Photo ID: 109641 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed The Sag Douglas County, CO 177 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF The head end of BNSF 9015 is descending down "The Sag" just north of Palmer Lake. On warm summer days when the traction motors on units are really hot, southbound coal loads will sometimes stop here at The Sag to allow the traction motors to cool before continuing south. On this October afternoon, the temperature is around 60°F, so the train will continue rolling south to Palmer Lake. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109640 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed The Sag Douglas County, CO 338 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Prior to World War 1, when Rio Grande and Santa Fe operated their own mains separate from one another, there were several places where the two lines crossed one another. Few places are as apparent of this old artifact as at "The Sag" just north of Palmer Lake. Here, Santa Fe's main crossed over Rio Grande's main. The abutments of the bridge are still quite apparent, even though the bridge itself has been gone for over a century. with the creation of the joint line, the crossover were removed and the tracks of each railroad were connected to create the Joint Line. Here, the head end of this coal train is now on track owned by UP and the back end of the train is still on track owned by BNSF. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109639 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 285 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A southbound BNSF coal train continues the journey south on Main 1 just north of Palmer Lake. A nice pod offers up a great scene on a Sunday afternoon. Between the train and the pond, you can see the rails for Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109636 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Castle Rock Douglas County, CO 159 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Along the I-25 frontage road, a southbound BNSF coal train passes by an intermediate signal at MP 38.6. The train is led by a pair of EMD SD70ACe. The train is heading almost directly into the sun, so both sides of the train are largely in the shadows. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109632 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 189 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific A northbound UP military train is approaching Greenland on Main 2, just north of Palmer Lake. The 14,115-foot Pikes Peak towers in the scene, about 25 miles to the south. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109631 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 164 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific I love the wide open lands between Greenland and Palmer Lake. A northbound UP military train sits stopped on Main 2 as the conductor is walking the train to look for dragging equipment after setting off a detector. A southbound BNSF coal load slowly rolls by on Main 1, with a trio of units serving as the rear DPU set on the train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109630 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 151 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific Some US military tanks and other vehicles are being transported by rail from Fort Carson in Colorado Springs to Yermo, CA. They are being shipped on Union Pacific and, due to UP's network, the train will go north to Cheyenne before turning west and eventually south after reaching Salt Lake City. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109629 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 143 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A southbound BNSF coal load slowly climbs the grade on Main 1 as a northbound military train sits stopped on Main 2. The military train departed Fort Carson a few hours earlier, and unfortunately tripped a dragging equipment detector. The conductor is currently walking the train to find the culprit. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109628 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 135 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF An ES44AC and an SD70ACe lead this coal train south on Main 1, just south of Greenland. As we get deeper in to fall and closer to winter, the landscape loses more and more color, turning to a relatively flat yellow-brown color. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109627 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Larkspur Douglas County, CO 140 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Just south of Larkspur, a southbound BNSF coal load navigates the curves on Main 1 as the train continues toward Greenland, Palmer Lake, and beyond. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109570 Date Shot Photo By Monday, October 2, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Acequia Douglas County, CO 136 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Near the north end of the Joint Line, a southbound BNSF coal train is taking on the ruling grade for the climb to Palmer Lake. The second unit on the head end, an SD70MAC, is burping up a bit more (visible) exhaust than is normal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109558 Date Shot Photo By Monday, October 2, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Orsa Douglas County, CO 183 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Even though the Joint Line has two tracks and directional running, there is still one siding along Main 1 between Sedalia and Castle Rock. It is the siding of Orsa. Even with the addition of CTC to the Joint Line, the siding is still just has hand throws at either end and likely hasn't been used in years. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108391 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 19, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed The Sag Douglas County, CO 793 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF As UP 8837 comes up to "The Sag" on Main 1, it passes by BNSF's protection unit. BNSF only has four units on their coal trains there here, set up 2x0x2. That is the bare minimum for a 120-car coal train going over Palmer Divide. In the event that one of the four units fails, BNSF keeps this unit here for easy retrieval to rescue any such stalled coal load. Before they started keeping a unit here, they had to call one out of Denver, or steal one off of another train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108388 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 19, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Castle Rock Douglas County, CO 824 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific After a brief stop at the Hold Signal at MP 36.3 for a reason that I did not hear, this southbound UP coal load is on the move again on Main 1, parallel both I-25 and the I-25 frontage road. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108387 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 19, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Castle Rock Douglas County, CO 741 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A long line of wind generator blades snake their way north on this unit blade train, heading north on Main 2 on the east side of I-25. If you look very closely in the distance near the top-right part of the frame, you may notice the headlight of a southbound UP coal train coming this was on Main 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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