Photo ID: 106402 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, February 8, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1521 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The engineer on the MRONY takes the train through the S-Curves at Coal Creek Canyon and Blue Mountain. The train consists of 22 loads and 89 empties for a total length (with the five units added in) of just over 7,000 feet! Ever since UP went to running the MNYRO and MRONY thrice weekly, their lengths have grown considerably. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106357 Date Shot Photo By Monday, January 16, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1230 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF I never get tired of a nice long lens shot of a train traversing the S-Curves at the bottom of Coal Creek Canyon. This westbound copper train is move away from the photographer, a pair of DPUs bringing up the tail end. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106356 Date Shot Photo By Monday, January 16, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1170 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF GAH! Dang poles! How great would this shot be if it weren't for the poles littering the tracks to the right. A trio of units leads this BNSF westbound as the two DPUs swing around in the foreground. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106355 Date Shot Photo By Monday, January 16, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1161 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A winter scene that I never get tired of! An ES44DC and an SD70ACe bring up the tail end of a loaded copper train that is headed for Provo, UT. This is one of those unusual BNSF train that will occasionally pop up on the Moffat. I don't recall the last time there was a unit gondola train on the Moffat! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106354 Date Shot Photo By Monday, January 16, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1170 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This westbound BNSF copper train shows off 20 years of paint schemes! The original "Heritage" scheme is worn by the center C44-9W. A fan favorite of many railfans to this day! Leading is a C44-9W with the "Heritage 2" scheme, which replaced the Heritage scheme only after a year or two. And third up is the so called "New Image" scheme. First unveiled in 2005, this scheme came out when Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad was reorganized as simply BNSF Railway. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106353 Date Shot Photo By Monday, January 16, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1242 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A shot that has no doubt been captured thousands of times by hundreds of photographers over the years...a westbound train pulling through the S-Curves on the approach to the Blue Mountain Road Crossing. Even if the framing is the same, the content is ever-changing! Here, a BNSF unit gondola train fills the shot. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106219 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 25, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1532 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak My least favorite part about moving from summer in to fall and winter is the shortening of the days. It is only 5:30pm and already the tracks at Blue Mountain are just barely still in the sunlight. Another month to six weeks and the only shots you'll be able to get of the eastbound Zephyr east of the Moffat Tunnel will be in darkness! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106213 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 25, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1860 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A trio of BNSF GEs lead a westbound manifest at the Blue Mountain Road grade crossing. The second unit is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "Goat Boat". The "goat" portion of the term comes first from the Great Northern Railway, a predecessor of BNSF (and Burlington Northern). The Great Northern used a goat in its logo and had a paint scheme very similar to the "Heritage" paint scheme worn by this second unit. The "boat" portion of the term comes from the old reference to GE units as "U-Boats". Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106212 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 25, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1386 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Just west of Eisele, a westbound BNSF Denver to Provo manifest approaches the grade crossing at Blue Mountain. The train is led by an ET44C4, followed by a C44-9W, and a ES44DC. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106183 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 18, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1256 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A westbound manifest weaves its way through the S-Curves at Blue Mountain and Coal Creek. The Phippsburg-bound "P-burg Local" sports a trio of EMDs, painting holding up nicely on all three. If you look toward the top-left of the shot, note the Denver skyline, roughly 20 miles off to the east. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106160 Date Shot Photo By Friday, September 9, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1289 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific With mostly cloudy skies, nabbing this westbound coal empty in sunlight proved not to work out! The train is moving through the S-Curve just east of the Blue Mountain road crossing. Most of these units are offline and will be used as mid-train swing helpers for coal trains returning east. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106002 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, May 26, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1494 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Electro-Motive Division After completing some testing up between Tabernash and East Portal, EMD's Tier-4 prototypes are returning to Denver. They are DIC (Dead In Consist) here, just rolling along with the UP units for journey east. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106000 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, May 26, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1541 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific EMD's test train rolls east at track speed on the approach to the Blue Mountain grade crossing. EMD engineers got the information they needed from testing between Tabernash and East Portal. Hopefully, the tests showed the results they were hoping for and EMD will soon be able to put the unit into production. EMD hasn't sold a new unit in the United States since the start of 2015 due to the Tier-4 emissions regulations! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105994 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, May 26, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1298 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP's annual Engineering Special rolls east past the Blue Mountain grade crossing on a stormy afternoon. The special made fantastic time, leaving Helper, UT shortly after 7am this morning. It will stop in Denver for a brief crew change and then continue on the Cheyenne where it will stop for the night. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105993 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, May 26, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1462 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific In years past, when William Wimmer was still the VP of Engineering at Union Pacific, this special always had the DDA40X as power. It was said Mr Wimmer did this for several reasons: 1. The DDA40X itself was sensitive to track alignment and if there was an issue, it created a noticeable rocking motion over the track that went back through the train, making him aware of the issue in the last car. 2. If the train stopped to inspect something, it could start and be back up to 70 MPH within a minute or so. Whatever his reasons, it was great to see while it last. After Mr Wimmer retired, the new VP of Engineering apparently didn't see the same value in the DDA40X, so those days are gone. Here, an SD70M leads the special east. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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