Photo ID: 112382 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thistle Tunnels to Castilla (MP 680.6 to MP 684.7) Utah County, UT 92 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF The Denver to Provo manifest has passed through the Thistle Tunnels, built in 1983 after a massive mudslide buried the original tracks and the small town of Thistle. Rio Grande built seven miles of tracks on a new alignment and constructed a new tunnel in three months. The second tunnel was added shortly thereafter. The cut in the distance, for US-6, was also constructed with the highway realignment. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112381 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG677 (Rio (Crossover)) Utah County, UT 90 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF Between Springville and Gilluly, a distance of 34 miles, there are three crossovers. At Castilla and Narrows, the crossover would take a train from running on the lefthand main to the righthand main. Rio, in between Castilla and Narrows, would allow a train to cross from the righthand main to the lefthand main. Here at Rio, BNSF's Denver-Provo is already on the lefthand main (from the train point-of-view), Main 2, as it heads west. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112380 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Detour (MP 665.3) Utah County, UT 97 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF The Denver-Provo is making its ways down the roughly 2% grade at the area known as Detour. There are some nice curves here, that do allow for getting shots of the train off in the distance. If you look closely, you can just see part of the train in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112379 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Detour (MP 665.3) Utah County, UT 75 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF At an area known as Detour, the tracks follow along the edge of the mountains, quite a little ways above US-6, which is well out of frame to the right. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112378 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Gilluly (Center Siding) (7,900 ft) Utah County, UT 86 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF The Denver-Provo wraps around the 180º curve, crossing underneath US-6 on Main 2. It is off of Main 2 here at Gilluly where you can find a house track. If a train had to set out a car, DS-378 could cross the train over to Main 2 (if necessary) to allow them to make a set out. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112377 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Summit to Gilluly (MP 651.9 to MP 659.8) Utah County, UT 56 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF BNSF's Denver to Provo is descending the roughly 2% grade above Gilluly. There is a nine mile stretch of track between Soldier Summit and Gilluly in which there are no sidings and no crossovers. The train has covered around six miles of that trackage, with just a few more curves and loops before reaching Gilluly. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112374 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Kyune (Center Siding) (5,230 ft) Utah County, UT 71 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF Two ES44ACs and an SD70ACe lead BNSF's Denver to Provo on Main 2 alongside the Price River at Kyune. With no opposing traffic...and a second main, even if there was...the train will have a straight shot all the way to Provo. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112373 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Kyune (Center Siding) (5,230 ft) Utah County, UT 79 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF BNSF's Denver to Provo manifest winds its way through the S-Curves at Kyune. The train is running on Main 2 as it heads west this morning. That's the beauty of CTC! The dispatcher can run trains in either direction, on either Main 1 or Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112364 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Colton Yard (MP 1) Utah County, UT 59 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Pleasant Valley (UP) Union Pacific An Intermountain Power coal train is leaving the main tracks at Colton, and is headed up the Pleasant Valley Sub. Intermountain Power is planning to end its use of coal by the end of 2025, which is certainly have an impact on the number of coal trains that run on Soldier Summit. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112363 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG645 (Colton (Crossover)) Utah County, UT 87 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Union Pacific These fives units were mid-train DPUs on a westbound loaded oil train. The crew followed the train (in a van) to Colton, where the DPUs were de-linked from the oil train and the crew got aboard the five units and cut them out of the oil train. They were getting ready to return to Helper when they discovered PTC was not working on the lead unit, UP 8377. They called UP's "PTC Help Desk" to see if they could get an exemption to return to Helper without PTC enabled. Unfortunately, the lady working the PTC help desk did not understand that these units were cut out here at Colton, about 20 miles west of Helper. The help desk said that they needed to swap units with one that had PTC operationally. As the crew explained (and as you can see in this shot) the other four units are facing west and could not be used as a leader. The crew went back and forth with the help desk for nearly an hour! At one point, the crew lost their patience and said "we've been running trains out here for 150 years...why can't we just get a PTC exemption to run 20 miles east". Finally, after speaking with supervisors, the PTC help desk granted them an exception to return to helper without PTC enabled. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112362 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG645 (Colton (Crossover)) Utah County, UT 69 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Union Pacific The Skyline Mine on the Pleasant Valley Subdivision still periodically loads coal trains. I was lucky enough during my handful of days on Soldier Summit to catch one heading that direction. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112349 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG640 (West Kyune) Utah County, UT 65 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF Three GEs bring up the tail end of BNSF's Valmy coal load at the west switch of Kyune. These units are DPU'd and are not manned. They have been with the train since it departed Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112348 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Kyune (Center Siding) (5,230 ft) Utah County, UT 65 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) BNSF A trio of BNSF SD70ACes leads BNSF's Valmy coal load west on Main 1 at Kyune. The train is headed for the Valmy power station in Nevada. That power station has plans to move to natural gas by the end of 2025, so these coal trains are likely in very short supply. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112115 Date Shot Photo By Friday, March 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG662 (West Gilluly) Utah County, UT 132 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Rocky Mountaineer The westbound Rocky Mountaineer just knocked down a clear (green) signal on Main 1 at the west end of Gilluly. This would be the final shot for me on the two-day chase of the Mountaineer from Glenwood west toward Salt Lake City. The train would continue on from Gilluly to make it to Salt Lake City by 8:30pm. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112114 Date Shot Photo By Friday, March 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Gilluly Utah County, UT 116 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Provo (UP) Rocky Mountaineer Nearly halfway alongside the center siding of Gilluly, the Rocky Mountaineer is going around a long, sweeping, 180° curve. As amazing as Big Ten Curve in Colorado is, the loops at and around Gilluly are, in my opinion, even more amazing. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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