Photo ID: 112067 Date Shot Photo By Friday, March 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson to Brendel Grand County, UT 17 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific For several years, UP has been operating a train on the Cane Creek Sub Monday-Thursday to clean up some radioactive waste. Atlas Minerals operated a uranium mill near Moab between 1956 and 1984. The mill produced 16 million tons of radioactive tailings. The Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project was created to prevent potential contamination of the nearby Colorado River. UP hauls roughly roughly 10,000 tons of tailings per week to a new disposal sight near Crescent Junction, where the buried tailings will not risk contaminating the Colorado River or any other ground water. In this shot, the Potash Local passes by the tailings train near Brendel. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112066 Date Shot Photo By Friday, March 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson Hill Grand County, UT 19 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific UP's Potash Local makes easy work of the 1% grade as it climbs through the S-Curve at the top of Thompson Hill. This is my personal favorite spot for shooting westbounds out in the Utah Desert! The clouds are even cooperating a giving a little sunlight on what is forecast to be an overcast day. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112048 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson Thompson Springs, UT 21 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr overtakes a load coal train that is sitting in the siding at Thompson. Fortunately, the coal train crew has only had to wait for about 15 minutes for the Zephyr to show up, and will receive signals to depart behind it and continue west. Note the house track, largely covered in weeds, just off the siding. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112047 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG527 (East Thompson) Thompson Springs, UT 19 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak The westbound California Zephyr is running about 30 minutes late as it knocks down a clear (green) signal at the east switch of Thompson. From this perspective, you can clearly see the intermediate signal on the approach to Thompson in the distance. You can also see I-70 way off in the distance, making its way across the Utah desert. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112046 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG527 (East Thompson) Grand County, UT 16 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific The last eight or so cars and DPU on this westbound coal load are hanging out of the east end of Thompson. The train is holding off the grade crossing in Thompson Springs until the westbound Zephyr, which will run around the train, gets a bit closer. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112045 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG527 (East Thompson) Grand County, UT 15 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific This westbound coal load is taking the siding at Thompson to wait for the westbound Zephyr to overtake it. Unfortunately, the next two sidings to the west (Floy and Solitude) both have cars being stored on them, so Thompson has to be the place to wait. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112044 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson Grand County, UT 17 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific Following on the yellow signals of a coal train ahead of it, another loaded coal train is making its way up Thompson Hill. This train, similar to the one it is following, is configured 2x(0)x1. However, this train only has 75 loaded hoppers in tow, make it quite a bit shorter and lighter. The 4th tallest mountain in Utah, Mount Waas, stands tall in the distance at an elevation of 12,331 feet (3,758 meters). Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112043 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson Curve Grand County, UT 20 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific This westbound coal load has been struggling to climb the 1% grade of Thompson Hill. And it is not too surprising, seeing has how the train only has three units, setup in a 2x1 configuration, to make the climb. This shot offers a great view of both the head end and the tail of the roughly 5,700 foot long train. The lead unit, incidentally, is former SP 265, delivered in scarlet and gray in June 1995. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112042 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson Curve Grand County, UT 17 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific Just east of the siding of Thompson, you'll find this absolutely fantastic S-Curve. A westbound coal train, which loaded at the West Elk Mine in Colorado, is headed for Trona, not far from Mojave, CA. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112041 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson Grand County, UT 20 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific Union Pacific has very slowly been replacing the signals out in the desert. By "very slowly", I mean I saw some signal masts that were up in 2023 that seemingly not been touched in the past two years! I'm not complaining, however, as it means there are still opportunities for shots like this! A westbound coal load passes by old Rio Grande intermediate signals on the approach to Thompson. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112040 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson Grand County, UT 19 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific I absolutely love the beauty of the Utah desert. Parts almost look like the surface of the moon, such as these dirt mounds on the opposite side of UP 6401 and UP 8584, working as hard as they can to carry a California-bound coal load up the 1% grade of Thompson Hill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112039 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson Grand County, UT 17 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific This westbound UP coal train is going less that 20 MPH as it limps along, trying to tackle Thompson Hill. Some bad order units had to be removed from the train in Grand Junction, yet UP still said to send the train west, despite it being rather underpowered. For the astute observer, you might notice that there is in fact a second train in this shot! In fact, a second westbound coal load is visible to the right side of the shot and slightly up, in the shadows! This train is between Elba and Sagers, a few miles east, riding the yellows of this first coal train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112038 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson Thompson Springs, UT 17 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF At the grade crossing in Thompson Springs, a westbound BNSF oil train blasts through town at track speed, having just made it up and over the 1% grade of Thompson Hill. The train will now enjoy a downhill grade of around 0.7% in to Green River. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112032 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson Thompson Springs, UT 20 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Rocky Mountaineer RMRX 8020 and train cross over the currently dried up Thompson Wash in the town of Thompson Springs, UT. The town barely exists anymore, with only 104 people actually calling it home (as of 2020). That, however, is a fairly significant increase since 2020 when the population was a mere 34 people. A new RV park in town seems to be attracting more folks. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112031 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 27, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson Grand County, UT 27 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Rocky Mountaineer Some maintenance of way work at Sagers resulted in the Rocky Mountaineer briefly stopped and then running through the siding. Now back on the main, the GP40-3s are throttling up as the train really bites into the 1% grade on the climb up Thompson Hill, kicking out a little exhaust for their effort. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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