Photo ID: 106794 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1011 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A loaded sand train arrived in Denver overnight and was supposed to depart Denver early in the morning after the crew was called at 5am. However, UP switched things up and instead of using the crew on the sand train, they were used on a coal empty instead! Here, the unexpected empty heads west out of Leyden with some morning backlight. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106795 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 922 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Morning commuters drive along CO-72, most of them likely oblivious to the West Elk-bound coal empty charging west. The empty will meet a BNSF manifest at Rocky and then take the siding at Plain to allow the Zephyr to run around. It was a frigid morning as the mercury was only at 15°F for this shot! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106796 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 937 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A single SD70ACe brings up the tail end of this westbound coal empty. The train is headed for the West Elk Mine on the North Fork branch. After being loaded at the mine, the train will return east, picking up some mid-train DPUs at the yard in Glenwood Springs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106797 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1010 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The Denver skyline emerges out of the cold morning mist as the on-time Zephyr heads west out of Leyden. The train, moving at track speed, will have to slow soon as it is following on the heels of a coal empty and will encounter a few yellows. The empty will take the siding at Plain, however, and the Zephyr will be able to get around and get back on some clear signals. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106798 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 1146 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Apologies for the power lines that cut across the middle of this scene. I wanted to include it though because it turns out it is really a two-for-one shot! BNSF's Provo-Lincoln is obvious, but do you see the Zephyr? It is emerging from Tunnel One in the top-left portion of the shot! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106799 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 1115 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF, Amtrak There is a lot of "clutter" in this shot as power lines are very prevalent around Barbara's Gulch. However, I felt I had to include the shot as it has the eastbound Provo-Lincoln in Barbara's Gulch and the westbound Zephyr emerging from Tunnel One, both in the same shot! The two trains are both moving left-to-right in the frame, but are actually moving away from each other. They are separated by roughly six (rail) miles! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106800 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 1147 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The last few BNSF Provo-Lincoln manifests that I've caught on the Moffat seem to have been relatively short. Here, a trio of BNSF GEs lead the manifest east through Barbara's Gulch. The train will have clear signals the rest of the way in to Denver after meeting to trains at Rocky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106801 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 1147 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF "Yet another BNSF trackage rights train led by ES44s"...that's what today's railfan might say (myself included). But I always remind myself that a railfan 30 years from now will likely give anything to see a scene like this! After all, 30 years ago, railfans were say "yet another Rio Grande coal train led by Tunnel Motors"... Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106802 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 980 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Highball Leyden! A unit fracking sand train charges slowly toward a clear signal as it cuts through Arvada. The train is headed for Craig, CO, Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106803 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1026 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An oil company (or companies?) in the Craig, CO area have need sand for fracking lately. A lot of it! The MNYPHX had a bunch of loaded cars a week ago or so. And then, overnight, a 113-car, 12,400-ton unit sand train arrived at North Yard. It was rumored the train would go west with a 3x4x2 power configuration. However, the powers that be decided to split the train in two. Here, the first half (51 cars) are headed west at Leyden in a 3x(0)x2 configuration. The rest of the hoppers will go west on the MNYPHX. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106804 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS012 (East Leyden) Arvada, CO 1138 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The Denver skyline - and all of the metro area - sits underneath overcast skies that threaten to release a minimal amount of snow. Denver hasn't had more than a trace of snow since October 9th! Meanwhile, a unit sand track (with some borrowed power from BNSF) heads west on the main at East Leyden. The train is headed for the Craig Branch as all the sand is needed for fracking in the Craig area. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106805 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, December 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1044 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A pair of AC4400CWs bring up the tail end of a westbound unit sand train at Leyden. Both of these units have received fresh repaints (and decals) within the last few years. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.