Photo ID: 114178 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tunnel 3 (MP 25.8, 369 ft) Jefferson County, CO 37 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An eastbound coal load snakes its way through Tunnel 4, Tunnel 3, and is approach Tunnel 2 as it crosses over the fill that washed out back in September 2013 during record levels of rainfall. This morning, there isn't a cloud in the sky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114179 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tunnel 2 (MP 25.4, 516 ft) Jefferson County, CO 31 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A pair of units leads an eastbound coal train out of Tunnel 2 and toward a green signal at the west end of Plain. The train loaded at the only coal mine still loading in Colorado, the West Elk Mine on the North Fork Branch. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114180 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rainbow Cut Jefferson County, CO 34 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific On the main at Plain, this coal load is approaching Rainbow Cut, about halfway through the siding. It will continue east to Eisele (Clay), where it will meet a westbound coal empty, and the morning Zephyr. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114181 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 33 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An ES44AC and a freshly painted C44ACM lead an eastbound coal load through the S-Curves at the base of Coal Creek Canyon. You can just see the bridge over CO-72 in the background. After a few cooler days, the temperature is set to get up into the mid-90s again today, but the weather is just perfect this morning. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114182 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Detector (MP 22.6) Arvada, CO 29 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP has several slow orders out on the Moffat at the moment, including a 10 MPH here at the base of Coal Creek Canyon. An eastbound coal load is creeping along by the hotbox detector. You can see a pair of mid-train swing helpers off in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114183 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Detector (MP 22.6) Arvada, CO 36 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP 2747 and UP 5869 cross Blue Mountain Drive and continues on its route east, rolling along at 10 MPH. The train last had an Advanced Approach (flashing yellow) signal. It is meeting a westbound at Eisele (Clay), which cannot quite clear the east switch. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114184 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS022 (West Eiesle (Clay)) Arvada, CO 41 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific At the west switch of Eisele (Clay), a conductor on this westbound coal empty is stepping off to give a roll by to the eastbound coal load that is approaching from the west. The dispatcher is gambling a little bit, having two coal trains meet at Eisele (Clay), which at 5,750 feet, is one of the shorter sidings on the Moffat. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114185 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 38 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific It has been longer than I care to admit since I manage to capture a meeting between coal trains on the Moffat! However, a westbound coal empty is waiting here in the siding at Eisele (Clay) for the coal load on the main. The empty is up against the signal at the west end, but still has about four cars to go in order to get in the clear at the east end. The coal load is going to have to stop and hopefully will fit between signals on the main. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114186 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS020 (East Eisele (Clay)) Arvada, CO 40 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific At the east switch of Eisele (Clay), a westbound coal empty is too long to fit between signals. The eastbound load approaching is hoping they'll be able to fit on the main so the westbound empty can continue, clearing the east end. The engineer on the eastbound load has said that they have "250 feet remaining" until PTC will force them to stop. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114187 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 35 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Coal has actually seen an increase on the Moffat recently. Rumor has it that the West Elk Mine (the only mine currently loading by rail in Colorado) has some new contracts and is increasing their output, with the intention of loading more than 30 trains per months. Evidence of that is seen here with this meet between an eastbound and westbound train here at Eisele (Clay). Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114188 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 33 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific While I'm not a huge of UP's latest paint scheme, it is always nice to see a freshly painted unit. This C44ACM must have been very recently (re)painted. I'm not a huge fan of the flag on the nose. The cab and nose just feel a little too busy, in my humble opinion. I also very much miss the wings on the nose. I would speculate that a lot of these changes were financially motivated, as the smaller flags and remove of the wings probably saves quite a bit of money on repaints. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114189 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS019 (West Rocky) Arvada, CO 30 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Cannot ask for better conditions than this, as the westbound Zephyr charges out of the west end of Rocky. This has the potential to be the last shot I take of the "standard" Zephyr of the last few decades. What do I mean by that? Both P42DCs are Phase 5, the baggage car is Phase 3, and all the Superliners are Phase 4b. Increasingly, as Amtrak shifts toward Phase 7 (including with the cars), it is more and more likely to see at least one Phase 7 engine or car on the Zephyr. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114190 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 28 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Both P42s on the westbound Zephyr are kicking up some exhaust as the train climbs the roughly 2% grade to Big Ten Curve. In the distance, on the main at Eisele (Clay), an eastbound UP coal train is waiting for the arrival of the Zephyr. Indeed, if you are unfamiliar with the geography and layout of the tracks here, welcome to the interesting engineering of Big Ten Curve! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.