head for southbound is point 90° to the right as it is not currently operational. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109923 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 17, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 199 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Main 2 crosses from the east side to the west side of I-25 on the northwest side of Castle Rock. BNSF's Kansas City to Denver manifest is crossing the busiest freeway in Colorado. The auto racks on the head end of the train will be set out at Big Lift, just south of Littleton. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109650 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 181 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF At first glance, this might appear to be a southbound on Main 2 on the Joint Line, just south of Castle Rock. However, it is in fact a northbound that has three DPUs on the tail end. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109649 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 147 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF BNSF 9798 still sports the "green and cream" paint scheme that Burlington Northern adopted in the early 1990s, shortly before the BNSF merger. If you look at the nose, you'll see a slight discoloration. This is where the "BN" herald was once located. After the merger, it was covered up. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109648 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 145 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Northbounds are stacking up on the Joint Line at Castle Rock! The crew on this military train "died" (not literally...they reached 12 hours on the clock and can no longer operate their train) at 12:30pm. 2 1/2 hours later and there is no relief crew on the horizon just yet. The BNSF coal empty is stuck, and four additional trains further south also have nowhere to go until the military train can start rolling again. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109647 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 171 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A northbound BNSF coal empty has stopped 200 feet from the back of a northbound military train on Main 2 alongside the Plum Creek golf course in Castle Rock. Unfortunately, the UP crew on the military train reached their hours of service at 12:30pm, forcing them to stop their train. They are legally prohibited from operating it any further. Another crew will not show for a few hours, bringing northbound traffic on the Joint Line to a complete hault. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109645 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP 363 Castle Rock, CO 207 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF BNSF 8561 splits the signals at the control point at CP 363. A few years ago, BNSF installed CTC on Main 1 between Littleton and Palmer Lake. Two "hold" signals were installed on Main 1. These are absolutely (dispatcher-controlled) signals. They allow for track and time to be given to MOW while trains from the north can still approach. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109644 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 147 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF BNSF coal trains are, by far, the most dominating type of train you'll find running on the Joint Line. These trains originate in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and are destined for power plants in the south. The approaching train is no exception as it parallels the I-25 frontage road and I-25 itself, just south of Castle Rock, which is visible in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109635 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 142 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific A northbound UP military train crosses over Bell Mountain Parkway a handful of miles south of downtown Castle Rock. Way off in the distance, you can see Pikes Peak. It is the tallest peak off in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109634 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Castle Rock Castle Rock, CO 190 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific Just south of Castle Rock, a northbound military train has passed through a couple of slow orders and is back up to track speed. But not for much longer. The crew only has 11 minutes left to work before hitting their 12 hour limit. They'll stop ahead near the Safeway in Castle Rock to await a recrew. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109569 Date Shot Photo By Monday, October 2, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP 363 Castle Rock, CO 153 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF When BNSF installed CTC on Main 1 on the Joint Line a few years ago, they included two "control points" absolute signals between Sedalia and Palmer Lake. CP 363, seen here, is one of those control points. This was done so track and time could be issued to maintenance, allowing trains to still run on opposite sides of the control points. Pro Tip: How can you know this is an "absolute" signal (dispatcher controlled) and not an "intermediate" signal? The lack of milepost plates on the signal masts are dead giveaways. Intermediate signals have milepost plates, while absolute signals do not. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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