It is a beautiful late-fall Sunday in the Colorado high country with quite a bit of snow on the ground. BNSF's eastbound Provo-Denver manifest has four units on the point as it approaches the grade crossing at Tolland. You can see Tolland Road continuing west by the old yellow and green school house, making its way up to the east portal of the Moffat Tunnel.
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UP 2635 is just about to duck in to darkness at the east end of the Moffat Tunnel, leaving behind the vivid fall colors in the valley. In 6.2 miles, the train will emerge in Winter Park, where preparations are no doubt being made for the upcoming ski season.
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A trio of units lead a westbound empty oil train at East Portal, roughly 9,500 feet (2,900 meters) above sea level. The valley is showing its fall colors in full force just a few days into the official start of fall. The window for peak fall colors up at the Moffat is actually quite small. Only a couple of days a year have colors like this. Strong winds are quite common up here and will strip the trees of their leaves in no time.
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A westbound oil empty rolls through full fall colors as it approaches a clear (green) signal at the west end of East Portal. The train will dive in to the Moffat Tunnel to pass underneath the Continental Divide.
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Most of the trees in the valley in which Tolland is located are in full fall colors on this third day of autumn. A westbound UP oil empty crosses the grade crossing at Tolland Road as it continues west toward the Moffat Tunnel.
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Just west of Rollins, there is a sea of yellow as deciduous trees start their transition from summer to winter. The winds can get very high up here and these leaves could be blown off the trees in just another week. Meanwhile, a westbound oil empty throttles up as it continues west toward the Moffat Tunnel.
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After checking for a potential hotbox on the train, the conductor is back on board the head end. With the Zephyr a couple blocks ahead, the train has received a signal to continue west.
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Passengers aboard the Zephyr are no doubt really enjoying the trip west this morning! Fall colors are about their peak brilliance as the Zephyr charges west toward a green signal at the east end of Tolland. There is barely a cloud in the sky this morning. Couldn't ask for better conditions.
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Running right on schedule, the westbound Zephyr follows along South Boulder Creek, the head actually crossing over the creek here between Rollins and Tolland. Fall colors above 8,000 feet or so are really reaching their peak.
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This westbound oil empty is stopped on the main at Rollins. The train tripped the hotbox detector at MP 39.2. Consequently, the conductor is inspecting the car that reported the hotbox, car 87. He has actually completed his inspection and found nothing wrong. He is walking back up to the head end. The Zephyr is not too far away, and will run around the oil train through the siding.
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A UP coal load wraps around one of the last curves in the narrow part of the valley leading up to the west end of Rollins. The fall colors around Rollins are really hitting their peak.
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This UP coal load is about to cross Tolland Road at the grade crossing near the east switch of East Portal. If you look off in the distance, you can actually see the east portal of the Moffat Tunnel.
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A UP coal load snakes out of the valley that the Moffat Tunnel is located in, following alongside the siding at East Portal on one side and South Boulder Creek on the other side.
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A UP coal load passes by some maintenance of way equipment currently tied down in the house track at East Portal. The coal load has the standard 2x3x1 setup as far as power goes. Dynamic brakes are starting to whine in the valley as the grade downhill grade increases.
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An SD70ACe and an AC4400CW lead a loaded coal train out the Moffat Tunnel at the end of September, just as fall colors are hitting their peaks. The coal train loaded at the West Elk mine on the North Fork Branch. There only seems to be about one coal train every few weeks on the Moffat these days, so this was a nice morning surprise.
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