After an eastbound coal load passed by, I knew I had a little bit of time before the next westbound reached Cliff. I took advantage of the time and gained a little altitude on the north side of the tracks to shoot the MNYGJ. I was grateful for the overcast skies above me...on a clear day, the shadows would have killed this shot.
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After meeting an eastbound coal load, this Somerset-bound empty is throttling up and leaving the siding at Cliff westbound. The creek in the foreground is South Boulder Creek.
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A coal empty enters the block at East Portal, passing signals that are less than a month old. The new eastbound signals have two heads, allowing for eastbound trains to received a yellow over yellow (Approach Diverging) aspect for when they are taking the siding at Tolland.
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In the Rio Grande days, the switch at the west end of Cliff was a "Y" switch. In other words, you diverged slightly whether you were staying on the main or taking the siding. Union Pacific has done away with that, however. Now, the main curves to the left before reaching the switch. Here, a westbound coal empty runs over the switch, passing the MNYRO which is tied down on the siding.
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The conductor on this MNYRO has left the cab (and left the door open) and is now tying down cars on the train. No relief crew is available to take this train west, so here at Cliff it will sit and wait!
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The crew on the train to the right (on the siding) has died and is waiting for a relief crew out of Denver. The train to the left (on the main) has a fresh crew and is passing the train in the siding. The train will end up meeting again at some point though, as both are headed for the West Elk mine on the North Fork Branch in western Colorado.
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Union Pacific recently replaced the old Rio Grande signals at East Portal, putting in new LED signals! Note that westbounds can now received a yellow over yellow (Approach Diverging) to inform the crew that they will be taking the siding at Winter Park.
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Strong winds are blowing the clouds all over the place...enough so that a patch of blue sky breaks free down on the east portal of the Moffat Tunnel and a Snow Bus, waiting for a signal to proceed west.
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A crew members from the MNYRO stands by on the front porch of UP 6302 as a "Snow Bus" passes by on the siding. The Snow Bus is used to transport crews back and forth to trains that cannot be reached by road (due to adverse weather).
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Derailments from the day before have resulted in congestion, delaying the westbound Zephyr a couple hours. Here at Cliff, the Zephyr will overtake (pass) a empty coal train that is sitting on the siding.
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A westbound BNSF manifest holds off the grade crossing at Plain while waiting for an eastbound coal load. That coal load would end up derailing a single car back up at Tunnel 12 though. This BNSF manifest would ultimately back down in between switches at Clay and wait for a relief crew.
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The westbound MNYRO heads into the siding at Leyden on a snowy April morning. Three inches of the white stuff fell overnight. The manifest is clearing the main to let the Zephyr run around on its journey west.
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At east Plain, this westbound light power move enters the siding as a snow storm starts to move in from over the Rockies.
The power will have to hold for a few hours at the west end of Plain for some maintenance, the Zephyr and a coal load.
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This empty rail train just dropped off its rails along the Overland route between Elko and Wells, NV. Now empty, the train is returning to Pueblo where it will pick up more rail from Colorado Fuel and Iron.
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After a 90 minute delay at Leyden due to a broken down manifest, the westbound California Zephyr is finally on the roll again at the west switch of Leyden.
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