Photo ID: 111471 Date Shot Photo By Monday, December 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 171 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF BNSF's strategy for powering their oil trains on the Moffat differs quite a bit from UP. UP will send westbound empty oil trains with anywhere from 2 to 6 units on the head end. When they come east, the power is usually 2 x something x something. BNSF, on the other hand, pretty consistently run trains west with six units on the head end, and returns east on loads with three on the point and three DPUs on the end. Such is the case here, as three units lead this oil train east through Barbara's Gulch. Note the covered hoppers, which is serving as a buffer car (protection car) between the power and the oil train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111470 Date Shot Photo By Monday, December 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 153 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF After spending nearly 10 hours tied down in the siding at Rocky, a fresh crew showed up and is now taking this loaded oil train the remaining 17 hours or so into the yard at Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111421 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 13, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 134 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr is running nearly 90 minutes as it makes its way through Barbara's Gulch, just east of Rocky. The train was about 45 minutes late departing Lincoln, NE after picking up an ALC-42 "Charger", AMTK 341. That same Charger was then dropped off in Denver, adding a bit more of a delay to the train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111420 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 13, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 154 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Just west of the intermediate signal nicknamed "Plastic" in the Rio Grande days, the westbound Zephyr hustles west in Barbara's Gulch. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111407 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 133 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Two DPUs bring up the tail end of this westbound oil train in Barbara's Gulch. Oil trains have become the new coal trains on the Moffat. While the oil trains are still not nearly as plentiful as coal trains once were, you can pretty well count on seeing a couple of them in any 24 hour period. This one is going to take the siding at Plain and wait for about 90 minutes for the eastbound Zephyr. DS-378 does not want to risk trying to make it to Cliff ahead of the Zephyr. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110946 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 163 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF In the narrowest part of Barbara's Gulch, BNSF 8780 leads two other units on a heavy, loaded coal train. When BNSF sends units west on a train to Utah, they typically return to Denver fairly quickly. BNSF 8780 led the Denver-Provo west out of Denver just five days earlier. The train must have made it to Provo, and the unit immediately sent back on a Provo-Denver. With this coal load going to Nevada, it'll probably be a bit longer before this unit is back in Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110945 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 126 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The further away from the summer solstice we move, higher quality of light in mid-day slowly starts to return. A westbound BNSF coal load, in a 3x3 configuration, makes its way through Barbara's Gulch when the sun is near its apex in the sky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110933 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 133 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Three units lead BNSF's westbound Denver-Provo manifest rolls underneath the CO-93 overpass at the west end of Barbara's Gulch. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110923 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 133 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Morning light bounces off the conductor's side of the train on the point of a westbound oil can train. The train is headed for the transload facility in Wash, UT, just east of Price, UT. The oil is taken to the facility from oil wells via truck, and then moved to trains before heading east. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110922 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 133 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The relative high speeds of the rails on the plains are behind now for this westbound oil train, making its way through the narrowest part of Barbara's Gulch. Note the speed sign on the right side of the rails, indicate the max speed for eastbounds once the entire train has passed beyond the sign. Why the two numbers? The top number (60 MPH) is the max speed for passenger trains. The bottom number (30 MPH) is the max speed for everything else. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110921 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 140 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Working its way west through Barbara's Gulch, three elephant-style units are on the point of a UP oil empty. The number of oil trains seems to have increased on the Moffat somewhat in the last year or so. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110794 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, July 31, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 122 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak At the west end of Barbara's Gulch, a pair of Phase 5 P42DCs lead a nearly five hour late Zephyr west toward a clear (green) signal at east Rocky. The train was 2 hours late departing Chicago due to equipment issues, and then lost 3 more hours due to extreme weather in Iowa. Today, it is nearly 95°F (35°C) here at 2:15pm. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110758 Date Shot Photo By Monday, July 22, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 168 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF On an extraordinarily hazy day July day, an eastbound BNSF Provo-Denver makes its way through Barbara's Gulch, four units on the head end and two DPUs bringing up the back. The train had been tied down in the siding at Rocky since the pre-dawn hours, but a relief crew finally came and got it. The haze, incidentally, is primarily due to summer forest fires to the northwest. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110603 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 133 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Barbara's Gulch is located between Leyden and Rocky (closer to Rocky), and much of the gulch is pretty wide open. However, the gulch narrows considerably at its west end, as the tracks pass through a wall of bushes and trees on either side of the tracks. Here, a westbound UP oil train is that narrow portion of the gulch, just a few seconds away from the east end of Rocky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110602 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 172 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP 6207 leads two other GEs on a westbound oil empty through the narrow portion of Barbara's Gulch at the west end. UP 6207 originally started life as SP 183, delivered to Espee in May 1995. As you can see, eastbound passenger trains can increase to 60 MPH just ahead, whereas eastbound freight trains are still limited to 30 MPH. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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