The morning Winter Park Express enters into the east end of Little Ten Curve at Rocky about 20 minutes after sunrise. After several days of below-freezing temperatures, the ground here is still covered in snow.
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The ground at Rocky and all around Big Ten is still covered in snow from a storm two days prior. There is not a cloud in the sky this morning, however, as the westbound Winter Park Express wraps through Little Ten Curve. The Denver Skyline, from where the Ski Train here originated about 40 minutes ago, is clearly visible in the distance, about 18 rail miles away.
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The seven Superliners of the Winter Park Express offer a night glint of orange from the slowly rising sun, not too far away from the end of the morning golden hour. The train just knocked down a clear (green) signal at the east end of Eisele (Clay).
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The Winter Park Express crests the hill on the climb to Tunnel 1. So far, no new homes from the Canyon Pines neighborhood have appears in the shot. Though for how much longer that will be the case is anyone's guess!
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After meeting the Winter Park Express Ski Train here at Plain, this eastbound BNSF oil load now has a clear (green) signal at the east end of the siding. It is slowly starting to roll toward the signal. In the distance on the right side of the shot is Tunnel 4, which the Ski Train will momentarily be passing through.
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An ES44AC and a pair of SD70ACes lead an eastbound oil train toward the west portal of Tunnel 1. As is the case with most BNSF oil trains on the Moffat, the three units on the point are accompanied by three DPUs on the end of the train.
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At the base of Coal Creek Canyon, this eastbound BNSF oil train is emerging from the cut just west of Blue Mountain Drive, the head end now looking toward the grade crossing (and the hotbox detector at MP 22.6). If you look just above the covered hopper, at the tank cars a bit back in the train, you can see the top of the bridge that crosses over CO-72.
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BNSF 6158 comes around the curve from Blue Mountain Drive to turn directly into the rapidly rising sun as it approaches the west end of Eisele (Clay). If you look closely, one of the tank cars to the left is passing by the silver control box for the hotbox detector at MP 22.6.
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45 minutes after passing by the hotbox detector at MP 22.6, this eastbound BNSF unit oil train has come to a stop on Main 1 west of Tennyson Street around MP 6. Most trains can fit between Tennyson Street and Lamar Street here, so it is fairly common stopping place if trains cannot proceed east to the yards for whatever reason. In this case, the oil train is waiting on the westbound Zephyr.
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The morning westbound Zephyr made good time getting out of Denver and is just slightly ahead of schedule here, just west of C&S Jct on Main 2. Indeed, the crew is trying to keep up the good performance, exhaust pouring out of the P42DCs as the engineer throttles up. The track to the right is BNSF's Golden Sub, which runs to (among many other things), the Coors Brewery in Golden.
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AMTK 58 and AMTK 56 have the duty of running with the westbound California Zephyr on this Monday morning. The train is passing alongside Clear Valley Park to the south (right) and a mostly frozen over Jim Baker Reservoir to the north (left).
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The westbound Zephyr meets an eastbound BNSF unit oil train here just west of Tennyson Street. While there is a siding here, it is not a CTC-controlled siding and it is not used for meets. Instead, the oil train is stopped on Main 1 while the Zephyr heads west on Main 2.
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After meeting the westbound Zephyr between Tennyson and Lamar, BNSF 6158 is now back on the roll, heading east on Main 1. The train has a Diverging Advanced Approach (red over flashing yellow) ahead at C&S Junction. There, the train will cross over from Main 1 to Main 3 so it reach BNSF's yard.
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One of three DPUs on an eastbound oil train included a BNSF "sticker unit". Of the four big US Class 1 Railroads, BNSF is the only railroad that hasn't done any true heritage units. The closest they have come is with several of these units that have stickers of predecessor railroads on the long hood. These were released in 2020, the 25th anniversary of BNSF.
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A trio of GEs bring up the tail end of this eastbound BNSF oil train as it roles east, away from the camera, on Main 1 toward BNSF's 31st Street Yard.
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