At the south end of the Littleton Trench, the sun was finally able to break through the clouds, bringing some great Spring sunlight to this southbound manifest, running through the Trench on Main 2. Imagine, a trio of standard (Spartan) cab EMDs on a mainline freight, on a class one railroad in 2010.
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A southbound coal load pulls card on Main 1 in the area of Acequia and Blakeland. This shot was taken from the overpass at Titan Road...note Longs Peak in the background, with a surprisingly small amount of snow for March!
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About 48 hours after the derailment here in the Littleton Trench a week ago, crews were able to clear and rebuild the freight tracks. However, while Light Rail is being rebuilt, freight traffic is restricted to Main 3. Such is the case here, as a southbound coal load passes through the Form B, give plenty of bell and whistle to the men and equipment in the area.
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After the derailment here a week earlier, crews are working to rebuild a retaining wall taken out as a result of the derailment. Crews completely dug out the dirt behind the wall. After rebuilding the wall, the dirt will be replaced, followed by ballast, followed by the northbound Light Rail track.
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BNSF has a handful of blue CEFX AC4400CW leasers on the system. They seem to run primarily between the Powder River Basin and Texas. Which means we see a lot of them on the Joint Line in Colorado!
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Just south of Chatfield Reservoir is Acequia. The tracks diverge from US-85 along here, but the High Line Canal Trail follows the tracks, offering shots like this one. This southbound coal load has just started on the double track portion of the Joint Line and is in Run 8 for the trip to Palmer Lake.
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It took crews about 48 hours to cleanup, repair and reopen the tracks through the Littleton Trench after the derailment on January 17, 2009. A little over a week later, a coal load heads south on Main 3, leaving the trench behind. A couple sets of Herzog trains work on Main 1 in the distance.
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How many tractors can you count in this shot!? Note the clearly missing retaining wall on the right side of the picture. Going to be awhile before Light Rail service is restored!
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Debris is being dumped into the gondola on Main 3. If you look closely at Main 1, you can see a gap in the rail. I believe everything south of this gap will be ripped up and replaced with new track.
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A look south toward the derailment site. You can see where Main 2 has clearly been removed so work crews can cleanup the mess. Main 3 appears to be mostly intact. A bit of tamping and regulating will no doubt be necessary!
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The work train being used to haul away scrap (and replace track with track panels) sits on Main 3. Tractors run up and down Main 2 and Main 1, dumping debris into the gondola in the distance.
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Along the Littleton Light Rail station, debris consisting of broken concrete ties is being loaded into this tractor. The tractor will haul the ties away and dump them into one of the gondolas on the work train in the foreground.
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Some more loading going on. I'm not sure if the derailment took out the retaining wall (to this degree), or if it was damaged beyond repair and the crews ripped it down...
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I took this shot looking down on Main 2 and Main 3 just so you could not the debris scattered everywhere. Notice the broken wheel laying next the rail head of Main 3. For those curious, molten sulfur (which is what the derailed train was carrying) is used in producing sulfuric acid, matches, detergents, insecticides and a few other things.
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One tractor picks up debris from the retaining wall and load it into another. That tractor will then take the debris down to a work train (gondolas) and dump it in there to be hauled away.
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