On the first day of May, the landscape is starting to green up here at East Eisele (Clay) as the westbound "Rockies to the Red Rocks" Rocky Mountaineer knocks down a clear (green) signal at the east switch and heads down the main. A pair of UP SD70Ms is power for the passenger train today.
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Well, unfortunately, for the third run of the 2024 season, the Rocky Mountaineer has a pair of leased SD70Ms from Union Pacific. Not exactly sure what happened with the GP40-3s. Also not sure why the leased power from Horizon Rail was not used. Regardless, overall the two SD70Ms in use do look pretty good overall on the climb up to Big Ten.
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The crew of RMRX 8021 is facing the east portal of Tunnel 2 and the official start of the Tunnel District, just west of the west switch of Plain. The weather is very pleasant for this first revenue run of the train, which is headed for Glenwood Springs, CO for the night before continuing on to Moab, UT tomorrow.
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The ground at the west end of Plain narrows pretty rapidly as the siding comes to an end and the single track main continues west in to the Tunnel District. The Rocky Mountaineer is just about to start the run west through the district, leaving Plain behind and approaching Tunnel 2.
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After a long, cold winter, its Rocky Mountaineer season once again! The first revenue run of the "Rockies to the Red Rocks" charges west on the main at Plain, approaching Rainbow Cut.
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Near the east end of Rocky, the Rocky Mountaineer is approaching a clear (green) signal. The train will continue to town, but may get briefly held up at C&S Jct while waiting for one of the two Bypass tracks to open up. A westbound in one of the track is expected to roll about five minutes after this picture was taken, so any delay to the Mountaineer should be minimal.
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The eastbound Rocky Mountaineer overtakes an eastbound UP coal empty that is sitting in the siding at Rocky to allow the passenger train around. The conductor from the coal empty is on the ground to give the Mountaineer a roll by on the way east. It is a very interesting compare/contrast between the EMD spartan cab of yesteryear and the standard GE wide cab of today.
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The Rocky Mountaineer GP40-3s (rebuilt from GP40-2s) are fit and ready to go for the 2024 season! The matched paint scheme with the rolling stock looks really fantastic as the train rolls east through a semi-snowy scene at Blue Mountain Drive.
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The Rocky Mountaineer's "Rockies to the Red Rocks" is generally considered to be a summer/fall train. However, on April 19th, an eastbound test of the Mountaineer heads east through a winter wonderland at Crescent.
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Wrapping around the near-180° curve at the west end of Crescent, the eastbound Rocky Mountaineer is headed back to Denver on a test run before the revenue season starts next Wednesday.
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Out of Tunnel 19, a test run of the Rocky Mountaineer (ahead of the 2024 season) approaches a clear (green) signal at the west switch of Crescent.
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HZRX 187 is a rather unique engine. It was built as an SD18 in the early 1960s. There were only 114 such units produced by EMD. 60 of those were actually built as export units, meaning only 54 units were in the US. It has since been rebuilt and is now classified as an SD18M.
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HZRX is a leased SD40M-2 from Horizon Rail Leasing. It started life decades ago as an SD45 and has now found life after Class 1 railroads.
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Test Run 2024! With the 2024 season of the Rocky Mountaineer's Rockies to the Red Rockies starting in two weeks, a test run ran today, heading west from Denver toward Glenwood Springs (tonight) and Moab (tomorrow). The GP40-3s sporting the RM paint had some mechanical issues last year and the RM had to borrow power from UP several times. This year, two six-axle units have been brought in (leased) to help out the train.
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Just east of the east portal of Tunnel 1, four units are kicking up some exhaust, pulling the up the 2% grade. The train is (mostly) empty, as this is just a test run for the upcoming 2024 season.
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