Photo ID: 106470 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, February 21, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1201 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A westbound coal empty heads west on the main at Leyden. To give you an idea of how much coal has declined recently, this was the first coal empty to come across the KP in eastern Colorado in 19 days! The last empty on the KP was on February 2nd. Other empties have run west on the Moffat since then, but regardless, coal has thinned out a lot. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106461 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, February 21, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1297 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The sound of three EMDs on the point of a westbound sand train sound mighty fine as the train passes by a tree and some very yellow/brown shrubs not too far from the east end of Leyden. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106443 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, February 14, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1354 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF, CREX Three CREX leaded units lead up a relatively short BNSF Denver-Provo on this Valentine's Day evening. The train was much shorter than typical, which was actually advantageous as the engineer decided to stop near the middle of the siding (instead of the west end), allowing for a quick shot of the power. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106442 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, February 14, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1546 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) CREX, BNSF While driving home from the store this evening, I happened to notice a westbound train in the siding at Leyden. I was surprised to find a trio of CitiRail leased ES44ACs on the point! The train was BNSF's Denver-Provo manifest and it was in the hole to wait for the eastbound California Zephyr. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106416 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, February 9, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1116 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF At first glance, it looks as though these gondolas are empty. But if you look closely, you can just barely see some dirt along the edge of the car. This dirt is rich in copper tailings. This train originates in Rincon, NM and BNSF takes it to Provo, UT. I am unsure what company it is ultimately delivered to. But even as this train heads west, another empty train is coming east. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106415 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, February 9, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1192 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Although they have become less common, leased CitiRail ES44ACs still pop up on BNSF trains from time-to-time. Such was the case on this Thursday morning on the point of a copper train headed west on the Moffat. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106414 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, February 9, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1172 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Recently, a lot of UP coal contracts have expired and were not renewed. The result has been a radical drop in coal traffic on the Moffat. And with the MNYRO/MRONY only running every three days, there have been periods of 24+ hours with NO UP trains at all! BNSF, on the other hand, seems to be increasing traffic on the Moffat. Some new trains have been showing up. This is one of them: a westbound copper train. These gondolas are loaded with dirt that have copper tailings in them. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106400 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 5, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1296 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The battery box, located behind the cab here, was taken from a Warbonnet C44-9W. Since the model is the same, the paint scheme (obviously) is irrelevant. I note it, however, because it seems like nearly every Warbonnet left has an orange battery box...so isn't it ironic that we have a Heritage 1 C44-9W here with a Warbonnet battery box! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106399 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 5, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1260 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF BNSF has been hauling a LOT of steel coils west out of Denver over the Moffat lately. The Denver-Provo seems to typically have anywhere from 10-20 of these cars on the train. Giant rolls of steel...that'll add some weight to the train! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106398 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 5, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1260 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF On Super Bowl Sunday, a Grand Junction based crew takes BNSF's Denver-Provo west on the main at Leyden in wonderful late afternoon light. The lead unit is an ES44C4, but in an odd number range. Nearly every unit in the 4000s currently on BNSF's roster is a C44-9W. There are 100 units (BNSF 4200-4299) that are ES44C4s. They are Tier 4 "credit" units. BNSF saved up some emissions credits to be able to order these Tier 3 units after the Tier 4 deadline. Some of note is the quality of the camera in the iPhone 7 Plus. I just happened to notice this train as I was driving and stopped for a few shots. I didn't have my Canon with me, so I use the old iPhone instead. Not bad quality at all! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106396 Date Shot Photo By Friday, January 27, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1231 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A single ES44C4 brings up the tail end of an eastbound Provo-Lincoln manifest on the main at Leyden. Many of the businesses BNSF (and Utah Railway) handle in the Salt Lake area use tank cars, so it is quite common to find large number of tank cars on BNSF manifests on the Moffat. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106395 Date Shot Photo By Friday, January 27, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1378 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A quartet of BNSF GEs lead the Provo-Denver trackage rights train east down the main at Leyden. The lighting was absolutely perfect for this train, although it was a chilly morning. Only 9°F on the thermometer at this point! I believe BNSF tends to call its eastbound trains out of Grand Junction at a fairly consistent time as it is not uncommon to find an eastbound BNSF east of the Moffat Tunnel at or shortly after sunrise. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106394 Date Shot Photo By Friday, January 27, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1166 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF After an overnight run from Grand Junction, BNSF's Provo-Lincoln manifest glides east down the main at Leyden. As you can see from the plow of BNSF 6759, there is still plenty of snow in the Colorado high country! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106386 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, January 25, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1304 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak I was hoping that this 14-hour-late Zephyr might actually be late enough to be held at Rocky or Leyden in order to meet the morning Zephyr. Turns out that wasn't the case...dispatch got the train as close to Denver as possible. #6 had to hold at the Pecos Crossover to wait for #5, causing it to lose even more time. The station in Denver can now only support two non-commuter trains. Most of the year, that would allow both #5 and #6 to be in the station at the same time if necessary. But right now, in January, the Winter Park Express Ski Train is taking up one of the tracks, requiring the very late #6 to wait at Pecos. Here, the train is headed toward a clear signal at east Leyden. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106385 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, January 25, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1368 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak One of the challenges of shooting the Zephyr in the Denver area is the time of day the train comes through. Both Zephyrs are typically backlit as the westbound Zephyr leaves in the morning and the eastbound Zephyr arrives in the evening. Once in awhile, though, one of the Zephyr will run late...so late that the tables are turned. Such a turning of the tables happened on this frigid January morning when the eastbound Zephyr (from the day before) was 14 hours late! That allowed for a run in to Denver in the early morning light. Here, the train is moving at track speed on the main at Leyden. A fresh dusting of snow on the mountains in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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