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 65 (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 89 (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 98 (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 77 (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. Photo ID: 112412 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 97 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak The eastbound Zephyr is trying to make up a little time this morning as it is currently running roughly two hours behind schedule. With the Book Cliffs as a backdrop, the train is moving at around 70 MPH across the Utah desert. A BNSF manifest is in the siding at Elba, waiting for the arrival of the Zephyr. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112411 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 98 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Amtrak Passing by the intermediate signal on the approach to Elba, the eastbound California Zephyr is hustling along at track speed as it has clear (green) signals ahead. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112410 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Elba (5,490 ft) Grand County, UT 78 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF Although BNSF has nearly 800 SD70MACs on the roster, it seems that large swaths of them are in storage these days. It actually feels a little rare to catch one out on the mainline. If you look closely, you might also notice that BNSF 9725 is now designated as an SD70MACe. BNSF partnered with Progress Rail to update 24 SD70MACs. The upgrades included replacing the original Siemens electronics with modern Mitsubishi electronics, installing new traction motors, and upgrading the cab to an isolated cab for crew comfort. The units also received the New Image paint scheme, if they were not already sporting it. Most SD70MACs still wear the Heritage 2 scheme. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112409 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Elba (5,490 ft) Grand County, UT 73 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF If you are a railfan, you are likely aware of the fact that it is not uncommon to find Montana Rail Link (MRL) SD70ACes on BNSF trains. BNSF purchased and took over control of MRL at the start of 2024. When that happened, BNSF also took over ownership of all MRL power, and the SD70ACes in particular have been scattered throughout the BNSF system. Here, MRL 4306 sits as the second unit on the Denver-Provo in the siding of Elba. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112408 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Elba (5,490 ft) Grand County, UT 78 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF BNSF's Denver-Provo, with an MRL SD70ACe second out, sits in the siding at Elba. The train met its counterpart here a few minutes ago, but is going to continue waiting for the eastbound Zephyr, which has already departed Green River. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112407 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG548 (West Solitude) Grand County, UT 67 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific A look west from the west switch of Solitude. UP has what is known as a Form B active through here. For a Form B, a track foreman is in charge and puts up red flags around the work zone. Trains are not allowed to enter the work zone without explicit permission from the track foreman. As you can see, it appears that UP is replacing a lot of ties through here. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112406 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG548 (West Solitude) Grand County, UT 68 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific When a UP coal load derailed at the west switch of Solitude, the derailment damaged the switch itself. When UP repaired the tracks to get the mainline reopened, they did not bother to actually replace the switch. As you can see, the switch points are entirely missing. Not sure what this will mean for the siding of Solitude. UP has used it for long term storage of cars. Indeed, there are cars being stored there even when this picture was taken. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112405 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP RG548 (West Solitude) Grand County, UT 73 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) Union Pacific A team of UP maintenance of way employees are gathered at the west switch of Solitude, working to continue some cleanup efforts after a loaded coal train derailed here at the west switch about 10 days earlier. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112404 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 87 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF UP has been working to replace all the block signals out in the desert. However, due to the low levels of traffic...particularly the low levels of UP traffic...the replacement has been going very slowly. That actually allows for shots like this to still be possible! Not only is the original Rio Grande intermediate signal still being used here, but it still has its lunar indication! Rio Grande used this on uphill climbs, providing for a restricting signal that would allow trains climbing a grade to proceed by the intermediate without stopping. A BNSF Provo-Denver has just passed by, activating the restricting aspect. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112403 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 127 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF Six units lead BNSF's Provo-Denver through the middle of the Utah desert on the Green River Subdivision. It is shots like this why the Utah desert has become my favorite place for rail photography. There is always a risk when shooting out there that no trains will run all day. That absolutely can happen. But even when you are lucky enough to catch one train, you can do some pretty fantastic things with it! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112402 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 96 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF There are some truly magnificent views amongst the dirt mounds in the Utah desert between the sidings of Floy and Solitude. BNSF's Provo-Denver is making its way through S-Curves in the area, as those impressive dirt mounds build up from the ground The Book Cliffs and Green River are visible off in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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