Photo ID: 114337 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Portal (5,750 ft) Gilpin County, CO 15 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF At East Portal, BNSF's Denver-Provo is on the main as many trees are reaching their peak here at 9,000 feet. The train has the pretty standard trio of units on the head end, and there are a lot of tank cars in the train's consist. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114338 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Portal (5,750 ft) Gilpin County, CO 17 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF An AC4400CW and two ES44ACs lead a westbound manifest pass by a pond at East Portal. You can see the east leg of the wye that is at East Portal breaking away from the siding alongside the head end. The wye follows the original grade that use to make a 180º curve and start the steep climb up Rollins Pass. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114339 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Portal (5,750 ft) Gilpin County, CO 15 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF Fall colors are kind of all over the place as a westbound Denver-Provo approaches the east portal of the Moffat Tunnel. September 20th is still a little early (on average) for fall colors to reach their peak here at 9,000-feet. The train will be the third train since sunrise to pass through the Moffat Tunnel. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114340 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Moffat Tunnel (MP 50.2, 6.2 miles) Gilpin County, CO 24 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF After meeting its counterpart at Winter Park, BNSF's Provo-Denver is about a mile away from the east end of the Moffat Tunnel. As part of the ventilation system for the tunnel, there is a large curtain that closes just inside the east portal of the tunnel. This prevent wind from working against the fans that vent the tunnel. It is always cool when an eastbound is approaching and the curtain opens, allowing for a view of the headlight off in the distance under the Continental Divide. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114341 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS050 (West East Portal) Gilpin County, CO 20 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The Provo-Denver has emerged from the Moffat Tunnel. I was a little surprised to find eight units on the head end of the manifest. Most of the units were not online, so not sure why they were being transported. As you can see here, the fourth unit is a Norfolk Southern unit. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114342 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS049 (East East Portal) Gilpin County, CO 19 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF After an accident in May took the Canyon Spirit GP40-3s out of service, the train borrowed a pair of UP SD70Ms for power. Over the summer, PTC was installed in the SD40M-2 (SD45 car body), so the Spirit now only requires a single UP SD70M to assist. UP 4073 currently has the assignment here at the east end of East Portal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114343 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tolland to East Portal (MP 47.7 to MP 48.9) Gilpin County, CO 16 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Rocky Mountaineer Not the best shot ever, but I wanted to grab a shot of RMRX 8600 on the Canyon Spirit. Even though it is an SD40M-2, it is pretty cool seeing an SD45 car body on the Moffat. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114344 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tolland (9,356 ft) Gilpin County, CO 15 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Rocky Mountaineer Even though this is the shaded side of the train, I really liked the incredible range of colors of the trees here near the west switch of Tolland. The Canyon Spirit is meeting a westbound UP manifest, already in the siding (out of sight to the left). Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114345 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tolland (9,356 ft) Gilpin County, CO 14 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific After meeting the Canyon Spirit, this westbound UP manifest is starting to accelerate toward an Advanced Approach (flashing yellow) signal at the west end of Tolland. The Moffat Tunnel is currently venting, so the train will have to stop for about 15 minutes before getting the signal to continue. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114346 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tolland to East Portal (MP 47.7 to MP 48.9) Gilpin County, CO 15 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This westbound manifest has a trio of elephant-style units on the head end, the first of which was originally SP 145, is on the main between Tolland and East Portal. Many of the trees here have already lost many of their leaves, likely do to their position on the hill side. Very open and susceptible to wind from the valley. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114347 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tolland to East Portal (MP 47.7 to MP 48.9) Gilpin County, CO 16 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This westbound is a monster train. By that, I mean that it is incredibly long. Between 10,000 and 11,000 feet. Turns out that the train is actually a coal train, but with a string of general manifest cars headed to Grand Junction. The UP powers that be did not want to wait for the normal MNYGJ, so they added the cars ahead of a coal train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114348 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tolland to East Portal (MP 47.7 to MP 48.9) Gilpin County, CO 15 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This westbound train has seven (yes, seven!) mid-train swing helpers. Looks like the days of Tennessee Pass! The reason for the power is because this is actually two trains, combined as one. As you can see, the second half of the train is a coal empty. To keep the general manifest cars moving, UP added them to the front of this coal empty, headed for Grand Junction. They did this so the manifest cars would not have to wait for the (regularly scheduled) MNYGJ. Most of this power will be used on the coal train after the train is split in Grand Junction. This type of train blocking is all the result of the theory known as Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR). A philosophy that Class 1 railroads in particular have really embraced. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114349 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Cliff (6,900 ft) Gilpin County, CO 19 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The eastbound Zephyr is running about 40 minutes behind schedule as it glides east on the main track at Cliff along South Boulder Creek. The Zephyr was the seventh train to run through the Moffat Tunnel during daylight hours on this last official day of summer for 2026. A great day in the Colorado High Country! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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