Photo ID: 105250 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 5, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1439 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This last spring, particularly May, saw a lot of rainfall in the Denver area. The result has been a particularly green summer. Such is the case here at the Blue Mountain road crossing. A C44-9W leads a pair of ES44DCs east through the curves at Blue Mountain as afternoon clouds roll in from the mountains. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105249 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 5, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1422 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This eastbound BNSF manifest passes by the hot box detector at MP 22.6. As implied in the name, a hot box detector measures heat along the axles of the passing train. If a brake shoe is sticking against a wheel, it will (naturally) generate large amounts of heat. This will be detected and the information will be broadcast over the radio to the crew of the train, giving the exact location of the problem including axle number and rail (north or south, in this case). Fortunately, there were no issues for this train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105115 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, March 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1855 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Amtrak did a really great job of giving AMTK 42 a thorough scrub down in preparation for its two days on the Ski Train. Not much else to say for this shot other than thanks to all who have served our country! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105114 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, March 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1976 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak As the sun moves closer to the horizon and the shadows at Blue Mountain grow, the power for the (special) Ski Train pops out of one of the shadows and in to some glorious evening lighting. While it may look like just another Amtrak train, this special run of the Ski Train attracted a gaggle of railfans (myself, obviously, being no exception). There were no fewer than 10 other fans behind me, back toward the grade crossing. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105113 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, March 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1839 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak How about a nice in-your-face shot of Amtrak's sharp-looking "Saluting Our Veterans" unit? In a very classy move, Amtrak sent the unit (along with another P42 and seven Superliners) to town for a special two-day run of Amtrak's own version of the Ski Train. Here, the train is approaching the grade crossing at Blue Mountain. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105016 Date Shot Photo By Friday, February 13, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1545 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Amtrak has built in some padding in the schedule for the eastbound Zephyr between Fraser and Denver. Departure from Fraser is set at 3:50pm and arrival in Denver is 6:38pm. When running on clear signals, the train can easily arrive Denver by 6pm. So if the train is running 40-45 minutes late, that time can (in theory) be made up. Here, running ahead of schedule, the Zephyr approaches the grade crossing at Blue Mountain two seconds past 5pm. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105004 Date Shot Photo By Monday, February 2, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1975 (2 Comments Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak After just passing the detector at MP 22.6, the Zephyr is about to wrap around the horseshoe curve at the base of Coal Creek Canyon. As has been typical for about two months, the Zephyr is running with just six Superliners and the Lounge car is located directly behind the Baggage car. The two Horizon cars (located between the power and the Baggage car) are headed for California to run on the Reno Fun Train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105003 Date Shot Photo By Monday, February 2, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1656 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The standard pair of P42DCs lead the westbound Zephyr through the curves at Blue Mountain and Coal Creek. Hard to believe that the P42s started showing up nearly 20 years ago (in November 1995) and replaced F40PHs as the primary locomotive about 17 years ago. How much life do they have left in them? And will Amtrak be able to secure funding to rebuild or replace them? Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105002 Date Shot Photo By Monday, February 2, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1412 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Due to bad weather in the midwest, the Zephyr is running six hours late west of Denver. Unfortunately, a little more time was lost when coming around Big Ten Loop. Due to high winds, there was a 10 MPH slow order around the curve, slowing down the Zephyr a bit more. Here, the train is rounding the curve from Eisele and approaching the grade crossing at Blue Mountain. You can see most of the Denver skyline near the right side of the image. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104911 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, January 7, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1404 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) UMP The last bit of sunlight shines off the peak of the mountain above Coal Creek Canyon as an eastbound coal load approaches the grade crossing at Blue Mountain. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104839 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, October 1, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada 1702 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The classic shot from Blue Mountain Road! An eastbound coal train snakes its way through the S-Curves. Note the new ties lying along the ballast. UP has been doing a lot of maintenance on the Moffat in the last month or so and tie replacement has been included. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104763 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 13, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1878 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP 1982 made an unexpected visit to the Moffat on this Sunday afternoon. Both it and the NS unit it was coupled to were supposed to run on an autorack train. The power desk in Denver apparently had other ideas! Here, the units lead through the curves at Blue Mountain Road Crossing. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104762 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 13, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada 1401 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Between two westbound manifests (one UP and one BNSF), this was the only unit I saw that was either orange or yellow! This BNSF C44-9W teams up with a CSX C40-8W, shoving on the tail end of a long manifest looping through the curves at the base of Coal Creek Canyon up toward Tunnel 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104761 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 13, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada 1533 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF, CEFX Perhaps the most colorful consist on the Moffat in quite some time, this BNSF manifest is led by a Warbonnet C44-9W, a CSX C40-8W, and an ex-SOO SD60. All three units (plus two DPUs on the end) were working as hard as they could, although they were only making about 15 MPH up the hill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104760 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 13, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada 1531 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF, CEFX When I was a kid, I had an HO SOO SD60 that I always liked. So it was great to see the real world version on this BNSF manifest. Granted it isn't technically SOO anymore...it is now a CEFX leaser! At first, I thought it was the same ex-SOO leaser that has appeared on the Beer Run lately. But that was CEFX 6012. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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