Photo ID: 104656 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1616 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An eastbound (empty) rail train, led by a pair of SD70Ms, has rounded the curve at the east end of Barbara's Gulch. The train originated in Provo, UT and is on the way Pueblo, CO where it will likely be refilled. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104657 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 2278 (3 Comments Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific I decided to try for a different take on the steel tower between Leyden and Rocky. You'll commonly find this tower - which I believe has something to do with one of the coal mines once located in the area - in shots taken from the intermediate at Chemical near MP 14.5. Here, an eastbound (empty) rail train passes by the odd structure with a pair of SD70Ms. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104658 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1612 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Five years ago, the West Local served three customers west of Leyden. Today, that number is down to just one! One of the two customers that is-no-more is Mesa Oil. You can actually see the old, rusted tanks from Mesa Oil above the local in this shot. The local now just zips past the spur switch toward Rocky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104659 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1581 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Three sharp looking GP40-2s throttle up and put on a bit of a show as they head west toward Barbara's Gulch. The trio is having no problem pulling the five covered hoppers west. The West Local only has a single customer (west of Leyden) left to serve and that customer generally only needs a handful of covered hoppers each week. Of note, the lead GP40-2 (UP 1359) was DRGW 3118 ten years ago. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104660 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky Industrial Lead Arvada, CO 1618 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific After leaving the mainline behind at Rocky, the West Local has backed up the spur and is in the process of crossing CO-93. As the local approached the highway, circuitry in the track detected the train (similar to a regular grade crossing) and turned the stoplight red for traffic. A stoplight facing the tracks turns from red to green. You can see the brakeman (yellow vest, left side) hanging on to the last covered hopper. He is protected the shove back and made sure no cars decided to run the red light as the train approached. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104661 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1342 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific While the demand for coal has certainly gone down some, you can still find plenty of coal trains running on the Moffat. One such example was this Energy-bound empty, headed west on a simply beautiful March afternoon. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104662 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1397 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An all-GE cast leads this westbound coal empty toward Chemical. You can see a little bit of Welton Reservoir on the left side of the frame. This reservoir was built about ten years ago to store additional water for the city. You may also notice that the third unit looks to be an unpatched Espee unit. It is SP 107, one of only eleven unpatched Espee AC4400CW at the time of this photo. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104663 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1745 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Southern Pacific, Union Pacific At the time of this photo, there were only eleven unpatched Espee AC4400CWs left on UP's roster. Then again, considering it has been over 17 years since the UP/SP merger, it is pretty amazing that there are any left. Whenever I am lucky enough to see one, I always wonder if it will be the last one I will ever see. Fortunately, since they are used heavily in coal train service, there is a chance I will get to add another shot to my site in the future. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104664 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, March 12, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1364 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Keep that train moving! A pair of DPUs bring up the tail end of this coal train as they zip past the photographer on their journey west. To get the "blur" effect, I brought my ISO down to 100 and pumped my aperture up to F22 to get a 1/25 second shot. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.