A few miles east of the Moffat Tunnel at Rollins and the westbound Zephyr is running on clear signals as it approaches the west end.
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An eastbound coal load heads eastbound down the main at Rollins. Several trees have lost their leaves in the distance, indicating this weekend may well be the best for falls colors. Next weekend, far more trees may be leafless!
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Something is peeking! An eastbound coal load comes around the corner toward Rollins as there is a smattering of fall colors in the surrounding area.
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If this was any day but Sunday, we'd probably be seeing the MNYRO here. However, the Roper manifest gets a break on Sunday's. Instead, this is the MNYGJ making a run to Grand Junction.
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The conductor on the MNYRO gives a friendly wave as the manifest charges west out of Rollins. The train had stopped for about 20 minutes on the main to wait for maintenance to clear up ahead of them.
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An eastbound coal load has a clear signal down the mainline at Rollins. The coal train was loaded as the West Elk mine on the North Fork Branch.
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A few pockets of deciduous trees stand out against the evergreens as this eastbound coal load passes down the main at Rollins. Not the trio of mid-train swing helpers just passes the signals at the west end. The cows in the field are quite indifferent to the thousands of tons of black diamonds.
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The sun is in perfect position to light this westbound coal empty heading west on the main at Rollins. Some fresh ballast was recently laid down on the main.
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South Boulder Creek is running rapidly east as this westbound coal empty charges up the valley. After getting stuck at Crescent for a couple of hours, the Grand Junction bound freight won't have to stop again until Winter Park.
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This is certainly a shot that you have probably seen a hundred times from the west end of Rollins. However, I included it mainly because of what you can see in the distance behind the train. A track inspector is on the rails, following the train west. Talk about train chasing!
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A new crew is getting ready to take the coal empty on the right west out of Rollins. However, they aren't quite ready yet and DS-82 is running this coal empty around the other one. For trains heading east, the speed limit here is 35 MPH for passenger trains and 30 MPH for freight trains.
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Sunlight rains down on this westbound coal empty which is making its way through the canyon between Rollins and Tolland. Hard to believe snow covered the area less than 24 hours ago.
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The crew on the train to the right (on the siding) has died and is waiting for a relief crew out of Denver. The train to the left (on the main) has a fresh crew and is passing the train in the siding. The train will end up meeting again at some point though, as both are headed for the West Elk mine on the North Fork Branch in western Colorado.
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A crew members from the MNYRO stands by on the front porch of UP 6302 as a "Snow Bus" passes by on the siding. The Snow Bus is used to transport crews back and forth to trains that cannot be reached by road (due to adverse weather).
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An eastbound coal load sits in the siding at Rollins. It received a new crew from Denver after a derailment earlier in the day was cleaned up. Turns out that crew would sit in the winter wonderland for the day as a second derailment would keep this train from moving an inch.
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