7,225 feet above sea level, this northbound coal empty crosses over the top of the Palmer Divide at Palmer Lake. A single SD70MAC leads the northbound empty toward the start of the double track just ahead.
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Normally, UP 1989 would make the run from Pueblo to Denver in the pitch black. The manifest usually passes through the community of Palmer Lake sometime between 1:00am and 2:00am. High levels of traffic delayed the train enough the prior day that it passed through Palmer Lake in daylight on this particular Sunday.
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UP 1989 wraps around the snowy south end of Palmer Lake on its way north. The train departed Pueblo (about 65 miles south) the previous night at 7:30pm. High levels of train traffic on the Joint resulted in the train being tied down on the siding at Kelker until 1:30pm the next day (the day this picture was shot). At the time of the picture, it was about 4:00pm.
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Palmer Lake is not quite as high as it usually is, but the east shores of the frozen lake make for a nice foreground for the Denver to Barstow train heading south in the background.
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An up close and personal look at BNSF's New Image scheme. The railroad is now trying to move away from its Burlington Northern / Santa Fe heritage. The corporate name has been changed from "Burlington Northern Santa Fe" to simply "BNSF".
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This special train, making its way slowly up the Joint Line, was the very first look I got at BNSF New Image scheme, which was announced about a month earlier.
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At Palmer Lake, A train carrying a 570 metric ton "hydrotreater". The train is moving at no more than 10 miles an hour, powered by a single ES44DC, as it approaches the top of the grade and the start of double track.
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A northbound manifest led by two C44-9CWs, the second of which wears the warbonnet paint scheme.
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A unit grain train with two H2 C44-9CW's and a green SD40-2 are about to leave the single track behind and start on main two for the trip back to Denver.
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BNSF 5698, a GE AC4400CW make a rare appearance on the head-end of a BNSF coal empty. The temperature here at Palmer Lake was around 40 degrees, and your breath could clearly be seen, two days prior to the first day of summer.
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A lot of the bushes have lost their leaves at this point as a unit tank train moves south along Palmer Lake. The train is powered by three C44-9CWs in Heritage-II paint, and a single Oakway SD60.
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A northbound coal empty is approaching Palmer Lake and will soon diverge from the single track main to main two for the trip to Denver.
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With the town of Palmer Lake in the background, this southbound is curving along the south shore of Palmer Lake, now on the single track mainline that will take it through Colorado Springs.
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This BNSF southbound coal load is wrapping around the south side of Palmer Lake. Prior to the advent of DPU, the train would soon be stopping to cutoff its manned helper from the end of the train.
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A few miles north of Palmer Lake, the Santa Fe mainline once crossed over the Rio Grande mainline prior to the existance of the Joint Line. Here, this southbound coal load is descending from the level of the old Santa Fe main to the level of the old Rio Grande main.
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