Photo ID: 108728 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 618 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The morning Zephyr has a trio of P42DCs, all elephant style, leading it up this morning. It is not entirely clear why the extra unit is on the train, but it usually for one of two reasons. 1) The unit was added somewhere along the route due to a mechanical issue with one of the two units originally on the train. 2) One of the units is being sent to California for use on the west coast, quite possibly the Coast Starlight. Today, reason #2 is most likely the reason for the extra unit today. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108720 Date Shot Photo By Monday, June 14, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 566 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF An SD70ACe, an ES44AC, and an AC4400CW lead an eastbound coal load at Eisele (Clay). The train is only 84 cars long, so there are no mid-train swing helpers on this coal load. Just three units on the head end and two DPUs bringing up the rear. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108714 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, June 13, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 650 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Several minutes after sunset and the eastbound Zephyr is making its way east through Eisele (Clay). Heat restrictions have the train limited to 10 MPH at the moment. Take note of the Siemens "Charger" ALC-42 third out on the head end. This is the future of long distance power as the P42s are reaching their end of life. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108661 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 3, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 541 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The Zephyr rolls east (well, currently geographically south) on the main at Eisele (Clay), while a westbound BNSF (also currently geographically south) manifest waits in the siding at Rocky. The Zephyr will be down to the manifest, heading geographically north, in just a matter of minutes. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108660 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 3, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 634 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The eastbound Zephyr rolls east on the main at Eisele as it continues the journey east toward Denver and points beyond. Eisele is really the last place the eastbound Zephyr will skirt the front range of the Rockies before leaving the mountains behind after descending down from Big Ten Curve ahead. The siding was originally called Fire Clay, due to the red clay rock found in the area. When Rio Grande shortened many siding names on the system, it was shorten to just Clay. Then, just over eight years ago, on April 2, 2013, UP changed the name from Clay to Eisele in honor of Charley Eisele, a UP official that retired. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108654 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 3, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 527 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF An eastbound BNSF manifest heads down the main at Eisele (Clay) while a westbound BNSF manifest waits for the meet in the siding at Rocky. Due to the geography of the area, both trains are facing geographically south right now. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108594 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 579 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A BNSF coal empty makes its way west on the main at Eisele (Clay). If you look in the distance to the left, you can see a trio of BNSF units bringing up the end of the train. The train is heading for the Axial mine on the Craig Branch. Presumably, the train will pull straight in under the loader and then head back east with the three units leading the train and the two units here bringing up the rear. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108544 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 5, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 733 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific With the lighting all but gone, I decided to try to fly the Mavic Air 2 parallel to the MGJNY and approximate the speed. Other than some graininess, the result was not horrible. The train is more-or-less clear and the ground has a pretty good speed blur to it. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108496 Date Shot Photo By Monday, September 28, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 733 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Six BNSF units, including a single "green and cream" SD70MAC, lead a coal empty west on the main at Eisele (Clay). The train originated in Mexico and BNSF is in charge of running the train west over the Moffat. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108444 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 4, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 693 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The gondolas on this work train are filled with tied plates (in some of the cars) and scraps of rail (in other cars). These cars have been sitting on the siding here at Eisele (Clay) for about a week. The siding has been out of service while the cars have been here. The siding is back in service now, and the train will soon back down to the siding at Rocky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108443 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 4, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 672 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Looks straight down on a westbound coal empty (currently travelling geographically north) on the main at Eisele (Clay). The empty is passing by a work train that has a single unit with 10 gondolas. Many of the gondolas are filled with tied plates, used to secure the rail to ties. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108442 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 4, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 736 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A westbound coal empty passes by a UP work train, currently sitting in the siding at Eisele (Clay). After this 7,700-foot empty passes by, the work train will back out of the east end of Eisele all the way down to the siding at Rocky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108441 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 4, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 683 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This is why the area around Big Ten Loop is a great place to hang out and watch trains! At first glance, it would be easy to think there are two trains in this shot. But it is indeed just a single coal empty, stretching from the east switch of Eisele (Clay) down to just west of the west switch of Rocky. Must be interesting for the crew to look down the hill at the end of their train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108436 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 4, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 726 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak AMTK 189 has been the trailing unit on the Zephyr for the past few weeks, but it looks like Amtrak did some shuffling around in Chicago as the "Big Game" unti is now on the point, leading the train west. Engines seem to stay on the same long distance train, in general, for 4-6 round trips before being rotated off. That's not any kind of hard-and-fast rule, just seems to be the normal based on general observation. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108419 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, July 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 669 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An eastbound coal load...the first in several weeks...rolls east on the main at Eisele. A couple of gondolas dropped off earlier this week sit on the siding. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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