Photo ID: 110159 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, January 21, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 109 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Between Greenland and Palmer Lake on the Joint Line is the location of Spruce. A southbound BNSF intermodal train is passing by the Spruce trackside sign on its journey toward Palmer Lake and points south. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109916 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, December 17, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 127 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A southbound BNSF manifest on Main 1 is about to pass an SD70ACe that BNSF keeps on a sub track at Spruce, just north of Palmer Lake. The unit can be used as a helper for any southbound that needs it on the climb to Palmer Lake. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109639 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 284 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A southbound BNSF coal train continues the journey south on Main 1 just north of Palmer Lake. A nice pod offers up a great scene on a Sunday afternoon. Between the train and the pond, you can see the rails for Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109632 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 189 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific A northbound UP military train is approaching Greenland on Main 2, just north of Palmer Lake. The 14,115-foot Pikes Peak towers in the scene, about 25 miles to the south. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109631 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 164 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific I love the wide open lands between Greenland and Palmer Lake. A northbound UP military train sits stopped on Main 2 as the conductor is walking the train to look for dragging equipment after setting off a detector. A southbound BNSF coal load slowly rolls by on Main 1, with a trio of units serving as the rear DPU set on the train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109630 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 151 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) Union Pacific Some US military tanks and other vehicles are being transported by rail from Fort Carson in Colorado Springs to Yermo, CA. They are being shipped on Union Pacific and, due to UP's network, the train will go north to Cheyenne before turning west and eventually south after reaching Salt Lake City. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109629 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 143 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A southbound BNSF coal load slowly climbs the grade on Main 1 as a northbound military train sits stopped on Main 2. The military train departed Fort Carson a few hours earlier, and unfortunately tripped a dragging equipment detector. The conductor is currently walking the train to find the culprit. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 109628 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, October 15, 2023 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Douglas County, CO 135 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF An ES44AC and an SD70ACe lead this coal train south on Main 1, just south of Greenland. As we get deeper in to fall and closer to winter, the landscape loses more and more color, turning to a relatively flat yellow-brown color. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108056 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 23, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Spruce, CO 744 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This northbound unit grain train had something of a unique power arrangement. It was set up with three units on the head end and three DPUs on the rear. No mid-train swing helpers. It is making good speed north as a loaded coal train sits stopped, waiting patiently on Main 1 to the left. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108050 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 23, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Spruce, CO 828 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Not far north of Palmer Lake, and just north of "the sag", a southbound coal load passes by a sole ES44AC sitting in a stub track as a protection unit. Where this coal train to stall out getting over Palmer Lake, this unit would be called to the rescue. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108049 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 23, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Spruce, CO 762 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF For several years now, BNSF has stored a "protection unit" in a short stub track off of Main 1 just north of "the sag" around Spruce. On occasion, a southbound coal load will stall out at the top of hill at Palmer Lake. If this happens, the unit can be retrieved and used to add some extra shoving power on the train. Prior to this, another unit would have to be borrowed from a following train. If there was no immediate following train, an engine might have to be called from Denver to come and save the day. On this particular day, the ES44AC would not be needed. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105385 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce (MP 48.8) Spruce, CO 2083 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This southbound BNSF coal load is climbing the 1.4% grade on Main 1 about three miles north of Palmer Lake. Once at Palmer Lake, the train with throttle back and start the descent toward Colorado Springs, Pueblo, La Junta, and places beyond. Clouds from a large summer thunderstorm make for a dramatic looking sky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105384 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce (MP 48.8) Spruce, CO 1887 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A beautiful afternoon along the Joint Line a couple miles north of Palmer Lake. A strong afternoon thunderstorm has moved east, leaving fantastic afternoon lightning and awesome colors in its wake. A southbound coal load is pulling toward Palmer lake on clear signals. Oh how I wish the days of five units on the point of coal trains was still here! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105383 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce (MP 48.8) Spruce, CO 1883 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This southbound manifest was just recrewed at Greenland after having spent a good portion of the day tied down on Main 1. Track maintenance in Colorado Springs was preventing trains from running in either direction for a good part of the day. Here, the train is on the move at Spruce as dark storm clouds linger to the east. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 102001 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, April 19, 2008 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Spruce Palmer Lake, CO 2361 (2 Comments Posted) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This spot about two miles north of Palmer Lake is a great spot for a telephoto shot of an entire southbound coal train. The train loops back and forth as it descends through the Sag. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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