Fall colors are starting to slip into trees in the Denver-Metro area as the westbound California Zephyr charges west just west of Leyden. If you look closely, note three private cars hanging out on the tail end of Amtrak.
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A cloudy, drizzly October day in Colorado finds three private cars bringing up the rear of Amtrak. From front to back they are Mesa Verde, the Pacific Union and the Cimarron River.
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Just minutes before a wave of clouds rolled into the area (rendering this shot impossible!), the westbound California Zephyr climbs toward Tunnel One on its journey west.
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What an effect a few clouds can have! This westbound has just crossed the grade crossing at Blue Mountain and is making its way west toward the hotbox detector at MP 22.6.
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The foreground offers some fall colors as the MNYRO heads west through some more fog near Blue Mountain.
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The first signs of the 2008-2009 winter season have hit the Colorado high country! A light dusting of snow is evident on the pine trees at Cliff as an eastbound coal load waits - for four westbounds - in the siding.
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Amtrak was running over two hours late when it departed Denver. CTC problems at west Cliff and east Rollins didn't help the issue! Here, the train is running at restricted speed (through the fog) as it comes up to an Advanced Approach (flashing yellow) signal.
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The westbound California Zephyrs picks up a little speeds as it leaves Rollins behind on an Advanced Approach signal. Three private cars bring up the rear of the train on this day. That last car was once owned and operated by Frisco.
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A very nice scene was just waiting to be shot at the west switch of Cliff. The westbound MNYRO is heading west past South Boulder Creek on one side and snow-powdered pine trees on the opposite side.
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About halfway through Cliff, South Boulder Creek passes underneath the tracks. A westbound coal empty is slowing (due to a yellow signal at the east end of Cliff) as it meets a coal load stopped on the siding.
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Within the past few months, Union Pacific removed the code line along the tracks opening up several new photo angles. Once such angle here sees the MNYRO working west about a half mile away from the west end of the siding.
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Even though I missed "Gold Week" in the high country this year, I was happy to find a few aspens still showing the colors up at Tolland. Snow is certainly dominating the scene though just twelve days into October as the MNYRO heads west through the siding.
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An eastbound MRONY was tied down in the siding at East Portal. It is not very often that trains are tied down here! The siding most commonly used for tying down trains have had hand-thrown derails installed. Here, a "manual" derail was slapped onto the track.
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On a very chilly afternoon 9,000 feet above Sea Level, UP 9633 is doing its best to warm up its surroundings! A few cylinders apparently weren't firing resulting in some descent flames coming out of the exhaust stack. A few minutes later, the crew of a westbound coal empty would stop, shut down and drain the unit.
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A westbound coal empty makes its way west on the main at East Portal. The train was moving very slowly here as it was preparing to stop a few hundred feet ahead to shut down a bad order engine on a train tied down on the siding.
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