I didn't alter this shot at all using PhotoShop. This is actually what came out of the camera (as the saying goes). It can be difficult to get shots like this as the neon can be a bit underexposed or the moon can be a bit overexposed. Hard to find a "happy medium".
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The last car of the Grand Luxe Rail Express (formerly the American Orient Express) sits in track two at Denver Union Station under a full moon. The train will sit at the depot tomorrow as new guests arrive before departing Sunday morning for a westward journey to San Francisco.
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Built over sixty years ago, UP 844 was the last steam engine delivered to Union Pacific and it is still going strong! Here, it "idles" at Union Station, awaiting departure time for a trip down the Joint Line.
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With thirty minutes remaining until departure, passengers and rail enthusiasts are both setting up on the platform to get into position for the departure of UP 844 down the Joint Line.
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On the morning of Saturday, August 25, 2007, UP 844 led a passenger special down the joint line. It was the first (public) passenger train on the Joint Line since 1997. This is how the day started out for me. Steam rising up in front of Union Station.
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A waxing gibbous moon rise over Union Station while UP 1989 sits on Track 3 behind UP 844. Tomorrow, the units along with the UP passenger cars behind them will make the 240-mile round-trip from Denver to Pueblo and back for the 2007 Colorado State Fair.
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Getting close to 9 o'clock at night and UP 844 rests quietly awaiting its busy day tomorrow. In the meantime, we enjoy something of a flash-back to yesteryear when steam-powered trains frequented Union Station on a daily basis.
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Sometimes you have to get "down and dirty". In the last few seconds (literally) of sunlight, I grabbed this rail-level shot of UP 844 and the Colorado State Fair special. Yes, that is the Rio Grande Heritage Unit (UP 1989) as the diesel helper.
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There are railfans in the world that could tell you what ever single lever, rod and hose in this shot are used for. I am not one of those railfans (I'm more of a diesel-era railfan), but I find the complexity of the machinery fascinating nonetheless!
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Just minutes before sunset, the low sun casts a nice shadow across the front of UP 844. The steam engine was built in the 1940's for Union Pacific and was in fact the last steam engine delivered to UP. A fitting tribute to an era many decades gone now.
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Who knows if this shot will ever be possible again! First of all, passenger trains seldom pull power-first into Union Station. Second, the Union Station redevelopment project is going to allegedly bury the station tracks, making it hard to get trains and Union Station in the same shot!
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UP 844 and train are in town for the first passenger special run on the Joint Line in 10 years! The summer of 1997 was the last run, with UP 844 in fact! In that year, the special turned west at Pueblo to head over Tennessee Pass. This run will turn around in Pueblo (for the Colorado State Fair) and return to Denver on the Joint Line.
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A couple of extra P42DC's hang out on Track Three at Union Station. Amtrak typically keeps one spare P42DC on hand at Union Station (as was the case on this day, off the picture to the left), but these two were just idling away.
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Another season is in the books. Revenue runs are completed for the Ski Train until the summer season starts. The last few passengers are making their way off the train on Track 2 and onto the platform at Denver Union Station. In a few days, the train will be taken back to Burnham for maintenance and storage before the summer.
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The Ski Train traveled roughly 5,330 miles this season between Union Station and Tabernash (where the train is turned for the trip home). The last mile has almost been recorded as the train pulls into Union Station on Track 2.
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