UP 1989 was setup on the point of this rather unusual looking train at UP's Roydale Yard on the Limon Sub. The day before, a Colorado Highway Patrol tent was setup and officials were being introduced to the nuclear car, used for transporting radioactive waste.
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This is an appropriately-named "nuclear" car. It is used for transporting nuclear waste by rail. It has been tested by intentionally derailing a train and running it into a wall at 100+ MPH! In all tests, the radioactive cylinder remained completely intact.
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Can you guess what "DODX" stands for on this caboose? If you guessed "Department of Defense", you'd be correct! This caboose is owned by the United States Department of Defense and was sitting on a short train in the yard at Roydale.
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After picking up its conductor and receiving clearance from 36th Street, this special military train is ready to proceed west on the Limon Sub and then north toward Cheyenne on the Greeley Sub.
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A pair of leaser GP38-2s sit idling at Roydale on UP's Limon Sub. Nothing to switch at the moment, so these good looking blue units are just hanging out, letting the snow melt off of them.
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I consider myself extremely lucky to have come across this consist! These days, finding a patched Espee unit is still fairly common. Two patched units in a consist is increasing rare. Finding three - particularly three without an other units - is just awesome. These units were on a coal empty heading for Energy, tied down in the siding at Sable.
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Notice anything missing from this unit!? It's amazing how bland the nose of a UP unit looks when something has small as the UP shield isn't there.
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A westbound coal empty makes its way toward the town of Agate. While most of the Limon Sub is "dark" (has no signals), there are a few sidings that are protected by signals. The signal in this shot is the eastbound approach signal for Buick.
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In the town of Agate, this eastbound coal loads works to climb a grade and is moving slowly. This works well for those of us chasing, as we have ample opportunity to get ahead of the train!
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UP has a pretty nice trestle over the West Bijou Creek. An eastbound coal load crosses over the trestle which is just west of the town of Byers. A single AC6044CW brings up the rear of the train.
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In the middle of "downtown" Strasburg, CO, a eastbound coal load is making the best speed it can on its journey east. Hard to believe it is the beginning of March when the weather is like this!
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A few miles west of the town of Strasburg, seen in the distance, and UP 6517 and train cross over E Colfax Avenue.
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As this coal loads continues to pull east onto the plains, the mountains slowly sink down into the horizon. This curve here is just a few miles west of the town of Watkins, CO.
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Cresting the hill! The east switch of Mesa is a fantastic place to get some telephoto shots of eastbounds. The snow-capped Rocky Mountains make a wonderful background as the power works hard to pull the train over the grade.
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A few miles west of UP's 36th Street Yard, a "rocket train" passes by one of the smaller yards used on the Limon Sub to spot cars set for industries. The rocket train has a fresh crew and is headed for the Greeley Sub, the Overland Route, and eventually, Clearfield, UT.
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