Photo ID: 112300 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Desert to Vista (MP 568.2 to MP 573.7) Emery County, UT 354 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak The eastbound California Zephyr is running about 45 minutes late this morning, moving at track speed (79 MPH) on the approach to the west switch of Desert. US-6 follows the tracks along here. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112301 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Desert (6,020 ft) Emery County, UT 360 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak You generally have to be quick on the trigger to get a shot of the Zephyr out here in the Utah desert. With the wide open spaces, many spots have a track speed of 79 MPH for passenger trains, and the Zephyr takes advantage of that! In this shot, the train is on the main at Desert, a very appropriate name for a siding here! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112302 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 344 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak The Utah desert is, without a doubt, one of my favorite places to shoot trains anywhere. There is such a raw beauty to the desert, as seen here with the eastbound Zephyr makes its way through some curves near Floy. The amazing Book Cliff create a fantastic backdrop for the scene. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112303 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 95 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak Passengers aboard the California Zephyr are hopefully enjoying the incredible views of the Utah desert under crystal clear skies this morning. The train is making its way east toward its next station stop in Grand Junction, CO. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112304 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers (7,760 ft) Grand County, UT 63 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific UP's Potash Local is in the siding at Sagers, having just met the quickly-moving eastbound California Zephyr. The Potash Local only runs once a week, always on Fridays. Monday through Thursday, the same power is generally used on the Minturn Local, running east out of Grand Junction. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112305 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson to Brendel (MP 528.8 to MP 533.3) Grand County, UT 69 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific The Potash Local rolls east with 35 empty covered hoppers just east of Brendel. It is at Brendel that the train will depart the mainline (and the Green River Sub), and enter the Cane Creek Sub. The train already has their warrant from the dispatcher, so they are ready to head south. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112306 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Brendel (5,100 ft) Grand County, UT 90 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific Starting in 2009, the Department of Energy set forth on a project to clean up an estimated 16 million tons of Uranium Mill Tailings at the former Atlas Minerals Corporation site, close to the Colorado River near Moab. UP upgraded much of the rail on the Cane Creek Sub, even installing some welded rail, to support the project. Uranium mill tailings are loaded onto trains that are taken up the Cane Creek Sub to the Crescent Junction Disposal site, created for the project. Here, the tailings are buried in a safe location with no ground water implications. UP 5302 and UP 6967 are two of the units that currently have the duty of moving roughly 4,700 tons in each trainload. The train does not run Friday through Sunday. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112307 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Brendel (5,100 ft) Grand County, UT 57 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific In the distance, you can see the new burial site for Uranium mill tailings that are being transported by Union Pacific with the Department of Energy from a previous site near Moab that threatened ground waters and the Colorado River itself. Roughly 14 million of an estimated 16 million tons of tailing have already been transported here. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the decade. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112308 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Mounds (8,930 ft) Emery County, UT 69 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific An empty oil train has been tied down in the siding at Mounds for awhile, without any power. On this particular afternoon, four units were sent east out of Helper to pick up the train and take it west to Wash. A UP maintenance of way train works along the Sunnyside Subdivision in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112309 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Mounds to Wash (MP 603.9 to MP 610.1) Carbon County, UT 71 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific In between the sidings of Mounds and Wash, four units are taking an empty oil train to the yard tracks at Wash. The empty tanks had been tied down in the siding at Mounds, without any power. Once dropping the train off at Wash, the UP power will return to Helper (where they originated) to tie down. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112310 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Martin Yard (Utah Railway) Helper, UT 74 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Rio Grande I cam across this pretty cool billboard on the western outskirts of Helper. Cars coming into town on US-6 from the west can clearly view the billboard from the road. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112311 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Martin Yard (Utah Railway) Helper, UT 79 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots AE This old GP8, or at least what's left of it, sits without any trucks near the wye at Utah Railways Martin Yard. This particular unit is sporting paint for Arizona and Eastern, owned by Genesee and Wyoming, the company that also owns Utah Railway. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112312 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Martin Yard (Utah Railway) Helper, UT 67 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots AE Utah Railway is owned by Genesee and Wyoming. The G&W bought Utah Railway in August 2002. The G&W owns dozens of shortline railroads in the United States. In addition to Utah Railway, the Arizona and Eastern is another example of a railroad the G&W owns. An A&E GP8 sits, shut off, near the engine facilities here at the Martin Yard in Helper. I have no idea why it was here or what the plans for it are. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112313 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Martin Yard (Utah Railway) Helper, UT 60 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots AE A closer look at this Arizona and Eastern GP8, sitting near the Martin engine facility on Utah Railway. The reporting marks, UTWX, indicate Wildcat Midstream Partners, a company that operates the Wildcat oil transloading facility on the Utah Railway. The old Arizona and Eastern must be used for that. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112314 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 2, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Martin Yard (Utah Railway) Helper, UT 56 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Utah Railway This office building, overlooking the Utah Railway yard at Martin, was once the headquarters for Utah Railway. However, it has since been abandoned and is has even been put on the market for sale at various points in recent years. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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