Photo ID: 106186 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 18, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1287 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Two DPUs on the tail end of a westbound manifest work hard to push a heavy westbound manifest (consisting of a lot of ballast) up the hill toward Plain. The units are dwarfed by the mountains that lead back into Coal Creek Canyon. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105905 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 12, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1293 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Electro-Motive Division, Union Pacific Descending from Tunnel 1, the SD70ACe-T4 special approaches the bridge at the base of Coal Creek Canyon. When the special went west earlier in the week, a UP SD70AH was on the point. However, once the special started testing, the SD70AH was removed and EMDX 1502 ran on the point. When the train climbed the grade from Tabernash to the Moffat Tunnel, the UP units were put in full dynamics to simulate a train for the SD70ACe-T4s. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105895 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 12, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1297 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The S-Curves at Blue Mountain and Coal Creek Canyon are an excellent place for train crews to check out their train. Here, the crew on the head end approach the east portal to Tunnel 1, as the sole DPU (a pre-production ES44AC) winds around the curve toward Coal Creek. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105894 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 12, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1214 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The lead units of this westbound manifest have already crossed CO-72 at the base of Coal Creek Canyon and are now climbing the 2% grade toward Tunnel 1. At the tail end of the train, the sole DPU approaches the detector at MP 22.6. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105845 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, February 24, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1511 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak A P40DC and a P42DC, both wearing the Phase III heritage scheme, cross over CO-72 at the base of Coal Creek Canyon. Personally, I'd love to see Amtrak's entire fleet repainted in this Phase III scheme. It has always been my favorite and makes for a mighty sharp shot on a crisp February morning. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105696 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, January 6, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1289 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF At the base of Coal Creek Canyon, a trio of BNSF GEs lead a westbound manifest towardan approach (yellow) signal. The train is taking the siding at Plain, but the dispatcher could not get the signal at East Plain to set up. So, after stopping at the red signal, DS-82 will flag the train in to the siding. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105667 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 29, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1288 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A brand new ET44C4 (Tier 4 compliant) and a C44-9W bring up the rear of an eastbound manifest. The DPUs are descending from Tunnel One and will soon loop around the tracks at the base of Coal Creek Canyon and Blue Mountain Road. In the foreground, you can see the ends of a flat car! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105592 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 30, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1401 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific Some morning rays shine through the clouds to the east. A former Espee AC4400CW brings up the rear of the MRONY through the curves at Coal Creek Canyon and Blue Mountain. This unit (ex-SP 328) was patched to UP 6374 on February 9, 2002. Ironically, it has almost spent twice as much time as UP 6374 (with the yellow patch) than it spent as unpatched SP 328! If you look in the top left corner of the picture, you can see the east portal of Tunnel 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105591 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 30, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1380 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific After meeting its counterpart at Plain, the eastbound MRONY (Manifest, Roper, UT to North Yard, CO) starts picking up a bit of speed at the bottom of Coal Creek Canyon. Why is it picking up speed? The east switch of Plain would not reverse, so the crew had to put the switch in hand throw and align the switch manually. As a result, DS-82 had to flag the train past the red signal at East Plain. The train had to proceed at restricted speed (roughly 10 MPH) until they can across a signal more favorable than stop. The signal at the base of Coal Creek was clear, so the train is accelerating up toward the 25 MPH limit. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105112 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, March 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1938 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Winter Park Express The eastbound Ski Train descends from Tunnel 1 toward the curves at the base of Coal Creek Canyon. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105077 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 14, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1752 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Winter Park Express One of two special runs of Amtrak's version of the Ski Train crosses CO-72 at the base of Coal Creek Canyon. Originally, the train was only going to run on Saturday. However, after selling out tickets in ten hours, Amtrak added a second train on Sunday. That train sold on in just four hours! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105005 Date Shot Photo By Monday, February 2, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1236 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak A very late westbound Zephyr climbs up from Coal Creek Canyon toward Tunnel 1. CO-72 is visible near the bottom of the picture. Take a good look at the Baggage car as you won't be seeing these classic Baggage cars on Amtrak for much longer. Amtrak recently ordered new Baggage cars for all its long distance trains. The new cars are climate-controlled and feature bike racks in addition to luggage racks. Amtrak has also stated that, by 2016, long distance trains will have new Dining cars, Sleeping cars, and Dorm/Baggage cars. No word on replacement Coaches or Sightseer Lounge cars. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104910 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, January 7, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1321 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific On a frigid January afternoon, a eastbound coal load wraps through the curves at the base of Coal Creek Canyon and approaches the hotbox detector at milepost 22.6. The temperature barely reached 20°F the entire day, so the snow from the night before never got the chance to melt. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104778 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 22, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1681 (2 Comments Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An eastbound UP manifest, which includes an SD70M in the consist, creeps along at the base of Coal Creek Canyon, crossing CO-72. The blazing hot temperatures of the last week have a lot of slow orders out there, protecting against the possibility of sun kinks in the tracks. The trains was barely making 10 MPH right here. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104715 Date Shot Photo By Monday, March 24, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1707 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Amtrak's "Bloody Nose" heritage unit, AMTK 156, leads the westbound Zephyr up the (roughly) 2% grade toward Tunnel 1. This is the second consecutive trip on the Zephyr for the Phase I unit. No complaints from me as I hadn't seen it since 2011 prior to this. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

Previous Page     Next Page