While BNSF still has around 1,400 C44-9Ws on their roster, UP has under 300, and many of those are frequently in storage. So it was a bit of a surprise to find this C44-9W on a westbound sand train. Looks like the unit was involved in some type of fire at some point! The unit was delivered in 1994, arriving as SP 8138. It was only on the Espee roster for six years, as it changed to UP 9602 on November 22, 2000.
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A C44-9W is sandwiched between two SD70ACes on the point of this westbound unit sand train, pulling through Barbara's Gulch. A pair of BNSF units bring up the tail end of the 43 car train.
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Two nights prior to this shot, a loaded 113-car sand train arrived in Denver. The sand was headed for the Craig Branch. UP broke the train up and sent 51 cars west the night before. On this day, another 43 cars were sent west on the train RDVXTS-08. The remaining 19 cars were kept in North Yard to be added to the MNYPHX-08.
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"Yet another BNSF trackage rights train led by ES44s"...that's what today's railfan might say (myself included). But I always remind myself that a railfan 30 years from now will likely give anything to see a scene like this! After all, 30 years ago, railfans were say "yet another Rio Grande coal train led by Tunnel Motors"...
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The last few BNSF Provo-Lincoln manifests that I've caught on the Moffat seem to have been relatively short. Here, a trio of BNSF GEs lead the manifest east through Barbara's Gulch. The train will have clear signals the rest of the way in to Denver after meeting to trains at Rocky.
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There is a lot of "clutter" in this shot as power lines are very prevalent around Barbara's Gulch. However, I felt I had to include the shot as it has the eastbound Provo-Lincoln in Barbara's Gulch and the westbound Zephyr emerging from Tunnel One, both in the same shot! The two trains are both moving left-to-right in the frame, but are actually moving away from each other. They are separated by roughly six (rail) miles!
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Apologies for the power lines that cut across the middle of this scene. I wanted to include it though because it turns out it is really a two-for-one shot! BNSF's Provo-Lincoln is obvious, but do you see the Zephyr? It is emerging from Tunnel One in the top-left portion of the shot!
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A rainbow of power, representing 3 of the 5 Class One railroads based in the US, lead a short eastbound manifest through Barbara's Gulch.
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Whose Train is it Anyway!? With power sharing, it can sometimes be tricky to tell. This particular train in BNSF's Provo-Lincoln, coming east through Barbara's Gulch. Good to see an SD70ACe in the mix as UP is one of the few railroads that tends to split it orders between both EMD and GE.
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A sole CSX ES44AH brings up the tail end of this eastbound coal load. The train is headed for a customer east of the Mississippi. The train will be turned over to CSX at the Mississippi, most likely Kansas City or possibly St Louis. The sun came out just enough to cast some nice shadows as the train snaked east through Barbara's Gulch.
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The American Flag peeks through the trees that line the west end of Barbara's Gulch leading up to the east switch of Rocky. This ES44AC is the third of three mid-train DPUs on an eastbound coal load. Upon reaching Bypass 1 in Denver, the mid-train swings will be cutout and the train will continue on the KP with two units on the point and one on the rear.
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A pair of GEs bring up the tail end of a westbound BNSF sand train. The units pass by the ominous steel structure which has stood for decades. Its exact purpose...not entirely clear. The most common theory seems to be that it has something to do with coal mining that once took place in the area.
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A majority of BNSF's 790 SD70MACs have spent their lives wearing the "Heritage 2" paint scheme. This scheme was the primary scheme for about five years (between 2000 and 2005). It was in 2005 when BNSF changed their name from "Burlington Northern Santa Fe" to simply "BNSF". In an effort to create a new identity, the railroad largely shed it heritage ties.
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Throughout much of the 1990s and early 2000s, the SD70MACs were the coal work horses on BNSF. Many of these units were delivered in the "Grinstein" paint scheme (seen here). Burlington Northern was moving toward this scheme (named after Gerald Grinstein, CEO of BN from 1985 to 1995) when the BNSF merger happened.
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It was about ten years ago that many railfans got excited as BNSF ordered their first batch of SD70ACes. It was a relative big deal because, for nearly ten years prior, BNSF had sworn off EMD and had only purchased from GE. Now, ten years later, BNSF has 810 SD70ACes on the roster, including BNSF 9193 seen here.
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