Photo ID: 113151 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson (MP 521.4 to MP 527.3) Grand County, UT 73 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak In the rapidly fading light, the westbound Zephyr climbs up the east slope of Thompson Hill. The dirt mounds of the desert cast some crazy shadows in the low light, giving the desert a different feel from the middle of the day. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113150 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson (MP 521.4 to MP 527.3) Grand County, UT 75 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak AMTK 60 and AMTK 190 lead the westbound Zephyr by the intermediate signal just east of Thompson. Union Pacific started replacing signals in the Utah desert 15 years ago. A project that seemingly has been abandoned. Some signals were replaced. Some new signal masts were erected with no signal heads and never completed, and others, like this intermediate, were never touched. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113149 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson (MP 521.4 to MP 527.3) Grand County, UT 79 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak Running right around 40 minutes late, the westbound Zephyr charges quickly across the Utah desert west of Sagers. You can seen the tracks in the distance, winding their way across the desert. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113122 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson (MP 521.4 to MP 527.3) Grand County, UT 99 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific This S-Curve (known as Thompson Curve) offers up just about everything you could ask for here in the Utah desert. In addition to the wonderful geography of the curve itself, you get a bit of desert vegetation (what little there is), dirt mounds, and the hard rock fast of the Book Cliffs in the distance. This UP passenger special is carrying UP's upper management (and their families) on a trip from Rifle, CO to Potash, UT at the south end of the Cane Creek Subdivision. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113121 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson (MP 521.4 to MP 527.3) Grand County, UT 100 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific The appropriate names Thompson Curve near the apex of Thompson Hill is likely the most recognizable location of pictures in the Utah desert on the Green River Subdivision. Here, a UP passenger special is climbing through that famous S-Curve. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113120 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson (MP 521.4 to MP 527.3) Grand County, UT 90 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific I am a huge fan of the Utah Desert as I love the barren mounds of dirt which create a very interesting landscape. Hopefully, the UP managers (including "C-Level" managers such as CEO Jim Vena) and their families are enjoying the views as they roll west, climbing Thompson Hill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113119 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sagers to Thompson (MP 521.4 to MP 527.3) Grand County, UT 99 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific This UP passenger special adds some bright yellow to a scene that is already dominated by yellow hues between Sagers and Thompson in the Utah desert. The two exceptions being UP 1616, specially painted in honor of the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln, and the splash of red, white, and blue from the American flag on one of the passenger cars. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113118 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Cisco to Whitehouse (MP 505.2 to MP 509.8) Grand County, UT 88 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific Just east of Whitehouse, where the track swing around and cross from the south side of I-70 to the north side, you can get a good view of the transition from highland, more mountainous terrain to the east, and the dirt mounds of the dry Utah desert. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113117 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Cisco to Whitehouse (MP 505.2 to MP 509.8) Grand County, UT 94 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific After making its way through Ruby Canyon and the sidings of Agate and Cisco, this UP passenger special is starting the steeper part of the climb up the east slope of Thompson Hill. Here, it is rounding the curve, heading toward an I-70 underpass. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113116 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Mack to Ruby (MP 469.9 to MP 472.3) Mesa County, CO 96 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific Ruby Canyon is dead ahead for this westbound passenger special as it rolls west along Salt Creek. After Gore Canyon, Ruby Canyon is probably the next hardest to access. There is a dirt road...most suitable for a 4x4...that runs several miles south of I-70 to the north rim of Ruby Canyon. But it is a long, slow, bumpy ride and tends to be a "one and done". In other words, if you go in for a shot of a train, you won't be able to catch the train again. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113115 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Mack to Ruby (MP 469.9 to MP 472.3) Mesa County, CO 97 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific The crew for this UP passenger special is based in Grand Junction. The crew was bussed east to Rifle, where this train started this morning. The crew is also taking it all the way to Potash, UT on the Cane Creek Sub. As a result, there was no need for a stop in Grand Junction for a crew change on the way west. Consequently, it did not take log to get to this location west of Mack. The train is headed toward the highly scenic Ruby Canyon. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112416 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Green River to Sphinx (MP 555.8 to MP 560.9) Grand County, UT 186 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific The final shot on this particular journey to the Utah desert for me came just west of the west switch of Green River. DS-378 informed this eastbound coal empty that they would be holding at Green River for "at least an hour, and possibly longer". UP has a maintenance window ahead at Solitude. The empty will take the siding at Green River to wait not only for the maintenance window to clear up, but for BNSF's Denver to Provo as well. The train is coming to a stop west of the west switch for a few minutes to allow the conductor to run over to a gas station in Green River and pick up a few snacks for himself and the engineer. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112415 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson Curve (MP 526.5) Grand County, UT 272 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF A pair of ES44ACs bring up the tail end of the westbound Denver-Provo on the long wrap around Thompson Curve. This manifest will end up having to sit east of Solitude for a couple of hours while waiting for UP MOW to work through a maintenance window. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112414 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson Curve (MP 526.5) Grand County, UT 285 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF While I think the Utah desert brings some incredible beauty with it, few spots are quite as delightful as the area known as Thompson Curve. This curve is near the top of Thompson Hill, and just east of the siding of Thompson. A westbound BNSF Denver-Provo is winding its way through the curves on a fantastic, partly cloudy Sunday morning. MRL 4306 is second in the consist, helping on the journey west. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112413 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Elba to Sagers (MP 516.2 to MP 519.9) Grand County, UT 251 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF After meeting the Provo-Denver and the eastbound California Zephyr, it is finally the Denver-Provo's turn to head west across the desert. The train is departing the siding of Elba and taking on the climb up Thompson Hill, a trio of EMDs in charge on the head end. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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