Photo ID: 113400 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sand Creek to Irondale Commerce City, CO 19 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Brush (BNSF) BNSF Right at sunrise, as the sun crests the horizon to the east, a westbound (soon to be southbound) coal load rolls by the massive grain elevators just east of the diamond at Sand Creek. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113401 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Hogan's Alley Denver, CO 18 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A pair of relatively new ES44ACHs lead a southbound coal load on Main 2 along Hogan's Alley (and I-25) just a few miles from downtown Denver. This is the far north end of the Joint Line with both BNSF and Union Pacific running trains here, although both mains here are owned by BNSF. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113402 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Littleton to Acequia Littleton, CO 23 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This southbound coal load is passing over the C-470 freeway and underneath the relatively new onramp from southbound US-85 onto eastbound C-470. The train is on Main 1, owned here by Union Pacific, and dispatched by BNSF. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113403 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Acequia Douglas County, CO 21 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF With the implementation of the EPA Tier 4 standards in 2015, railroads have all but stopped purchasing new locomotives from EMD (Caterpillar) and GE (Wabtec). The Tier 4 locomotives available from both manufacturers are more expensive and more complicated, which has discouraged railroads from purchasing many. Most of the locomotives ordered new in the last decade have been "Tier 4 credit units". These are Tier 3 units (ES44ACs) that railroads have received from emissions credits. Both of the ES44ACHs (or ES44AHs) on this southbound coal load at Acequia are credit units, delivered in late 2023 and early 2024. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113404 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Louviers to Sedalia Douglas County, CO 23 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Coal production in the United States has been on a steady decline since 2011, with a few exceptions or spikes between 2016 and 2019. Coal production in Wyoming in the Powder River Basin is no exception, with the peak production coming in 2008 when 466 million short tons were mined. By comparison, that number dropped to 191 million short tons in 2024, and is forecasted to drop even further to 185 short tons in 2025. That's rough 40% of the peak production from 2008. Despite the decrease, there are still plenty of coal trains to be found on the Joint Line, with this southbound load making a good case-in-point just north of Sedalia. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113405 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sedalia Douglas County, CO 19 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF It has been an unusually temperate fall this year, with not appreciable snow seen through all of October and November. The first light dusting of snow came just 24 hours earlier along the Front Range. Here, on the final day of November, it is a frigid 17°F and overcast, but no real snow to be found as a southbound coal load comes through Sedalia. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113406 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tomah Road to Larkspur Douglas County, CO 21 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This particular spot at MP 41 along Main 1 north of Sedalia is great spot to get a little color in your shots, even at the end of December when most of the deciduous plants have lost their leaves. A southbound coal load is climbing up the 1.4% grade along I-25. Main 1 here is owned by BNSF while Main 2, on the other side of I-25, is owned by Union Pacific. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113407 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tomah Road to Larkspur Douglas County, CO 18 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Exit 173 off of southbound I-25 is visible at the base of the shot, the exit used to get from the interstate to the town of Larkspur, CO. Main 1 follows this exit and the Main 1 continues through the eastern edge of Larkspur on the journey south. Two relatively new ES44ACHs (or ES44AHs) lead this southbound coal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113408 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Larkspur, CO Douglas County, CO 22 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF There might be no location on the Joint Line as recognizable as the old Santa Fe bridge on the south side of Larkspur! Two shiny ES44ACHs lead a southbound coal train across the bridge, which still sports a (highly faded) Santa Fe herald and lettering. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113409 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Larkspur, CO Douglas County, CO 23 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF These ES44ACHs were both delivered in latter half of 2023 as Tier-4 credit units. the two are crossing over West Fox Farm Road, East Plum Creek, and Spruce Mountain Road on Main 1 on their journey south toward Palmer Lake and beyond. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113410 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Larkspur, CO Douglas County, CO 20 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF I really liked to look of these two relatively new BNSF GEs right above the largely faded Santa Fe heralds and lettering on the bridge on the south side of Larkspur. The head end of the 120-car coal train is moving toward Greenland down Main 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113411 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Greenland to Palmer Lake Douglas County, CO 24 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Like the thousands of coal trains over decades before it, another southbound wraps its way through the S-curves just south of "The Sag" on Main 1 on the approach the Palmer Lake and the top of the climb. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113412 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 19 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF BNSF 3297 is looking a green signal at the "top of the hill" at Palmer Lake. A bit of snow is falling here at elevation, although nothing is really sticking to the ground. The track next to the main was often used way back in the caboose era. Heave coal trains sometimes had rear (manned) helpers cut in ahead of the caboose. The caboose would be temporarily set out in the side track so the manned helpers could run around and then attach the caboose to the back of the train. These days, of course, there is no need for such things, so the tracks has fallen into disrepair. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113413 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 17 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Single track ahead! At Palmer Lake, two tracks come to an end and there is now a single track main for the next 32 miles. Snow is falling at a decent click here roughly 7,200 feet above sea level as a southbound coal load comes through the OS of Palmer Lake, right at MP 52. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113414 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Palmer Lake Palmer Lake, CO 17 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF At the top of the Palmer Divide we find Palmer Lake at an elevation of roughly 7,200 feet above sea level. In the summer, the lake is a popular hang out for kids and family, using innertubes to play in the water. Things are significantly colder here at the end of November, the thermometer indicating 18°F (-8°C) outside. A BNSF coal load crests the top of the divide and gets ready to now head down grade to Pueblo and beyond. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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