An early morning UP coal load rolls east out of Leyden. Here, it is approaching the grade crossing at Simms Street and it will meet the Winter Park Express at Arvada.
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The Winter Park Express makes its third and final Friday trip for the 2018 ski season. This year, it ran on the first Friday in January, February, and March. The Denver skyline stands tall in the distance. You might also note the Arvada water tower just below the skyline.
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The two P42DCs that have been used on the Winter Park Express thus far in the season (AMTK 156 "Bloody Nose" and AMTK 193) were both due to their 92-day mechanical inspections and had to return to Chicago. A pair of relief P42s were sent in to power the Ski Train by the Amtrak power desk!
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The Winter Park Express heads west on the main at Eisele. Unfortunately, the Bloody Nose heritage unit had to return to Chicago for a mechanical inspection. So two standard Phase Vb P42DCs are on the train. But the "pink sticker cars" are still there!
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The "pink sticker cars" (as a friend's daughter refers to them) are on the east end of the Winter Park Express as it heads west on the main at Plain.
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It looks as though oil is picking up in Utah again as BNSF oil-related traffic has certainly increased on the Moffat in 2018. Here, a loaded fracking sand train heads west at Leyden.
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I have heard from several engineers that the ES44C4, which is an A1A-A1A unit, is not ideal for heavy trains. It is more designed for fast trains in relatively flat terrains. Looks like the power desk in Denver may have agreed today as two ES44ACs and an SD70ACe lead this loaded sand train west at Leyden.
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This unit sand train is slowing as it has a red signal at the west end of Leyden. The train is meeting a Provo-Lincoln that is out of Rocky. The sand train is holding the main, even after arriving first, because the manifest will be meeting two trains here at Leyden.
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A CREX ES44AC and an SD70ACe bring up the tail end of this loaded sand train at Leyden. Five units will be enough to get this guy up the hill, but not quickly! It'll take over three hours before it makes it to Winter Park.
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While a loaded sand train sits on the main (you can see its two rear DPUs to the left), an eastbound manifest with a matched set of ES44s rolls slowly east on the main at Leyden. The train is facing a red signal at the east switch as another westbound (the BNSF Denver-Provo) is coming west out of town.
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Now that the manifest is in the clear on the siding, this sand train received a clear signal from the dispatcher to start pulling west out of Leyden. The two DPUs are already in Run 8!
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An ES44DC is sandwiched by two C44-9Ws as this westbound Denver-Provo has a fairly typical consist of three units on the point and one DPU on the tail end. BNSF runs their trains on the Moffat with this configuration of power more often than not lately.
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A single ES444C brings up the tail end of this Denver-Provo manifest. This is one of 100 ES44C4s that have been delivered since Tier-4 units became required. It is a "Tier-4 Credit unit", which is why it is the 4200 number range.
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