The westbound Zephyr climbs the grade on the north side of Big Ten Curve. The previous day, there was a 10 MPH slow order around Big Ten due to high winds. Today, however, the wind has died down and the Zephyr is moving at track speed.
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It is only around 20°F (-7°C) outside this morning and there is a blanket of fresh snow greeting passengers on the Zephyr this morning as the train climbs up toward Big Ten Curve.
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An oil train consisting of roughly 90 cars is making its way around Big Ten Curve. The three units on the head end are rounding the curve from Big Ten in to Eisele (Clay). The single DPU is several feet lower, climbing up toward Big Ten from Rocky.
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A westbound UP oil empty wraps around the east edge of Big Ten Curve along the wind break hoppers. The head end is now on the south edge of Big Ten, heading toward Eisele (Clay). The buffer car is a classic CP Rail "Pac-Man" covered hopper.
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On the south side of Big Ten Curve, a pair of freshly painted UP units lead their coal train toward the wind break just out of view of the camera to the right. In the distance, not the trio of mid-train swing helpers, assisting in the dynamic braking effort of the train down the grade.
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The morning Zephyr, running right on time, wraps around the outside of Big Ten Curve, passing by the wind break hoppers that have been now been sitting for over half a century.
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During the shortest days of the year, the sun is not quite high enough for the Zephyr to be entirely in sunlight when it is on time at Big Ten. Even though the last few Superliners are still in shadow, the scene climbing Big Ten is quite nice.
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This time of year, when the Zephyr is on time...or even 10 minutes late like this morning...the shadows at Big Ten are still long enough to partially obscure the train as it climbs the nearly 2% grade.
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The head end of this unit oil train is coming off of Big Ten and approaching a clear (green) signal at East Eisele (Clay). The crew can look over to the right and catch the tail end of the train, still on the rise up from Rocky.
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UP has been running far more trains on the Moffat lately than in many years. This westbound oil empty is an example of the most common type of train UP runs these days. There are, on average, at least 1-2 oil trains on the Moffat each 24 hours these days.
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Took this particular shot in order to highlight UP 2311. This SD60M was built by EMD and delivered to UP in May 1989 as UP 6156. It has three window panes on the front of the cab, which earned such units the nickname "Tri-clops". The unit is not powered on this train, and it is in fact headed for long term storage in Grand Junction.
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Even though all seven units on the point of this westbound oil train are UP, it is still something of rainbow of schemes as the schemes cover a myriad of eras as well as varying degrees of upkeep. The fourth unit is an SD70ACe sporting the newest scheme, while sixth is an SD60M wearing a pre-SP merger paint scheme.
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This interesting looking UP manifest has a single AC4400CW on the point (and one more as a DPU on the tail end). The train is only 36 cars, most of which are empty, low-side gondolas.
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After meeting BNSF's Provo-Denver, whose DPUs are still visible in the distance, this westbound UP manifest is climbing out of Rocky and up and around Big Ten Curve.
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Three units lead BNSF's Provo-Denver east down Big Ten Curve toward the west end of Rocky. There, it will enter the siding as a westbound UP manifest is holding the main.
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