This is a scene that has changed rather drastically over the course of the previous five years. Back in 2013, you would not have seen any houses in the shot. Now, however, the Arvada neighborhood of Leyden Rock has hundreds of houses on the south side of the tracks. A C44-9W leads an eastbound BNSF manifest on clear signals by the new neighborhood.
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An eastbound BNSF manifest, totalling less than 30 cars, rolls east on the main just west of Leyden, parallel to CO-72. Interestingly, the train wound up with five units despite the relatively short train.
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A short eastbound BNSF manifest approaches a clear signal at MP 14.6 on a chilly, damp, and overcast October morning. The train has a straight shot to the yard downtown.
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Fall is setting in to the Denver area in a big way in the second week of October. No snow on the ground in the metro area yet, but temperatures have dropped down in to the 30°F range. An eastbound BNSF manifest winds through foggy curves at Blue Mountain after meeting a westbound at Plain.
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Fall colors struck very early this year and many of the leaves were already off the trees up at Tolland. However, plenty of aspens were still looking mighty fine as a westbound BNSF Denver-Provo rolls west on the main on clear signals.
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This westbound is slowing as it had an approach at the last intermediate signal. It will get stopped at a red at the east switch of Rocky as maintenance has a work window that will last another 30 to 40 minutes.
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On this particular day, clouds were drifting in and out of the scene and a nice hole popped up in the clouds allowing the power on this westbound BNSF manifest to be nicely highlighted in the sun.
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If you look closely, you may note that the BNSF logo on the lead unit is a bit smaller than on the third unit. That lead unit is a ET44C4, the latest (Tier 4 compliant) model from GE. There is slightly less room on the long hood for the logo to appear.
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Another day and another BNSF manifest being led by a trio of GEs in Barbara's Gulch past the old metal tower that has stood for decades.
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A pair of C44-9Ws, still in Heritage 2 paint, push on the back of a westbound BNSF Denver-Provo in Barbara's Gulch. One to two DPUs on the tail end is typical for these manifests.
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A westbound BNSF manifest with a trio of GEs on the point heads west through Barbara's Gulch. This has become the standard consist that you can expect to find on the point of BNSF's manifests on the Moffat. Sure, there are certainly exceptions, but most of the time, this is what you are likely to find.
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A westbound BNSF manifest proceeds west through Barbara's Gulch. BNSF's symbol for this train is the HDENPVO1-08A (Denver, CO to Provo, UT). UP recently changed the symbol of this train in its computer system. UP now shows this train as the QFJPVJ-08. "FJ" is for "Fox Junction" and "PV" is for "Provo". The train's counterpart is the QPVCSJ in which "PV" is again Provo, and "CS" is "C&S Junction".
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Four cranes from Hulcher Services lift DRGW 5401 off the rails at the 44th Avenue grade crossing and prepare to roll west on the road, taking the nearly 200-ton unit with them.
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BNSF 1826 has cut away from DRGW 5401 at the grade crossing at 44th Avenue. Crews had the road closed, so this was as close as it was possible to get from the east end. Four cranes from Hulcher Services prepare to lift DRGW 5401 off the rails.
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A pair of SD40-2s is escorting DRGW 5401 toward the Colorado Railroad Museum. Its trip on BNSF rails has been a short one...just over a mile...as the power will approach a grade crossing at 44th Avenue just around the bend ahead.
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