Photo ID: 105939 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, May 4, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1552 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF An eastbound BNSF manifest comes through Rainbow Cut and approaches the grade crossing at Plain. Also at Plain are a pair of cars involved in a derailment a week earlier. They have been sitting on the siding (making it unusable for meets) ever since. Later in the afternoon, the West Local would come up to Plain and move the cars from the siding over to the House Track, finally freeing the siding up for DS-82. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105930 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, April 30, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1430 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A pair of cars that were involved in a derailment a few days earlier sit on the siding (not the house track) at Plain on the last day of April. A descent winter storm blew through the area five weeks after winter ended. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105929 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, April 30, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1451 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A few days prior to this picture, the MNYRO derailed a few cars between Plain and Crescent. It was a minor derailment (no cars fell over), but the two cars involved were set out at Plain. For reasons unknown to me, the cars were not spotted on the house track. Instead, they were put on the siding just west of the grade crossing and a portable derail was put on the rail. The cars would remain there for a week, preventing Plain from being used for meets. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105831 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, February 17, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1571 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The West Local throttles up a bit to accelerate to track speed as it crosses the grade crossing at Plain. It is exceptionally rare for the West Local to go west of Rocky. On this day, the local is headed to East Portal at the Moffat Tunnel. The tank car is filled with gas for the backup generators used for the ventilation fans in the case of a power failure. Prior to this, it had probably been at least a year since the local was this far west. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105697 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, January 6, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1417 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF It is well past sunset as this westbound BNSF manifest rolls west down the siding at Plain. The crew on this train is based out of Grand Junction. This is a recent change on BNSF as they eliminated the crew change point in Kremmling. Grand Junction crews now take eastbounds as close to Denver as possible. If they don't make it, a van comes and picks them up and a Denver crew takes the train the rest of the way in. Then, the Grand Junction crew (after staying the night in Denver) takes a westbound back to Grand Junction. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105693 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 31, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1640 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) American Railway Explorer, Amtrak Starting from when I was downtown early on this morning and learned that the California and Kansas would be departing on the back end of the Zephyr, I had this exact shot in mind! The California and the Kansas rolling through Plain in the snow on the back of Amtrak. This could almost be a shot from 1985 when Rio Grande used to, on occasion, run its business cars on Amtrak between Denver and Salt Lake! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105692 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 31, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1370 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak As an eastbound manifest rolls slowly down the main at Plain, the westbound California Zephyr glides west on the siding toward the grade crossing. You may notice that the baggage car looks quite new and shiny. Amtrak recently put in a huge order for baggage cars and are replacing all of them. It took some time, but they are finally showing up on the Zephyr! It is interesting to note that the baggage car is wearing the Phase III paint scheme... Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105690 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 31, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1889 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An eastbound manifest rolls down the main at Plain on an approach (yellow) signal. The manifest is meeting the westbound California Zephyr and DS-82 set the meet up perfectly! Neither train would end up having to stop, creating a "rolling meet". Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105671 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 29, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 2299 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific After meeting a train and then having a train (the Zephyr) overtake it, UP 1996 is throttling up and pushing on the tail end of the MNYRO-29 (Manifest, North Yard, CO to Roper, UT). It was really nice seeing the Espee Heritage Unit while it was here in Colorado. In all likelihood, it will be assigned to a train that will not bring it back to Colorado once it reaches Salt Lake City. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105670 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 29, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1777 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific After a 45 minute wait at Plain, the MNYRO is now pulling west out of the siding on a clear signal. Bringing up the tail end is UP 1996, the Southern Pacific heritage unit. The unit led the MRONY into town the previous day. Its stay was short and the Daylight scheme-inspired unit looked mighty fine bringing up the rear of the train on this chilly, snowy morning. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105659 Date Shot Photo By Monday, December 28, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1771 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Here is a nice surprise and good ending to 2015! I got a tip that UP 1996 (Southern Pacific Heritage Unit) was leading an eastbound UP manifest on the Moffat. Here, the train was heading straight on into the sun at Plain. Rather nice having a quartet of SD70s on the point of the train! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105655 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 27, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1604 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF, Union Pacific With the main now clear, the pair of DPUs on the tail end of a westbound BNSF manifest push as the train continues west. The sole DPU on the tail end of the eastbound manifest that it met rolls down the main. Although a BNSF ES44C4 is bringing up the rear, it is actually a UP train that it is assisting. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105654 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 27, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1703 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An eastbound UP manifest meets a westbound BNSF manifest at Plain. Sadly, coal traffic on the Moffat has decreased by 80% (yeah, that is not a typo!) since 2005. That translates to an average of only 2 coal trains (one load, one empty) on the Moffat each day now. Ten years ago, there were roughly 14 coal trains each day! At this point, the future of the Moffat is not exactly shining bright... Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105653 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 27, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1407 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Being rather heavy, this westbound BNSF manifest merits two DPUs on the tail end. The train has come to a stop on the siding at Plain, waiting for an eastbound. Another 25 feet and the train could have cleared the grade crossing! A car might be able to sneak around the last unit, but that would be an extremely dangerous move! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105652 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 27, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain (6,530 ft) Arvada, CO 1411 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A westbound BNSF manifest, with a trio of elephant-style C44-9Ws (all in Heritage 2 paint) head west on the siding at Plain. An eastbound UP manifest is out of Crescent and will meet the train soon. BNSF has recently changed its crew structure on the Moffat. Until recently, a Denver-based crew would take a train from Denver to Kremmling. Then, a Grand Junction-based crew would take the train from Kremmling to Grand Junction. BNSF has eliminated the crew change point at Kremmling and now Grand Junction-based crews are used on all the BNSF trains on the Moffat. The crew will take an eastbound as close to Denver as possible. Then, a Denver crew will "dog catch" the train and bring it the rest of the way in. The Grand Junction crew will be bussed to Denver to rest before taking a westbound back to Grand Junction. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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