This BNSF oil load has quite a colorful consist as a KCS "Belle" and an MRL SD70ACe help out the BNSF ES44AC on the point. The train is rolling east on the main track at Plain.
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A BNSF eastbound oil train wraps through the S-Curve at Rainbow Cut on the main at Plain. A KCS unit and an MRL unit are part of the head end consist today.
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AMTK 75 and AMTK 59 are the power on the westbound Winter Park Express. The train was delayed about 20 minutes waiting for a BNSF southbound to clear the diamond at 23rd Street. However, with no eastbound traffic opposing it, the train would still arrive in Winter Park one minute early!
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AMTK 75 leads the morning Winter Park Express westbound across the grade crossing at Plain. There was a light dusting of snow overnight, and the result is powdery white pine trees, ties, and ballast.
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After meeting the Winter Park Express Ski Train here at Plain, this eastbound BNSF oil load now has a clear (green) signal at the east end of the siding. It is slowly starting to roll toward the signal. In the distance on the right side of the shot is Tunnel 4, which the Ski Train will momentarily be passing through.
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This has come to be one of my favorite views on the Moffat along the Front Range. "Sister" units AMTK 180 and AMTK 179 lead an on-time Zephyr through a powdery white scene about halfway through the siding of Plain.
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AMTK 159 and AMTK 154 have the duty of leading the westbound Zephyr this morning. The train is right on time as it rolls west on the main through a still-snowy plain. After a lot of snow last week, the forecast is much nicer this week, with highs around 55°F (13°C).
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Three units lead a westbound oil empty through the siding at Plain. The train had been holding short of the grade crossing to avoid blocking cars. However, the eastbound this oil train has been waiting on is now out of Crescent, so DS-380 told the crew on the oil train to pull into the clear.
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After holding short of the grade crossing at Plain, this oil train is pulling into the clear on the siding to meet an eastbound. The SD70ACe in the third spot is really coughing up some exhaust as the power throttles up.
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The westbound Zephyr rolls by the house track that holds a single gondola. Stacks of panel track lie on the ground by the house track as well. The Zephyr will be the final train through here for the next six hours or so, as UP has a work window starting behind Amtrak
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A Phase 3 SD70M is second out on UP's MGJNY (Manifest, Grand Junction, CO to North Yard, CO). In general, locomotives are not tagged by graffiti...unless they've spent some time in the LA or Houston area! A small amount of tagging is behind the cab on this particular SD70M.
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UP 9811 is leading UP's MGJNY, currently stopped in the siding at Plain to allow the westbound Zephyr to pass by. UP 9811 was originally a C44-9W. However, the unit has been converted from DC traction motors to AC traction motors and it is now designated as a C44ACM. Rebuilding older units is the way Class 1 railroads are moving, rather than buying new Tier-4 compliant units.
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UP's MGJNY held in the siding at Plain for two westbound. The Zephyr, and the Rocky Mountaineer. With the Mountaineer now in the clear near the west end of Plain, the manifest as received a clear (green) signal out of the siding from DS-380. In the distance, you can clearly see the east portal of Tunnel 4.
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It is an unusually humid morning along the Front Range with overcast skies and the threat of severe thunderstorms later on. Meanwhile, AMTK 160 and AMTK 174 lead the Zephyr west toward Rainbow Cut on the main at Plain.
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Two units bring up the tail end of a loaded coal train on the main at Plain. Coal loads typically only have one DPU on the tail end, so it is not entirely clear if the train will depart Denver with both units, or if one will be taken off.
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