Photo ID: 108727 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS020 (East Eisele (Clay)) Arvada, CO 940 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak AMTK 79 just knocked down a Clear (green) signal at the east switch of Eisele (Clay). The Zephyr was running about 90 minutes late when it left Union Station, but will be 2 hours and 45 minutes late by the time it reaches Fraser due to slow orders. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108726 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS020 (East Eisele (Clay)) Arvada, CO 871 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak At the top of Big Ten Curve and at the east end of Eisele (Clay), the westbound Zephyr creeps along at 10 MPH and approaches a Clear (green) signal. The slow order is in place is a heat-related speed restriction that will be in place until after sunset. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108715 Date Shot Photo By Monday, June 14, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rainbow Cut Jefferson County, CO 978 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The morning Zephyr, running just about on time, is about to enter Rainbow Cut on the main at Plain. Rainbow Cut got its name, appropriately, from the various colors of the rock revealed when the cut was created. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108714 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, June 13, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 918 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Several minutes after sunset and the eastbound Zephyr is making its way east through Eisele (Clay). Heat restrictions have the train limited to 10 MPH at the moment. Take note of the Siemens "Charger" ALC-42 third out on the head end. This is the future of long distance power as the P42s are reaching their end of life. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108713 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, June 13, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1030 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak With daylight rapidly fading, the ISO on the old drone has be bumped up quite a bit for this shot of the eastbound Zephyr coming through the crossing at Blue Mountain Road. You can definitely pick up a bit of "noise" in the shot. As you can see though, there was a large gathering of railfans present to get a glimpse as Amtrak's Phase VI ALC-42...the future of power on Amtrak long distance trains. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108712 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, June 13, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1016 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Welcome to the future! Amtrak's GE P42DCs (the "Genesis" units) are really showing their age, being delivered in the late 1990s. AMTK 300 is the first ALC-42, a Tier-4 compliant Siemens "Charger". Amtrak has 75 of these on order to the tune of $850 million. The units are expected to run AMTK 300-374. AMTK 300 is wearing the "Phase VI" paint scheme. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108711 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, June 13, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1187 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The eastbound Zephyr lost nearly two hours between Elko, NV and Salt Lake City, UT. The delay was then made worse by level 2 heat restrictions on various parts of the Moffat. The light is fading very fast as it makes its way toward the crossing at Blue Mountain Road. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108690 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 10, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Portal (5,750 ft) Gilpin County, CO 811 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr comes around the final curve before the Moffat Tunnel alongside the siding and wye at East Portal. The Moffat Tunnel, as you can see, is dead ahead! The 6.2-long tunnel will take the train under the Continental Divide at the highest elevation of any remaining mainline in the United States, roughly 9,200 feet above sea level. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108689 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 10, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East of East Portal Gilpin County, CO 897 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Just east of East Portal, the westbound Zephyr follows along South Boulder Creek and East Portal Road as it continues west toward the Moffat Tunnel. From the days before the Moffat Tunnel, the grade for Rollins Pass is visible on the left side of the frame. The old grade is now a dirt road that people enjoy driving, cycling, ATV-ing, and dirt biking on these days. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108688 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 10, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East of East Portal Gilpin County, CO 906 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The westbound Zephyr crosses over East Portal Road just east of the siding of East Portal, about 1 1/2 miles east of the Moffat Tunnel. The Zephyr has a clear signal at the east end of East Portal, and will pick up a little speed as it will head in to the tunnel. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108687 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 10, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West of Tolland Gilpin County, CO 864 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The landscape opens up a bit at (and just west of) Tolland. The westbound Zephyr passes underneath the "shifted load" detector - also sometimes referred to as a "high/wide" detector - just west of Tolland at MP 48. The Zephyr is currently under one of many slow orders, keeping its speed down to about 15 MPH. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108686 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 10, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS019 (West Rocky) Arvada, CO 940 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak Crawling along at a mere 10 MPH due to a speed restriction, the westbound Zephyr leaves Rocky behind and starts to really dig in to the grade that will take it up and around Big Ten Loop to Eisele (Clay). Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108685 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 10, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 824 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak After meeting UP's MGJNY at Rocky, the Zephyr passes by the end DPUs and is climbing west out of Little Ten Loop. There are a lot of speed restrictions in place on the Moffat right now due to heat, so the Zephyr is actually slowing down to 10 MPH at this point. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108684 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 10, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS016 (East Rocky) Arvada, CO 888 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak At the east end of Rocky, UP's eastbound Grand Junction to North Yard manifest holds in the siding to meet the daily westbound Zephyr. Note the Rocky spur off to the left toward the top of the image. The spur breaks away from the main a few thousand feet to the west, and climbs an 8% grade to rapidly gain elevation up the hill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108663 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, June 3, 2021 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS019 (West Rocky) Arvada, CO 1166 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Amtrak The eastbound Zephyr meets a westbound BNSF Denver-Provo which has had the unfortunately luck of being stuck in the siding for the last five hours. A track maintainer found a track issue around Coal Creek Canyon that required repairing before allowing a train to roll over it. It was fixed in time for the Zephyr, and now the manifest will finally get a green signal to head west. However, the train will only go as far as Pinecliff before taking the siding again for a recrew. The train spent so much time at Rocky, the crew only has another five hours to work. So a fresh crew will take the train to Grand Junction from Cliff. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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