Photo ID: 106861 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 15, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1179 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A single ES44DC brings up the tail end of this eastbound Provo-Denver, which consists primarily of tank cars. I framed the image this way because, being the sole DPU unit, the engine is facing the "wrong way" for the most ideal photograph. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106860 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 15, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1102 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF While BNSF has certainly invested in EMD engines in the past decade or so with the purchase of SD70ACes, they still by far prefer GE. In the last decade (or so), BNSF has purchased 810 SD70ACes. By comparison, they've purchased over 2,600 ES44s. So while seeing a BNSF SD70ACe is not super rare, it is also not uncommon to find a train with an all-GE consist. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106858 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 15, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1120 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This eastbound BNSF manifest has a Denver-based crew on board, which is a little unusual. Why is that? Since the start of 2016, BNSF trains on the Moffat typically run with Grand Junction-based crews. BNSF used to have a crew change point at Kremmling. Denver-based crews ran the trains Denver to Kremmling (and vice versa). Grand Junction-based crews ran the trains Kremmling to Grand Junction (and vice versa). After that crew change point was eliminated, Grand Junction-based crews now take the trains all the way to Denver. That is, if they have time! The Grand Junction crew "died" (ran out of hours to work) at Crescent, and the train held there for a few hours earlier in the day. A Denver crew was sent up to take the train the remaining 30-ish miles in to town. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106852 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 12, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1259 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A UP SD70ACe rolls west past the steel lattice structure found near the tracks in western Arvada. I've heard that the structure somehow relates to coal mining that once took place in the area, although I've never gotten confirmation from anyone. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106851 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 12, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1108 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF, Union Pacific A handful of non-covered hoppers are on the P-Burg local here, but by far the fracking sand cars rule the train. Power is setup in a 3x3x1 configuration, giving the train roughly 2.4 HPT (horsepower per ton). The bare minimum for the Moffat is right around 2.0 HPT. Anything much less than that and trains would stall out on the hill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106850 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 12, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1221 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific All three of these mid-train swing helpers look to be in pretty good condition. It appears the BNSF may be paying back UP for some power sharing miles as a BNSF ES44AC assists in the shove westbound. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106849 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 12, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1123 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A trio of mid-train swing helpers have been cut in to this westbound manifest. Not a super common site for manifests on the Moffat. But this train weighs in at over 12,000-tons, so the help is certainly needed. The train is passing by the rusting old containers at what was once Mesa Oil. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106848 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 12, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvadqa, CO 1139 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Sometimes, it takes UP quite a little while to get a train out of North Yard and on the road. The crew for this P-Burg local was called at 7:15am, but it didn't finally leave until 1:35pm! It took some time for the train to be assembled and the DPUs to be linked up. Worked out great for some afternoon lighting here near Barbara's Gulch. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106847 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 12, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1188 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Lately there has been no shortage of cars for the Craig Branch and the P-Burg Local! This particular instance of the train includes seven engines and 94 cars. 88 of the cars are loaded, and many of those are loaded with sand. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106846 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 12, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1124 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Based on the heat distortion coming off the tops of these units, it is quite apparent that they are working hard. They are leading a 12,000-ton manifest, mainly consisting of sand for fracking. The train is headed for the Craig Branch. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106797 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1041 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The Denver skyline emerges out of the cold morning mist as the on-time Zephyr heads west out of Leyden. The train, moving at track speed, will have to slow soon as it is following on the heels of a coal empty and will encounter a few yellows. The empty will take the siding at Plain, however, and the Zephyr will be able to get around and get back on some clear signals. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106796 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 961 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A single SD70ACe brings up the tail end of this westbound coal empty. The train is headed for the West Elk Mine on the North Fork branch. After being loaded at the mine, the train will return east, picking up some mid-train DPUs at the yard in Glenwood Springs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106795 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 945 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Morning commuters drive along CO-72, most of them likely oblivious to the West Elk-bound coal empty charging west. The empty will meet a BNSF manifest at Rocky and then take the siding at Plain to allow the Zephyr to run around. It was a frigid morning as the mercury was only at 15°F for this shot! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106794 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1036 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A loaded sand train arrived in Denver overnight and was supposed to depart Denver early in the morning after the crew was called at 5am. However, UP switched things up and instead of using the crew on the sand train, they were used on a coal empty instead! Here, the unexpected empty heads west out of Leyden with some morning backlight. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106793 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 6, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1191 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) CSX, BNSF, Union Pacific A trio of units leads an eastbound manifest past a former UP customer. Up until a few years ago, Mesa Oil was located along the main. Rumor has it that Mesa Oil was not satisfied with the service they were receiving from UP and moved to a new location in Denver where they are served by the short line railroad Denver and Rock Island. Now, the old oil tanks looks to just be rusting away... Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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