Photo ID: 112715 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 1, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain to Crescent (MP 25.3 to MP 30.6) Boulder County, CO 85 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The longest Tunnel in the Tunnel District is Tunnel 17, which is 1,752 feet long, or roughly 1/3 of a mile long. The tunnel allows the tracks to leave South Draw, and connect with the open valley at Crescent, near Gross Reservoir. The westbound Zephyr is approach a clear (green) intermediate signal just east of Tunnel 17 on the approach to Crescent. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112714 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 1, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain to Crescent (MP 25.3 to MP 30.6) Jefferson County, CO 75 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr is moving along one of the longer stretches without a tunnel in the Tunnel District, between Tunnel 16 and Tunnel 17. This area is known as South Draw, and is absolutely one of the highlights of riding the Zephyr (or other passenger trains) on the Moffat. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112713 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 1, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain to Crescent (MP 25.3 to MP 30.6) Jefferson County, CO 104 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr heads west through a cut that is known as "Old Tunnel 17". When the Moffat Route was originally be built in the early 1900s, the tunnel presented a lot of geologic problems, includes frequent cave-ins. The tracks were rerouted around a shoofly outside of the tunnel. That shoofly is now beneath all the pine trees on the outside of the cut in this shot. Old Tunnel 17 was finally daylighted, and the tracks were moved to their current alignment, now moving through a cut instead of a tunnel. While Tunnels 9 and 28 were daylight quite awhile after the route had been in operation, they retained their numbers. Since "Old Tunnel 17" had issues from the beginning of construction, at was ultimately bypassed, the next tunnel to the west was numbered Tunnel 17 from the start. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110422 Date Shot Photo By Friday, April 19, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Plain to Crescent (MP 25.3 to MP 30.6) Jefferson County, CO 253 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Just west of Tunnel 18, the morning Zephyr wraps through a black and white winter wonderland. In reality, I took a bit of artistic license here and removed all the color from the photos, save for the two Phase 7 P42DCs on the point of the westbound train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.