Photo ID: 108587 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 566 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF BNSF's Provo-Denver sits in the siding at Leyden facing a red signal. The train is waiting for a westbound BNSF coal empty to come out of Denver before it can continue in to the yard. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108588 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 588 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF One of the many known common phrases in the railroading world is "hurry up and wait". The crew on the Provo-Denver is experiencing that here as they have to sit and wait in the siding at Leyden for a westbound to come out of the yard. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108589 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 558 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A GP35 that has undergone a rebuild and is now a GP39-3 is the fourth unit on the Provo-Denver, sitting in the siding at Leyden. The unit is most likely one of the BNSF switchers either at Grand Junction or Provo and is probably due for a 90-day inspection in Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108590 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 566 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The BNSF merger occurred 26 years ago and the original "Heritage" scheme showed up not long after. In 2021, there are still quite a few of these Heritage-painted C44-9Ws roaming BNSF's system. These units are referred to as "Goat Boats". The "goat" refers to the Great Northern railroad, which largely inspired the Heritage paint scheme. Great Northern used a goat in their logo. The "boat" refers to the old nickname of GE engines as "U-Boats" in the 1970s. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108591 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 587 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Compare and contrast! Two C44-9Ws are nose-to-nose and this shot gives a good look at the original Heritage scheme, which was not used for long, and the Heritage 2 scheme, which was widely used on C44-9Ws and SD70MACs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108592 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West of Leyden Arvada, CO 629 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF On a rather gloomy Wednesday morning, a rather unique test train shows up west of Leyden. The train is doing a test run, loading at Axial mine on the Craig Branch! From there, it will run to a power plant in Tucson, AZ. That plant typically receives coal from New Mexico, but if the mine likes the Colorado coal from Axial, then there is a chance this train could be seen more often on the Moffat! Note: The train symbol CGJGJ is something of a mystery as the train is loading at Axial! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108593 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 596 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A pair of ES44ACs lead a westbound BNSF coal empty out of Rocky and up Big Ten Loop. The train is heading toward the Axial mine at the west end of the Craig Branch. While there have been BNSF trains on the Moffat in the past, they will go to Utah to load on the Utah Railway. Believe this is the first BNSF coal train to load on the Craig Branch. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108594 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 579 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A BNSF coal empty makes its way west on the main at Eisele (Clay). If you look in the distance to the left, you can see a trio of BNSF units bringing up the end of the train. The train is heading for the Axial mine on the Craig Branch. Presumably, the train will pull straight in under the loader and then head back east with the three units leading the train and the two units here bringing up the rear. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108595 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crescent (5,550 ft) Boulder County, CO 600 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Ten days until May! Really mother nature!? Colorado loves drawing out winter as long as it possibly can, as you can seen here. A BNSF coal empty heads west through thick fog on the main at Crescent. Despite being a month in to spring, there is a few inches of snow on the ground and it is only 30°F (-1°C) outside. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108596 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crescent (5,550 ft) Boulder County, CO 620 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This westbound coal empty consists of bathtub gondolas with rotary couplers. All of the gons are either BNSF or BN. What is particularly interesting is that the symbol for the train suggests that it is in fact a UP train. Despite having all BNSF power and BN/BNSF gondolas... Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108597 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crescent (5,550 ft) Boulder County, CO 666 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF An ES44AC and two SD70ACes bring up the tail end of a westbound coal empty at Crescent. Due to the thick fog and crazy winter weather (near the end of April), the train will quickly disappear in to the mist as it continues its journey west. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108598 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 643 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak As we get closer to the Zephyr returning to daily service on May 24, it is encouraging to see the train back up at eight Superliners! Three sleepers and three coaches as well as the diner and lounge cars on in the consist today. After the reduction to thrice weekly last October, the baggage cars disappeared from long distance trains. This was most likely due to a reduction in passengers and, thus, a reduction in bags. Will the baggage cars return with daily service? That remains to be seen. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108599 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 775 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Looking at this picture, you probably wouldn't think that we are ten days away from May! Winter refuses to let go along the front range even a full month in to spring. Passengers on the eastbound Zephyr are probably enjoying some of the winter views as the train passes by a clear signal at the intermediate west of Leyden. The train is running about 45 minutes late this evening. Time that will hopefully be made up as it continues east toward Chicago. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.