Photo ID: 106074 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1405 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A brand new ET44AC leads a colorful eastbound Herzog ballast train. The train is approaching the west switch of Leyden on a beautiful June morning. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106075 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1297 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Lighting on the north side of the rails is very good for eastbound on the approach to Leyden in the summer months. The tracks actually head more southeast right here and the sun is far enough north to offer shots like this. An eastbound ballast train approaches the west switch of Leyden. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106076 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1265 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific I've shot many trains from this vantage point along Indiana Street west of Leyden. But probably none as colorful as this! This isn't a coal train, but rather a ballast train. Those ballast cars are white with red on both ends. The train is headed for Cheyenne and, from there, will likely head to the quarry west of Cheyenne to be loaded. For now, the train is headed into the siding at Leyden where it will meet the westbound Zephyr. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106077 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East of Leyden Arvada, CO 1484 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr is running just a few minutes late as it approaches the east switch at Leyden. The train is moving rather slowly as it is looking at an Approach signal (yellow over red) at Leyden. An eastbound work train is getting in the clear in the siding. By the time the Zephyr can see the west end of Leyden, they will be back on a clear signal. The lead unit, AMTK 207, is the highest-numbered P42DC on Amtrak's roster! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106078 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Simms Street Arvada, CO 1423 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific One of the most colorful trains I think I've seen. This is a work train...more specifically, a ballast train. The cars are owned by Herzog and UP used them to dump ballast on portions of the Rio Grande. Despite the fall off in traffic, UP seems to be keeping up maintenance! You may notice the solar panels on the cars. Those are used to power the doors that open in order to dump the ballast. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106079 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Simms Street Arvada, CO 1428 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A brand new (Tier-4 compliant) ET44AC leads an eastbound ballast train toward the Simms Street grade crossing on a beautiful June morning. This train had been stuck on the west slope at Sulphur for two days. It was originally going to be called on Wednesday. However, for reasons unknown to me, a crew didn't actually get to the train until today (Friday). Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106080 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Simms Street Arvada, CO 1323 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Herzog Some very new (and colorful) Herzog ballast cars rolls eastbound on the Moffat near Simms Street. Herzog is a leading company in track construction and maintenance. The company owns these cars and leases them to railroads who, in turn, use them to dump ballast. It's really nice having such a colorful scheme on these new cars. They definitely stand out! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106081 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Simms Street Arvada, CO 1306 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Herzog Ballast cars, naturally, have large doors on the bottom for dumping the ballast along the right-of-way. Rather than having to operate the doors manually, the doors on each car have a motor, which is powered by a battery. Those batteries are charged by these solar panels. The panels can rotate in order to collect the maximum amount of sunlight possible. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106082 Date Shot Photo By Friday, June 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Simms Street Arvada, CO 1296 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Herzog, Union Pacific A pair of units bring up the tail end of a colorful Herzog ballast train through Arvada. The train unloaded on portions of the former Rio Grande and is currently headed toward Cheyenne. From there, it will likely head west to the quarry and reload. When loaded, ballast trains are (not surprisingly) very heavy and, as a result, frequently run with DPUs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.