After arriving in Fraser, the power for the Winter Park Express has cut away from the train and is headed for the west switch so it can run around the train.
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One of the conductors for the Winter Park Express works to open the knuckle of the coupler on what had been the trailing car on the trip west. However, this will soon become the first car for the trip east. The crew is working on running the power around the train.
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The eight Superliners of the Winter Park Express sit alone in the siding at Fraser. Where is the power? It is at the west end of Fraser, getting ready to head back east on the main to run around the train. Handbrakes have been set on four of the eight cars to ensure they don't go anywhere.
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The partly cloudy skies won't last much longer and clouds start to blow in from the west. If you look in the distance, you'll notice the red "bloody" nose of AMTK 156 as it runs around the Winter Park Express at Fraser.
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The power for the Winter Park Express is next to the Winter Park Express! Since the wye at Tabernash is out of service, the crew has to take the power off the west end of the train in the siding, run around the train, and attach the power to the east end of the train. AMTK 156, the Heritage 1 "Bloody Nose" P42DC will be leading for the trip east back to Denver.
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The power for the Winter Park Express has been flagged past a red signal at the east end of Fraser and is now (slowly) making it way back toward the eight Superliners of the train.
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Two conductors, one on the ground and one in the back door of the Superliner, watch as the engineer on the Winter Park Express slows to hook on to the east end of the train.
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That'll do! Amtrak P42DC #193, which led the Winter Park Express west, has now hooked on to the train and will be the trailing unit for the journey east today.
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Power for Amtrak Superliner is provided through "Head End Power", or "HEP". The trailing P42DC will throttle up and donate a portion of the electricity generated to power the train. After running around the train at Fraser, the conductor on the Winter Park Express is now hooking up the cables for the Head End Power.
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With the Winter Park Express put back together, the train will now wait for the next 5-6 hours here on the siding at Fraser. Note the Amtrak sign to the right denoting the station.
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The westbound Zephyr is slowly to a stop along the platform at Fraser. Here, the train will pause for 10 minutes or so to give passengers a chance to stretch their legs and, for those that smoke, to light one up as the Zephyr is entirely a non-smoking train.
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It's a long trip from Denver to Grand Junction, so the engineer and conductor in the cab could certainly use a little coffee to keep them going! Fortunately, the Lounge Car was more than happy to oblige. The engineer hands the coffee up to the conductor.
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Now this is just a plain lucky day! Two of Amtrak's four heritage units (P42DCs that is) happened to be in Fraser at the same time. AMTK 156 is on the point of the eastbound Winter Park Express while AMTK 184 is on the point of the westbound California Zephyr.
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With the Winter Park Express now tied down in the siding at Fraser for the day, the head conductor for the train is walking along the platform at Fraser. He is now off duty for the next four hours or so.
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The Winter Park Express sits quietly in the siding at Fraser. Here it will sit for the next six hours, its passengers hopefully shredding up the slopes at the Winter Park Ski Resort a few miles to the east.
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