Photo ID: 109921 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 17, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 126 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF BNSF 3890, a Tier-4 compliant ET44C4, leads the northbound HKCKDEN. BNSF often refers to this as the "Kick Den", which runs between Kansas City and Denver. The train is about to wrap around Palmer Lake and move on the Main 2 for the trip to Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109920 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 17, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 133 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Colorado Highway 105, runs between Palmer Lake and Monument and (more or less) parallels to the single track main. A trio of GEs lead BNSF's Kansas City to Denver manifest. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109919 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 17, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 140 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Just about a half mile south of Palmer Lake, BNSF's northbound Kansas City to Denver is rolling through the S-curves on the single track main. An ET44C4 is on the point of the train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109643 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 142 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Three units bring up the end of this southbound coal load, which is now on the single track main at Palmer Lake. The train is sadly less than two hours away from disaster. Right around 3:30pm, the train will derail when crossing I-25 just south of Bragdon. No injuries to the crew, but sadly, a semitruck driver caught up in the derailment beneath the bridge will parish. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109642 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 347 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This southbound coal load has reached "the top of the hill" at Palmer Lake. Here, the Joint Line crests the Palmer Divide at 7,300 feet above sea level. This is now single track territory for the next 25 miles or so. The train will shifting in to dynamic brake mode now for the downgrade journey. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108393 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 19, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 987 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific Southbound coal train will often stop in "The Sag", just north of Palmer Lake, in order to cool their traction motors after the long climb up from Denver. However, with no opposing northbound traffic, this coal load got the green signal to continue snaking right through The Sag and head past Palmer Lake on to the single track main through Colorado Springs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108392 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 19, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 885 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific Southbound coal train will often stop in "The Sag", just north of Palmer Lake, in order to cool their traction motors after the long climb up from Denver. However, with no opposing northbound traffic, this coal load got the green signal to continue snaking right through The Sag and head past Palmer Lake on to the single track main through Colorado Springs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108052 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 23, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North of Palmer Lake Douglas County, CO 744 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This coal load is sitting stopped at an Approach (yellow) signal at MP 50.5 on Main 1. The dispatcher has some northbound trains aligned through the single track and on to Main 2 ahead at Palmer Lake. Coal trains will often sit at this signal when they know they cannot proceed beyond Palmer Lake. The train is straddling "the sag", which allows the traction motors on the units to cool after the long and hard climb up from Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 107950 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 31, 2019 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 879 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A pair of DPUs bring up the tail end of this southbound coal load, which is now in dynamic braking mode as the train is descending downhill. The head end of the train is not far off from the first of the four sidings the train will pass by on the single track, Monument. The three others beyond Monument are Academy, Colorado Springs, and Kelker. The last, Kelker, is generally not too useful for meets as it is too short to accommodate most of the trains on the Joint Line. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 107949 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 31, 2019 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 849 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A timeless, classic shot of a southbound coming around the south edge of Palmer Lake on the single track. For the 108 miles of the Joint Line between Denver and Bragdon, roughly 76 miles has 2+ main tracks. However, the roughly 32 miles through Colorado Springs only has a single track with four sidings. The single track is frequently something of a bottleneck for trains. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 107948 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 31, 2019 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 945 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A slightly different perspective from Palmer Lake! A southbound coal load starts to pick up a little speed as it comes over the top of the hill. Decades ago, when there were still two tracks through Colorado Springs (Rio Grande and Santa Fe), the Santa Fe main (Main 2) would have been visible toward the top right of the picture, on the opposite side of the lake. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 107947 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, December 31, 2019 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North of Palmer Lake Douglas County, CO 865 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF It is a rather light day, traffic wise, on the Joint Line on this New Year's Eve. This southbound coal train is nearing the top of the hill at Palmer Lake and has a clear signal on to the single track and all the way through Colorado Springs. Much of the landscape is still covered in snow from a storm that hit three days earlier. Cold temperatures has kept the snow on the ground. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105382 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 1866 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF I don't generally get the opportunity to be in Palmer Lake in the evening as I'm usually headed back home on days I chase on the Joint Line. On this particularly day, however, I was driving home from Colorado Springs after a short business trip. So, I decided to set up for a shot on the west side of Palmer Lake as this southbound BNSF manifest was coming through town. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105381 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 2072 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF The top of the hill! Southbounds leaving Denver on the Joint Line have a steady climb on a grade averaging between 1% and 1.4% up to Palmer Lake at the top of the Palmer Divide. At roughly 7,300 feet above sea level, the Palmer Divide separates runoff between the Arkansas River (to the south) and the South Platte River (to the north). It is also where double track (and directional running) ends and the single track begins (when headed south). This southbound manifest is just about to hit the switch, entering the single track main. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104633 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, March 8, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 2041 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Even when BNSF started buying exclusively from GE, they still had a fleet of nearly 800 SD70MACs that could be found on every coal train on the Joint Line. Then, over time, GE started moving in a bit with the ES44AC. For this EMD fan, it is great to catch a pair of SD70MACs on the point of a coal train every once in awhile! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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