Photo ID: 107948 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 31, 2019 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 1014 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A slightly different perspective from Palmer Lake! A southbound coal load starts to pick up a little speed as it comes over the top of the hill. Decades ago, when there were still two tracks through Colorado Springs (Rio Grande and Santa Fe), the Santa Fe main (Main 2) would have been visible toward the top right of the picture, on the opposite side of the lake. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105382 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 1936 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF I don't generally get the opportunity to be in Palmer Lake in the evening as I'm usually headed back home on days I chase on the Joint Line. On this particularly day, however, I was driving home from Colorado Springs after a short business trip. So, I decided to set up for a shot on the west side of Palmer Lake as this southbound BNSF manifest was coming through town. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105381 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 2155 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF The top of the hill! Southbounds leaving Denver on the Joint Line have a steady climb on a grade averaging between 1% and 1.4% up to Palmer Lake at the top of the Palmer Divide. At roughly 7,300 feet above sea level, the Palmer Divide separates runoff between the Arkansas River (to the south) and the South Platte River (to the north). It is also where double track (and directional running) ends and the single track begins (when headed south). This southbound manifest is just about to hit the switch, entering the single track main. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105380 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed The Sag (MP 50) Palmer Lake, CO 1849 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Hard to believe that it has now been ten years since BNSF changed its name from "Burlington Northern Santa Fe" to simply "BNSF" and introduced the "New Image" scheme. In that same time period, a new GE model caught wild fire with BNSF management. That model, seen here on the point of this southbound manifest, is the ES44C4. As of this photo, it is unique to BNSF. The center axle on both trucks is not powered, making this an A1A-A1A unit. BNSF first started testing this model toward the beginning of 2009. Six year later, they have over 1,100 on the roster! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105379 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed The Sag (MP 50) Palmer Lake, CO 2089 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A major summer thunderstorm passed through the area about an hour earlier. You can see the dark clouds now moving off to the east as a southbound BNSF manifest pulls through "The Sag" on Main 1, about two miles north of Palmer Lake. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105378 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed The Sag (MP 50) Palmer Lake, CO 2380 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This southbound BNSF manifest is just starting to pull south from "The Sag", about two miles north of Palmer Lake. While some coal trains stop here to cool off their traction motors after the climb from Denver, that was not the case with this train. No trains ran through Colorado Springs on this day due to a large maintenance window. This southbound had actually been tied down here for much of the day. The new crew is now on and is starting the pull toward Palmer Lake. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104633 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 8, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 2114 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Even when BNSF started buying exclusively from GE, they still had a fleet of nearly 800 SD70MACs that could be found on every coal train on the Joint Line. Then, over time, GE started moving in a bit with the ES44AC. For this EMD fan, it is great to catch a pair of SD70MACs on the point of a coal train every once in awhile! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104632 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 8, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 2075 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF The sun has shifted to the western sky, offering up some great light on the S-Curve just south of Palmer Lake for this northbound. The temperature is 46 degrees Fahrenheit but somehow feels warmer! The pine tree to the right is threatening to encroach on this shot in the future. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104631 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 8, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 1873 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific At elevation just under 7,300 ft, there is still plenty of snow on the ground at Palmer Lake after a blizzard the night before! In addition to the snow, there is also some coal on the ground from a minor derailment. A UP crew has a "Form B" and red boards in place, allowing them to occupy the track between trains. The truck they are using is essentially a gigantic vacuum cleaner! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104621 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 8, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 2158 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF With the explosion in oil lately, BNSF has been suffering from a bit of a power shortage. As a result, they have been leasing a lot of power as well as activating power that has been in storage. Such is the case with the Warbonnet-painted SD75Ms. To make space on the roster, BNSF has moved the units from their 8200-series numbers back to their ATSF-original 200-series numbers. As you can see, it has been done a bit hastily, too! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104620 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 8, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 2197 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF At Palmer Lake, this southbound has left the double track behind. It is now on the UP-owned, BNSF-dispatched single main track. The single track runs for roughly 30 miles through Colorado Springs. At Crews (near Fountain, CO), double track starts again. There are only four sidings over this 30 mile stretch, so it can become something of a bottleneck for the dispatcher! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104619 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 8, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 1958 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF We are at the "top of the hill" as this manifest makes its way around the west side of Palmer Lake. The shiny ES44C4 makes a fantastic contrast against the snow that fell the previous night. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104049 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, January 14, 2012 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 52 Palmer Lake, CO 2156 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This is without a doubt one of those timeless locations you see in rail photography. Railfans have been shooting southbounds coming around this bend since the dawn of the camera, I would image! Nothing too special about this consist...just another BNSF coal train working over the top of the hill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103344 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, March 28, 2010 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 52 (Palmer Lake) Palmer Lake, CO 1754 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This manifest was running right on the yellow blocks of the coal load ahead of it, so I didn't have enough time to get north of Palmer Lake and back into the light (note the house and hillside in the distance). Instead, I settled for this shot at the grade crossing at Palmer Lake. This is BNSF's daily Denver to Pueblo manifest. When I first saw it, I thought it was a baretable train as I only saw the empty well cars initially! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103343 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, March 28, 2010 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 52 Palmer Lake, CO 1798 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Minutes before the sun ducks behind the mountains west of Palmer Lake, this southbound works through the S-Curve just south of the lake. Leave it to BNSF to run the last unit nose-forward! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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