Photo ID: 111853 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Longs Peak (7,685ft) Boulder County, CO 51 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF An sole ES44AC leads a southbound "blade train" through the siding at Longs Peak. The train is meeting a unit vehicle train that is currently sitting on the main track. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111854 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Longs Peak (7,685ft) Boulder County, CO 59 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF The huge blades that you see on the power-generating wind mills are typically transported from the manufacturing plant to (near) their destination via rail. The rails are generally not close enough to the final destination, so the blades are usually transferred to truck. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111855 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Longs Peak (7,685ft) Boulder County, CO 48 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF After receiving a new track warrant (via PTC), BNSF 6212 is rolling toward the south siding switch of Longs Peak. The train will continue south to Broomfield where it will meet two northbounds. BNSF 5207 is the sole DPU on a northbound vehicle train currently tied down on the main at Longs Peak. The train hit a car the previous night and maintenance is working on the lead unit on the other end. Note the blue flag attached to the rail on the main. This provides "blue flag protection" for the maintenance crew, ensuring the train is not allowed to move. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111856 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Longs Peak (7,685ft) Boulder County, CO 49 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF This southbound blade train has two units powering it, one on either end of the train. The train, which originated in Grand Forks, ND, is leaving the siding at Longs Peak on the Front Range Sub north of Longmont. The train is headed for Amarillo, TX. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111857 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Highland (1,920ft) Boulder County, CO 48 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF Just south of the siding of Longs Peak, a southbound blade train crosses over N 115th Street and runs by the north switch of the short siding of Highland. The siding is less than 2,000 feet long, and is only used for local switching, not for meets. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111858 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Highland (1,920ft) Boulder County, CO 48 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF A southbound blade trade crosses over Upper Highland Ditch at the south end of Highland, right at milepost 49. For those that are fans of the Moffat, this location on the Front Range Sub is about the same distance from Denver as the east switch of East Portal. This spot on the Front Range Sub is just north of Longmont. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111859 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Longs Peak (7,685ft) Boulder County, CO 67 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF The size of the wind mill blades that are transported by rail are actually quite massive. The engineering to transport them by rail is actually quite impressive. The infrastructure holding the blades is capable of shift on the flat cars to accommodate the train going through curves. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111860 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Longs Peak (7,685ft) Boulder County, CO 52 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF Around 20 years after BNSF first unveiled its "New Image" or "Swoosh" paint scheme, you can still find Heritage 2 units on the rails. Indeed, here are two such units, both rear DPUs on the trains heading away from each other at the south end of the siding of Longs Peak. The siding of Longs Peak was actually built around 2004. Prior to that, there was a 60-mile gap between the siding of Broomfield and North Yard (in Fort Collins). Most trains could not fit on the relatively short siding at Boulder, so the introduction of Longs Peak help move traffic on the line. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111861 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Highland (1,920ft) Boulder County, CO 72 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF An unexpected snow storm passed through the area the day before, leaving a couple of inches of fresh snow on the ground. A single C44-9W brings up the tail end of this southbound blade train, just south of Longs Peak. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111862 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed New Hillrose Morgan County, CO 59 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Brush (BNSF) BNSF A westbound loaded coal train is tied down in the siding at New Hillrose, waiting on a fresh crew to come untie it and continue the journey west to Denver and then south on the Joint Line. The train is sitting across the grade crossing at County Road X.5 about halfway through the siding. Fortunately, there is a detour for locals to get around the blocked crossing about a half mile away. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111863 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sterling Sterling, CO 83 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Brush (BNSF) BNSF, Canadian Pacific I got a great tip about a westbound BNSF loaded grain train that was tied down in Sterling, but had a crew called for 12:30pm. The train actually originated in Canada on the Canadian Pacific and was turned over to BNSF at Sweet Grass, MT. The CP power was left on the train for its trip to Guernsey, CA. I made my way out to Sterling and found the train as it was departing from the yard shortly after 1:30pm. The second CP unit, AC4400CW #8501, was putting on a smoke show like it was a C30-7 from 1975! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111864 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Sterling Sterling, CO 78 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Brush (BNSF) BNSF, Canadian Pacific CP 7007 and CP 8501 knock down a clear (green) signal at west Sterling. The train leaves restricted (yard) limits behind here and enters CTC for the trip to Denver. The AC4400CW is, as you can see, having some issues and the crew would receive permission from management to isolate the unit so it would stop loading and stop creating the smoke show. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111865 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed New Hillrose to Union Morgan County, CO 83 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Brush (BNSF) BNSF, Canadian Pacific There are days when I do not really feel like going out and taking train pictures. Sometimes, there is a feeling of "it's all the same". Always UP and BNSF (here in Colorado). Then, there is a day like today that is somewhat reinvigorating! A pair of Canadian Pacific units lead a westbound loaded grain train across the South Platte River on the BNSF Brush Sub between Union and New Hillrose. The train originated in Canada and the CP power has stayed on for the trip in the US. The train is ultimately headed to Guernsey, CA. The lead unit is actually a former SD9043MAC (ex-CP 9119). The SD9043MACs were used for about 15 years by UP and CP before being retired. UP sold all of theirs, while CP rebuilt many of theirs. Specifically, CP rebuilt about 60 of them to be designated as an SD70ACu. Pretty great catching one in Colorado. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111866 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Brush Brush, CO 74 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Brush (BNSF) BNSF, Montana Rail Link As I have mentioned in previous pictures take in the past year, now that Montana Rail Link is owned by BNSF, the MRL SD70ACes have entered into the general BNSF locomotive pool and have been scattered to the system. Many of them run in coal service and, as a result, come through Colorado on the way from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to the plants in Texas. MRL 4305 was a DPU on a westbound coal load, tied down at Brush. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 111867 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, February 16, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Brush Brush, CO 70 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Brush (BNSF) BNSF, Canadian Pacific CP 7007 is on the Brush Sub, passing by the depot in Brush, CO, headed west. The track to the right is actually a completely different subdivision. That track is the very west end of the BNSF Akron Subdivision, which converges with the Brush Sub right here in Brush, CO. The Brush Sub east of Brush heads to Sterling, CO and eventually Alliance, NE. The Akron Sub east of Brush heads to McCook, NE and, eventually, all the way to Chicago, IL. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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