On a beautiful June afternoon, the four Rio Grande Tunnel Motors perform some work in the yard at Helper before tying up for the day.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
The eastbound MPVODEN passed through the yard at Helper on main one with C44-9CW 1108 in the lead.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
Four Rio Grande Tunnel Motors move toward the west end of Helper yard, preparing to be stored for the day. They have just completed their Dirt Train run and yard work for the day.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
The power for the Dirt Train is found working in the yard at Helper, UT. Not much more needs to be said for this picture!
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
1999 or 1979? It was great having the opportunity to capture so many tunnel motors in one place before they fell into retirement, or into the UP patch shops.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
A somewhat unique tunnel motor at this point, DRGW 5345 had a rotating beacon above the cab, and a full light package on the nose. The horn, however, had been moved back to the long hood.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
Although many of its colleagues left Helper over the course of the next six years, 5390 was there up until it blew a main generator and had to be taken to Illinois to be fixed….and patched….late in 2005.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
DRGW 5385 idles quietly in the foreground, while its fellow tunnel motors wait near the engine house in the background for helper duty.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
Note that DRGW 5406 is missing its orange stripe along its running boards! Sometime around 1995, the unit was retrucked at Burnham, and everything below the walkway was repainted black. The orange stripe was never reapplied.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
DRGW 5385 sits alone in the yard in Helper on Memorial Day. At this point, 5385 was being used as a yard switcher in Helper.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
The summer of 1999 would be the last summer more than a dozen tunnel motors could be found in Helper. They quickly began to leave at the start of the 21st Century...and quickly began to be patched, painted, or retired.
Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster
or add a comment to the picture.
