Photo ID: 113804 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 3, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 51 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak I'm guessing emerging from Tunnel 1 was a bit unpleasant for the Amtrak crew on the eastbound Zephyr, going from the relative darkness of the Tunnel and then descending the grade, facing directly into the setting sun to the west. Storm clouds are swirling around quite a bit off east toward the plains. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113800 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 3, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 70 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Rocky Mountaineer RMRX 8021 leads the eastbound Canyon Spirit through the cut just east of the CO-72 overpass at the base of Coal Creek Canyon. You can see the power car at the end of the train, just clearing the bridge. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113799 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 3, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 52 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Rocky Mountaineer Unlike the California Zephyr, which is always trying to make track speed in order to stay on schedule, the Canyon Spirit typically runs below track speed, to extend the length of the trip and allow passengers to enjoy the incredible views they've spent a lot of money on to see. Here, the Canyon Spirit is descending from Tunnel 1 at about 15 MPH. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113798 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 3, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 49 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Rocky Mountaineer The eastbound Canyon Spirit has emerged from Tunnel 1, and is slowly descending the 2% grade toward the base of Coal Creek Canyon and the numerous S-curves ahead. In the distance, you can see the skyline of downtown Denver, where the train will ultimately stop and allow passengers to detrain. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113653 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, April 7, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 75 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An eastbound UP passenger special wraps around the base of Coal Creek Canyon, heading east toward Denver. The train departed Fraser this morning, and has several VIPs on board, including Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena, riding in the last car. The train is making rapid progress, moving at track speed. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113643 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, April 7, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 82 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The morning Zephyr is just about on time as it wraps around the base of Coal Creek Canyon, on the climb toward Tunnel 1. This is a bit of a different view of this location, as the camera is located up at Tunnel 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111459 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 15, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Colorado Springs, CO 315 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP 2692 is headed south in the siding at Colorado Springs. The siding is a massive 20,286 feet long, nearly four miles. In fact there are two crossovers in the siding. One at Bijou (see in the distance, here), and one at Cimarron. This allows for multiple trains to use the siding simultaneously. There is roughly two miles of siding north of Bijou. Cimarron, on the other had, is less than a mile from the south end of the siding. This UP manifest will be dropping off three cars in the yard here in Colorado Springs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109057 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, April 30, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 402 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific As a loaded UP oil train descends down the Moffat from Tunnel 1, we get a glimpse of the progress on the Canyon Pines Subdivision housing development in the top-left. As you can see, the asphalt has been laid for the main road (Canyon Pines Drive). The unearthed dirt between the road and the tracks is land available for purchase for construction of future homes. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108818 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 26, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 799 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Rocky Mountaineer After many years of losing trains from the Moffat (The American Orient Express, the Anschutz Ski Train, the Circus Train, nearly Amtrak due to COVID, etc), it is really great to see a passenger train added to the Moffat this year! The Rocky Mountaineer's Rockies to the Red Rocks is a deluxe train that makes two weekly round trips between Denver, CO and Moab, UT. Here, the train is climbing up the grade from Coal Creek toward Tunnel 1. Rumor has it that two of the Mountaineer GP40-2L units will receive PTC prior to the start of the train running in April 2022. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106215 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 25, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 1478 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A sole ES44C4 brings up the tail end of a westbound BNSF manifest. At just over 3,000 feet in length, the train is not particularly long compared to other trains on the Moffat. Were this a coal train, the front of the train would be visible on the track in the distance on the approach to Tunnel 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106214 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 25, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 1396 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A view of a westbound BNSF manifest from Jefferson County Open Space from above the tracks. The train is just passing by the hotbox detector at MP 22.6 and will soon cross CO-72 at the mouth of Coal Creek Canyon and climb the grade to Tunnel 1. The east portal of Tunnel 1 is partially visible in the background. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106187 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 18, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 1300 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A westbound manifest climbs its way up the 2% grade and disappears in to Tunnel 1. The two units seen on the train are actually the DPU units on the tail end of the train. DPUs on manifests are essentially the norm on the Moffat nowadays. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106185 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 18, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 1382 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The lighting here, just west of the Blue Mountain grade crossing, is a little rough for the long hoods on the power. Still, a cool perspective looking back over this westbound manifest, so I thought it was worth posting. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106184 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 18, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 1351 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A slightly different perspective of a westbound that just passed the hotbox detector at MP 22.6. Love the view of the Plains off to the east. In fact, if you look just above the radiators of the third unit, you can see the grain elevator located at the north end of North Yard (by the storage yard). On the left side of the frame above the lead unit, you can also see the tower that stands west of Leyden. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104054 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, January 15, 2012 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Canyon (MP 22.8 to MP 23.4) Arvada, CO 2000 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak This bridge at the base of Coal Creek Canyon sported Rio Grande lettering (in fly letter, of course) until a derailment here on December 10, 2009 resulted in the lettering being pained over. Regardless, the Phase III Heritage Unit looks mighty fine crossing over the bridge. In my humble opinion, I would like to see Amtrak adopt this scheme for its entire fleet. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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