Photo ID: 112406 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG548 (West Solitude) Grand County, UT 280 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific When a UP coal load derailed at the west switch of Solitude, the derailment damaged the switch itself. When UP repaired the tracks to get the mainline reopened, they did not bother to actually replace the switch. As you can see, the switch points are entirely missing. Not sure what this will mean for the siding of Solitude. UP has used it for long term storage of cars. Indeed, there are cars being stored there even when this picture was taken. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112405 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG548 (West Solitude) Grand County, UT 307 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific A team of UP maintenance of way employees are gathered at the west switch of Solitude, working to continue some cleanup efforts after a loaded coal train derailed here at the west switch about 10 days earlier. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112404 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 156 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF UP has been working to replace all the block signals out in the desert. However, due to the low levels of traffic...particularly the low levels of UP traffic...the replacement has been going very slowly. That actually allows for shots like this to still be possible! Not only is the original Rio Grande intermediate signal still being used here, but it still has its lunar indication! Rio Grande used this on uphill climbs, providing for a restricting signal that would allow trains climbing a grade to proceed by the intermediate without stopping. A BNSF Provo-Denver has just passed by, activating the restricting aspect. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112403 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 271 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF Six units lead BNSF's Provo-Denver through the middle of the Utah desert on the Green River Subdivision. It is shots like this why the Utah desert has become my favorite place for rail photography. There is always a risk when shooting out there that no trains will run all day. That absolutely can happen. But even when you are lucky enough to catch one train, you can do some pretty fantastic things with it! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112402 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 318 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF There are some truly magnificent views amongst the dirt mounds in the Utah desert between the sidings of Floy and Solitude. BNSF's Provo-Denver is making its way through S-Curves in the area, as those impressive dirt mounds build up from the ground The Book Cliffs and Green River are visible off in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112307 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Brendel (5,100 ft) Grand County, UT 155 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific In the distance, you can see the new burial site for Uranium mill tailings that are being transported by Union Pacific with the Department of Energy from a previous site near Moab that threatened ground waters and the Colorado River itself. Roughly 14 million of an estimated 16 million tons of tailing have already been transported here. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the decade. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112306 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Brendel (5,100 ft) Grand County, UT 223 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific Starting in 2009, the Department of Energy set forth on a project to clean up an estimated 16 million tons of Uranium Mill Tailings at the former Atlas Minerals Corporation site, close to the Colorado River near Moab. UP upgraded much of the rail on the Cane Creek Sub, even installing some welded rail, to support the project. Uranium mill tailings are loaded onto trains that are taken up the Cane Creek Sub to the Crescent Junction Disposal site, created for the project. Here, the tailings are buried in a safe location with no ground water implications. UP 5302 and UP 6967 are two of the units that currently have the duty of moving roughly 4,700 tons in each trainload. The train does not run Friday through Sunday. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112305 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson to Brendel (MP 528.8 to MP 533.3) Grand County, UT 135 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific The Potash Local rolls east with 35 empty covered hoppers just east of Brendel. It is at Brendel that the train will depart the mainline (and the Green River Sub), and enter the Cane Creek Sub. The train already has their warrant from the dispatcher, so they are ready to head south. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112304 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers (7,760 ft) Grand County, UT 129 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific UP's Potash Local is in the siding at Sagers, having just met the quickly-moving eastbound California Zephyr. The Potash Local only runs once a week, always on Fridays. Monday through Thursday, the same power is generally used on the Minturn Local, running east out of Grand Junction. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112303 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 212 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak Passengers aboard the California Zephyr are hopefully enjoying the incredible views of the Utah desert under crystal clear skies this morning. The train is making its way east toward its next station stop in Grand Junction, CO. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112302 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 460 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak The Utah desert is, without a doubt, one of my favorite places to shoot trains anywhere. There is such a raw beauty to the desert, as seen here with the eastbound Zephyr makes its way through some curves near Floy. The amazing Book Cliff create a fantastic backdrop for the scene. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112299 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, May 1, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson (MP 521.4 to MP 527.3) Grand County, UT 183 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific A fitting shot to close out the first of three and half days out in the Utah desert. The sun has dipped behind the Book Cliffs to the west, as a few small rain showers pass through the area. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112298 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, May 1, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers (7,760 ft) Grand County, UT 211 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific I was hoping that the BNSF oil load that this westbound UP coal load was waiting on would have arrived by now. Alas, it took longer that I had hoped. The coal load would sit in the siding here at Sagers for well over an hour, until after sunset, for the oil train to arrive. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112297 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, May 1, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG521 (West Sagers) Grand County, UT 212 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific As is the case with several sidings in the desert, UP has installed new signal masts here at West Sagers, but has not yet put the new signal heads on. I am not complaining, though, as I am a sucker for the old Rio Grande signals. A westbound coal load, headed for Intermountain Power in Utah, sits in the siding. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112296 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, May 1, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers (7,760 ft) Grand County, UT 192 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific This westbound coal load has taken the siding at Sagers to wait on an eastbound BNSF oil train. A derailment about a week ago at West Solitude still has a 10 MPH slow order out in the desert, delaying all trains that have to run through there. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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