After sitting still at Prospect Jct for nearly 90 minutes, this UP manifest is finally on the move southbound. A broken rail south of Littleton on Main 1 has all southbound trains stopped. This train, the MNYPU, typically runs on the Joint Line overnight in the dark, so catching it in daylight is a rare opportunity.
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The Department of Energy recently built this 12-axle nuclear waste car, named Atlas. The car will apparently be used by the Navy in the transportation of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear ships in the US fleet. The car is headed for the testing center near Avondale, CO
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An ET44C4 leads a southbound BNSF special across the South Platte River. This track is used to connect the Joint Line to UP's North Yard and BNSF's Rennick's Yard. This train had to back out of BNSF's yard to Prospect Jct to then continue south here.
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A southbound UP manifest pulls on to the north end of the Joint Line at 20th Street. The train had been holding at a red signal, waiting for a few other trains to clear up.
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At the very start of the Joint Line (20th Street), the Circus Train heads south on Main 2 with the addition of an SD70MAC. This is the first time I've ever shot 20th Street from the north side of the tracks.
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A coal load heads south at 20th Street with the same crew that brought the train down the Brush Sub. The train will make a quick stop at Kalamath Street to swap out crews so the next crew can the train to La Junta.
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A baretable train consisting entirely of TOFC flat cars heads south out of Rennicks Yard and starts its journey on the Joint Line. The train is headed for Oklahoma City, OK, where the cars will presumably be placed in storage.
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At the north end of the Joint Line, two units bring a rotary plow into Denver. The plow is based in Alliance, NE, but was moved down to Pueblo in case it was needed after a major Spring blizzard. My understanding is that its services were not ultimately needed.
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As I was passing Union Station, I happened to notice the good old "Vomit Bonnet" in the Lodo Siding on the tail end of a southbound coal load. For those not familiar with this unique paint scheme, it was a test scheme conceived of after the BNSF merger. If a slightly different decision had been made, this could have been the scheme applied to all new units (instead o the Heritage scheme)!
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A southbound coal load, waiting for a fresh crew, is tied down on the Lodo Siding northwest of Union Station. All of the buildings in the background have been constructed over the past ten years.
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I was waiting here at 20th Street for a loaded BNSF coal train to come down from Prospect Junction (the track on the far left). The train loaded the day before on the Utah Railway near Helper, UT. Unfortunately, a different BNSF coal load (from the Powder River Basin) came along to tie down on the Lodo siding, so I had to settle for this shot!
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This is the northern start of the 120-mile Joint Line in Colorado. MP 0.0 at 20th Street. An empty UP rail train comes down from Prospect Junction at North Yard, preparing to enter Main 1 to proceed south. Curving off to the right, BNSF tracks head toward their own 31st Street Yard.
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I saw this power - two SD60s both being leased to BNSF - earlier in the day near the yard. Now, the units are leading the southbound Denver to Kansas City manifest (HDENKCK-13). The first four tank cars have reporting marks CORX and are filled with beer from the Coors Brewing plant in Golden!
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For all the orange units (be it H1, H2 or New Image) that BNSF has on their roster, there are still a fair number of non-orange units to be found on the Joint Line! Here, an SD70MAC and a CEFX AC4400CW leaser unit bring up the rear of a south bound coal load just starting the journey down the Joint Line.
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In the foreground, a BNSF manifest heads south on Main One at MP 0.0 on the Pikes Peak Subdivision. In the distance, UP's South Local waits for its turn to head south on the Joint Line to perform its thrice-weekly switching. The strange obstruction at the top of the picture in the HOV ramp from I-25 to Union Station.
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