Amongst the weeds, the West Local heads toward the east switch on the wye on the Rocky Spur. The brakeman stands ready to throw the switch to reverse down the south leg of the wye. Back in the distance, you can clearly see the mainline at East Plain.
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The Lonely Local In the open space surrounding the former Rocky Flat plant, the West Local prepares to back down the south leg of the wye to the main track at Rocky. A single covered hopper is the only car the local is taking back to Denver on this Wednesday.
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The West Local backs down the south leg of the wye on the Rocky Spur with a single covered hopper. GP40-2s are still pretty common in 2023, but it is really great to see GP15-1s are still roaming the rails as well. The Moffat mainline crosses the mountain in the background, from Tunnel 1 to Tunnel 8.
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A brakeman stands on the platform of the covered hopper to protect the reverse move of the West Local back to the mainline at Rocky. It is passes by Rocky Flats Lake, also known as Francis Smart Reservoir.
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The West Local, with a single covered hoppers, backs down the Rocky Spur in the foreground as the relatively new housing development of Candelas in western Arvada is now fully built out in the distance.
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There is a circuit in the rails at the CO-72 grade crossing that turn the stoplight red for traffic and green for trains as a train slowly approaches. Such is the case here as the signal for the West Local has turned green. The brakeman is riding on the sole covered hoper to protect the shove and ensure no cars decide to try to beat the train over the crossing.
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Weeds have somewhat overtaken portions of the Rocky Spur. The West Local is about to back over parts of those stretches of track. In fact, the track the local is starting down carries a rather hefty 8% grade. But no problem for these two peeps, particularly when a single covered hopper is all they have with them.
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The West Local is backing down the 8% grade toward the main at Rocky. The switch is still locked and the crew will need to tone up the dispatcher and request permission to enter the main track.
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At this point in the day, there is only a single dispatcher for the entire former Rio Grande from Denver to Salt Lake City. So, although the West Local has toned up the dispatcher to request permission to enter the main track at Rocky, they have not yet heard back.
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The West Local has received authority to enter the main track at Rocky. The brakeman is walking down from the hopper to throw the switch from the main to the Rocky Spur. In the distance, you can see the mainline just out of the west portal of Tunnel 1.
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Now that it is back on the mainline, the West Local will be able to speed up to 45 MPH on the track not far ahead. A bit faster than the 5-10 MPH it was restricted to on the Rocky Spur. On the upper-right side of the shot, you can see the grade crossing (protected by a stop light) where the Rocky Spur crosses CO-93. The local was just up at the crossing a short time ago.
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