Photo ID: 113485 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, January 8, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Jefferson County, CO 25 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Amtrak's Phase 4 paint scheme is my personal least favorite of all of Amtrak's schemes. Ironically enough, the Phase 4 heritage unit, seen here on the main at Plain, is the heritage unit that has probably spent the most time on the Zephyr since the heritage units were introduced 15 years ago in 2011. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113484 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, January 8, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Jefferson County, CO 28 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak, BNSF The westbound Zephyr has a very colorful consist this morning, with a BNSF ES44C4 on the point, and AMTK 164, the Phase 4 heritage unit, second out. The BNSF unit was added to the train in Lincoln, NE overnight due to a mechanical issue with one of the P42s. I am not sure which one or what the issue was. The train is on the main at Plain, passing by the house track on the approach to Rainbow Cut. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113483 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, January 8, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 28 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak, BNSF One of the two P42DCs on the westbound Zephyr developed a mechanical issue on the overnight trip across Iowa. When the train stopped in Lincoln for its scheduled station stop, the issue could not be resolved, so a BNSF ES44C4 was added to the point of the train. The snow has largely stopped falling here at Plain as the train heads west into the Rockies. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113437 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 64 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Looking west at Plain, the flatirons look pretty great covered in powdered snow as an on-time Zephyr rolls west on the main. This will be the last train for the next several hours (at least) as maintenance of way gets to own the railroad for a maintenance window today. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113301 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 10, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 88 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak AMTK 204 is one of the more recent repaints for Amtrak, going from the Phase 5 scheme to the Phase 7 scheme. It is second out this morning. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113300 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 10, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 61 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak A pair of P42s, elephant style, lead the Zephyr west on the siding at Plain. You can see the train is meeting an eastbound BNSF oil train. the oil train just got a green signal and is departing eastbound. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113299 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 10, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 91 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr is on the main at Plain, splitting a BNSF oil train on the main and a lot of maintenance equipment in the house track at Plain. The equipment is part of a significant maintenance project that UP is currently in the midst of undertaking. You can even see a lot of fresh ballast on the tracks here at Plain. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113298 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 10, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 73 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak A lot of fresh ballast has been laid here at Plain as the westbound Zephyr enters the siding to meet an eastbound BNSF oil train. Note that the engineer on the Zephyr has dimmed the headlight for the meet. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113104 Date Shot Photo By Monday, September 15, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 335 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF An eastbound BNSF oil train passes by a UP work train at Plain. UP is in the process of changing out ties on the Moffat. The work train has tie plates in the gondolas, and will drop tie plates in piles along the right-of-way so they are ready to be used with new ties. The conductor from the work train is on the ground, giving a roll-by to the long BNSF oil train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113041 Date Shot Photo By Friday, September 12, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 331 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific As this westbound coal empty, with four units on the point, heads west on the main at Plain, you might notice that there is ballast that appears much lighter in places. UP is in the process of essentially re-ballasting the entire Moffat right now! A project, along with tie and tie plate replacements, is supposed to last the next three months. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113040 Date Shot Photo By Friday, September 12, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 347 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific If you are familiar with the Moffat, then you are probably well aware that in the early 2000s, coal was king on the line. You could expect to see as many as 16-20 coal trains (half westbound empties and half eastbound loads) in a 24 hour period. Now, coal train have essentially become the rarest train type (of the train types that run) on the Moffat. UP 7861 leads this westbound at Plain. Note the missing number board on the engineer's side. there is an array of LEDs providing lights for the should-be number board. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112849 Date Shot Photo By Monday, July 21, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 308 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr has slowed to a stop in the siding at Plain. The train, now over seven hours late, is waiting on the eastbound Zephyr, which is out of Crescent. Alas, my battery was running low, so I was unable to get a shot of the meet with the eastbound Zephyr. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112848 Date Shot Photo By Monday, July 21, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 334 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Slowly wrapping through S-Curve in the middle of Plain, the westbound Zephyr is slowing as it approaches a red signal at the west end. The eastbound Zephyr is out of Crescent, and will continue east on the main. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112847 Date Shot Photo By Monday, July 21, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 317 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak A seven-hour-late westbound California Zephyr enters into the siding at Plain. The train was severely delayed when departing Chicago. It is entering the siding at Plain to meet with the eastbound Zephyr. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112844 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 20, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 332 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak After making its way through the western suburbs of Denver, the California Zephyr is now entering the rural Rocky Mountains as it heads west on the main track at Plain. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

Next Page