Photo ID: 108617 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 601 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Return of the daily Zephyr! After nearly eight months with the Zephyr running only thrice weekly, starting today, an eastbound and westbound Zephyr will be running through Denver daily once again. Here, the westbound Zephyr, running about 30 minutes behind schedule, passes by Blue Mountain Road on a beautiful May morning. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108618 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 630 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The (once again) daily Zephyr is moving geographically east even though it is the westbound Zephyr, climbing up toward Tunnel 1 from the base of Coal Creek Canyon. This is the first official return of the daily Zephyr after a near-eight month running of thrice weekly due to COVID-19. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108619 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tunnel 1 (MP 23.4, 366 ft) Arvada, CO 591 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Just about 24 miles west of Denver Union Station, the westbound Zephyr has emerged from Tunnel 1 and is approaching a clear at the east switch of Plain. With the return to daily service, the Zephyr has a baggage car again and is sporting seven Superliners today. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108620 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 619 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF BNSF's Provo-Denver arrived in the siding here at Leyden almost three hours earlier. The train was tied down and the derail at the east end of the siding was set. A relief crew showed up a few hours later to untie the train and take it the remaining 12 miles in to Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108621 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 576 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF From nearly 300 feet in the air, you can get a great perspective of the Moffat at Leyden. If you were to go back 30 years, at least 50% of the houses that you can see in this shot were not there. Indeed, Ralston Valley High School was not there either! It was built right around the year 2000, becoming the city of Arvada's fourth high school. Meanwhile, the Provo-Denver sits in the siding awaiting a recrew. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108622 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 526 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific If you've ever heard of someone in the train world referring to a derail (as a noun, not a verb), this is an example of what they are talking about. This type of derail has a single switch point that would align anything that ran through it to derail. This is a form of protection to prevent cars or tied down trains from inadvertently rolling out on to the main track. This derail was installed at the east end of the siding at Leyden about 15 years ago, when coal trains were often being tied down to wait for recrews and/or yard tracks. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108623 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 587 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Up close and personal! BNSF 5368 sits idling away on a tied down Provo-Denver in the siding at Leyden. The train is patiently waiting for a fresh crew, which will show up in about three hours and take the train in to Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108624 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West of Leyden Arvada, CO 589 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This loaded UP ballast train is actually backing down the main away from the camera, into the siding at Leyden. One of the engines on the train failed, meaning the train will not be able to make the grade west. So, the train is backing in to the siding and the first half of the train will be taken west to dump ballast. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108625 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West of Leyden Arvada, CO 675 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP is continuing the investment in the Moffat! A ballast train of roughly 100 cars is going to dump ballast from Rocky up to Crescent in the coming days. The ballast train is seen here, but it is actually back down the grade in to the siding at Leyden. A unit on the train died and, as such, it does not have the necessary power to pull up the 2% grades. It is also a great day to do a little plowing in the field! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108626 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS013 (West Leyden) Arvada, CO 584 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An ES44AC, ET44AC, and AC4400CW back a Herzog ballast train down in to the siding at Leyden. One of the units on the train failed as it was coming through Arvada. Not wanting to block any grade crossing, the train pulled between switches on the main at Leyden and dropped off the conductor. It then pulled west of Leyden and is now backing down on the siding. The train will be cut in half and the front half will be taken west to dump ballast. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108627 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS013 (West Leyden) Arvada, CO 591 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific As a ballast train backs down on to the siding at Leyden, you can clearly see the bottleneck the bridge at Indiana Street has created in west Arvada! There is a desire to widen the road to four lanes here, but that will not happen unless and until the bridge can be replaced to accommodate four lanes. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108628 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tunnel 1 (MP 23.4, 366 ft) Arvada, CO 586 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The days are now long enough that the tracks are still lit in the evenings between Plain and Tunnel 1 for the eastbound Zephyr. With the Zephyr's return to daily service, this is the first Tuesday since September 2020 that has had an eastbound Zephyr descending the front range in to Denver. Great to have it back on a beautiful evening. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108629 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 935 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak A wet spring has led to a lot of green in the Denver-Metro area here in late May. A beautiful landscape at Blue Mountain Road as the eastbound Zephyr approaches the hot box detector at MP 22.6. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108630 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 751 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak AMTK 196 and AMTK 126 have the honor of leading the first Zephyr east in to Denver on a Tuesday evening in nearly eight months. Starting last October, the Zephyr went from daily service to just three days a week each direction. With funding provided to Amtrak by Congress about three months ago, long distance trains that were daily before COVID-19 are again returning to daily service! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108631 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, May 25, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 836 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The evening Zephyr slowly descends down the north leg of Big Ten Loop. The train is under a 10 MPH slow order that started at Plain and will continue down to Rocky. Great for me as that allowed me to get ahead of the train a couple of times for additional shots. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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