Photo ID: 106459 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, February 21, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1262 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF What is this? An all-EMD lashup on a BNSF train on the Moffat? For the last two decades or so, BNSF has very much favored GE to EMD. In the last 20 years, BNSF has purchased 810 SD70ACes compared to just over 2,800 ES44DC/AC/C4 and ET44C4s. So it's no wonder a solid set of EMDs are a bit of a novelty. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106439 Date Shot Photo By Monday, February 13, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1316 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Norfolk Southern, BNSF An original catfish! When C44-9Ws first came out and were delivered to Norfolk Southern, they quickly earned the nickname "catfish" due to the fact they are predominately black but with white "whiskers". Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106438 Date Shot Photo By Monday, February 13, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1343 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) CSX, BNSF Of the five remaining Class 1 railroads in the United States (so I'm not counting Canadian Pacific or Canadian National), I think CSX might be railroads whose engines make it to Colorado the least frequently. However, this AC6000CW just happened to come through on the BNSF Provo-Denver. CSX was the other railroad, along with UP, to give the 6000 HP units a shot. There are not many of these still roaming the rails! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106437 Date Shot Photo By Monday, February 13, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1214 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Considering the fact that this eastbound BNSF manifest had 8 units on the head end, three of which were not orange, a good shot of all the power at East Leyden seemed appropriate! Interestingly, the first 5 units on the train served as the power on a sand train that ran west on the Moffat the previous Friday! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106328 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, January 10, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1217 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An interesting westbound "train" at the east switch of Leyden. At first glance, it may appear to be two light engines headed west. But if you look closely, you may notice a bay window caboose in between the two units. This is referred to as a "Snow Bus". The roads in the Colorado high country are particularly treacherous this winter. Many passes have been closed. So, UP uses its own tracks for transporting crews between Denver and the "away" terminal in Phippsburg. Any trains that need crews picked up or dropped off on the way can be taken care of as well. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106327 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, January 10, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1131 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A westbound approaches the east switch of Leyden on a sunny January morning. The westbound has a clear signal and should remain on clear signals for awhile. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106233 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, October 4, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1318 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The sun shines very brightly, saturating the colors in the plants and highlighting the power of this westbound coal empty. The train is headed for the North Fork Branch in western Colorado. Note the fifth unit...an SD70M, which has DC traction motors instead of AC. Since Burnham was closed in February, DC units have popped up on coal trains from time to time, presumably because UP has to ship units out of Denver for (major) repairs, resulting in few AC units available. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106232 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, October 4, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1177 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A westbound coal empty approaches the 80th Avenue grade crossing and the east switch of Leyden on a beautiful fall morning in early October. If you look to the right of the train, you will notice a sign with two red triangles and two yellow triangles. This is called a "yellow/red board" or "yellow/red flag", and it informs crews that they are two miles away from a "red board", which is a similar sign that is solid red. Trains are required to stop at a red board (regardless of signals or even the train dispatcher) until they get in contact with the track foreman that is responsible for the red board. In this case, the red board two miles down the track is protecting crews that are installing new "quiet zone" grade crossings in Arvada. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106102 Date Shot Photo By Monday, June 13, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1333 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey As the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus travel around the country, the circus must bring everything that it needs with it! Trapeze, lights, sound, vehicles, etc. That is accomplished via a string of 89-foot flat cars at the tail end of the train. These cars are connected by ramps at either end. It allows the crew to unload the equipment by driving everything off. Must be quite a process to actually witness. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106101 Date Shot Photo By Monday, June 13, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1301 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey The circus life is not an easy life. Performers are on the road for roughly 45 weeks out of the year! They quite literally live on the circus train in these coaches, most of which are of Union Pacific heritage. Performers are off from mid-November through the first week of January. Then, it is back on the rails for the year. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106100 Date Shot Photo By Monday, June 13, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1347 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey You'll may notice several similar shots of the Circus Train that I added to my website from this rainy day. I did this because, do to other commitments, I was unable to chase the train any farther west. With this being my only opportunity to grab some shots, I took advantage. While the train will hopefully run on the Moffat again, this was the first time it did so in 11 years. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106099 Date Shot Photo By Monday, June 13, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1476 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey It was an extremely rainy day on this particular Monday in June. Various areas along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains saw multiple inches of rain within an hour or two. Such weather did not deter the Circus Train! For the first time since 2005, the train ran west over the Moffat. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106098 Date Shot Photo By Monday, June 13, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1428 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey One of my favorite engines (since anything with a Spartan cab) is the SD70M. Specifically, the SD70M with the slightly-flared radiators. A pair of them, along with an ES44AC, lead the Circus Train west at Leyden. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106097 Date Shot Photo By Monday, June 13, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1533 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey For the first time in over 10 years, the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus train ran over the Rio Grande between Denver and Salt Lake City. It last ran this way in 2005, before being routed over the Overland. However, the retirement of the elephants from the show last year apparently alleviated concerns over running through the Moffat Tunnel. As a result, we have this picture here! The Circus Train knocks down a clear signal at the east end of Leyden. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106068 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1412 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Union Pacific installed new signals (to replace the old Rio Grande signals) at East Leyden eight months ago, yet the new signals have not yet been activated. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the opportunity to continue shooting the old signal, I just find it interesting that the new signals have sat there, inactive, for that length of time. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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