Photo ID: 111511 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 139 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Part of the graffiti on the hoppers at Big Ten Curve spells out AWARE. I have no idea what it is meant to represent, but, there it is! Meanwhile, a westbound oil empty is climbing Big ten out of Rocky. You can see the signal at the west end of Rocky off in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111510 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 173 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Since the decline of coal, the new lifeblood of the Moffat has, without question, been oil. A westbound UP oil empty makes its way up the north side of Big Ten Curve on a crystal clear December morning. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111424 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 13, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 207 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak On the south edge of Big Ten Curve, the Zephyr is making its way west. The Zephyr has not seen many ALC-42 Chargers, the power set to (largely) replace the P42DCs. The Chargers are Tier-4 compliant, and they require special additives mixed in with their fuel. the infrastructure currently does not exist in Denver to include the additives, so the Chargers have not been running on the Zephyr. Rumors are that the infrastructure will be added soon, and Chargers are likely to start showing up in 2025. That means this classic consist may be short-lived. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111423 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 13, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 228 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The morning Zephyr is approaching the open hoppers that serve as a wind break on the eastern edge of Big Ten Curve. The cars have now been in the same place for over 50 years, diligently helping to redirect extreme winds up and over the mainline. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111422 Date Shot Photo By Friday, December 13, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 166 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Just west of the west switch of Rocky, the westbound Zephyr is making its way up the (roughly) 2% grade, working to gain elevation to overcome the Continental Divide. I'm trying to find out seek out some new perspectives from around Big Ten; shooting new angles. This being one of them! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111373 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 1, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 156 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A westbound BNSF empty oil train rounds the bottom of Big Ten Curve just west of the west switch of Rocky. Indeed, the back half of the train in this shot is still between switches on the main at Rocky. You can see a covered hopper buffer car on the tail end of the train, headed for the transload oil facility at Wellington, UT. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111356 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 25, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 179 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak AMTK 168 and AMTK 81 lead the westbound Zephyr along the north edge of Big Ten Curve. It is the week of Thanksgiving, so the Zephyr is probably pretty booked with passengers making their way to friends and family for the holiday on Thursday. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111355 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 25, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 188 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Just west of Rocky, the Zephyr is making its way up the roughly 2% grade of Big Ten Curve. As the elevation slowly increases, so does the morning frost, clinging to the foliage. In short order, the frost will completely melt under the morning sun. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111352 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 205 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The wind is only gusts to about 15 MPH right now. However, the forecast says there could be wind gusts of up to 40 MPH. Consequently, UP currently has a 10 MPH slow order around Big Ten Curve. The Zephyr is creeping along on the south end of Big Ten now, running about 10 minutes early. When departing Denver, the Zephyr usually has to realign some switches behind it. That was not the case today, allowing the train to get out of Denver quickly. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111351 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 246 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The morning Zephyr is actually running a few minutes early as it makes its way around the open hoppers serving as a wind break on Big Ten Curve. These hoppers have been here for over fifty years, and will likely remaining for decades...if not centuries...to come. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111350 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 234 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak As we continue to closer to the shortest day of the year, now about a month away, the tracks around Big Ten Curve are closer to being in the shadows in the morning as the Zephyr climbs westbound. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111266 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 421 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The morning Zephyr is running right on time as it climbs the north side of Big Ten Loop. Roughly two inches of snow fell over the Denver area, marking the first snow fall of the 2024-2025 winter season. Fortunately, temperatures have not fallen too far yet, and it is currently right around 32°F (0°C) out as snow continues to lightly fall. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111265 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 4, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 343 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak On the morning of the first snow of the 2024-2025 winter season, AMTK 144 and AMTK 180 lead the westbound Zephyr out of Rocky and on the climb up toward the top of Big Ten Loop. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111235 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, October 29, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 201 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The shadows down around the bottom of Big Ten Curve are in the shadows now as we are getting late in the year! The westbound Zephyr climbs toward the top of Big Ten with AMTK 144 and 180 for power. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111191 Date Shot Photo By Monday, October 7, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 299 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak As we creep closer and closer to winter, the days continue to grow shorter and shorter! Here at 5:07pm, the head of the eastbound Zephyr is just about to head into shadows as it descends from Big Ten Curve. Another month, with the loss of Daylight Savings Time, and the eastbound Zephyr will be running in darkness in to Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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