Sometimes, particularly in the summer, the clouds just simply don't cooperate with you. A little tip...in bad (overcast) lighting, I like to use black and white. When you bump up the contrast, you can still get a pretty descent (i.e. dramatic) shot. Such is the case here as the MNYRO charges west on the main at Rocky.
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A look at the Denver-Metro area as seen from Blue Mountain Road above Big Ten Loop. Not the eastbound California Zephyr heading down the loop with the Rio Grande Heritage Unit in the lead.
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In the 1980's, it was not uncommon to find a Rio Grande pilot engine on the point of Amtrak, particularly when a business car was catching a ride on the tail end. If Rio Grande was still around in 2009, it might look something like this!
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We are quickly approaching the day when I will have to say "I never thought I'd see this again" ... I don't think we are quite there yet, but seeing an SD40-2 on a mainline freight is absolutely becoming an extremely rare sight! This SD40-2 was the last unit on the MRONY.
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After meeting a couple trains and receiving a relief crew at Rocky, UP's daily MRONY is now just seven miles away from the end of its journey to Denver from Salt Lake City.
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BNSF's QDVPVJ was long enough (or, more precisely, heavy enough) to merit a pair of C44-9Ws pushing on the tail end. The nice surprise here was the (extremely clean) Warbonnet, seen here pushing on the train through Barbara's Gulch.
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This rather sad looking GP40-2 has definitely seen better days! The graffiti-covered unit is the fourth unit on the Denver-Provo manifest. It is DIC (Dead In Consist) and will be dropped of in Grand Junction, CO where it will be used for local BNSF switching.
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Hot on the heals of the MNYRO is BNSF's QDVPVJ which runs from Denver, CO to Provo, UT. The train is running very slowly through Barbara's Gulch on a yellow (approach) signal. The train is prepared to stop at east Rocky in the event the signal is red.
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Coming through the west end of Barbara's Gulch, the MNYRO is working hard to move it's 6,000+ foot train west. The train has three units on the point and two swing helpers cut into the middle of the train! The train is roughly 11,000 tons.
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A sign of the massive work UP has been doing between Gore and Bond on the Moffat this summer. An eastbound ballast train - the second of the morning - heads east through Leyden. The train will continue to Cheyenne and will be reloaded with more ballast to be taken back up to the Colorado high country.
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UP 1989 leads the MNYRO west out of Rocky. Just a few minutes later and the train will be running down the main at Clay which can be seen in the foreground.
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The MNYRO enters Rocky on a clear signal. UP 1989 leads up the freight and the tail end can be seen still wrapping through Barbara's Gulch. The track to the left is the Rocky Flats Industrial Lead. The once-weekly LDB17 takes cars up the branch on Wednesdays.
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Even though it is a shot from the shady side of the train, UP 1989 still looks pretty good leading the MNYRO westbound on the main at Leyden.
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A beautiful Saturday afternoon found a pleasant surprise with UP 1989 leading the MNYRO (North Yard, CO to Roper, UT) manifest west on the Moffat! Here, the train approaches the east switch of Leyden, the Denver skyline rising in the distance.
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When UP first brought back a daily manifest to the Moffat in May 2005, it was quite common to find SD70Ms powering the train. More recently, it seems that AC4400CWs - which are typically found in coal service - are also the main power on the North Yard / Roper trains. Case-in-point is this MRONY, with a trio of AC4400CWs.
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