Who knows how much longer this branch line will remain active! For the time being, however, it sees a train twice a week when UP's South Local comes to switch out one or two industries on the branch. Here, the power for the South Local is return light to the Joint Line, which crosses over Oxford on the bridge in the distance.
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After picking up a string of empty gondolas, UP's South Local is backing away from the camera to head down the Military Jct branch after crossing Santa Fe Drive.
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Near the east end of the Military Jct branch, UP's South Local throttle up in order to pull a huge string of loaded gondolas up the steep grade on the branch.
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UP's South Local backs down the Military Jct branch on the south side of Oxford Avenue. Empty gondolas are being spotted at Western Metal Recycling so the scrap can be hauled away by rail.
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The branch line at Military Jct runs across Santa Fe Drive west a few blocks along Oxford Avenue to Western Metals Recycling. I've wanted to get a shot of a train on this branch for years and finally got the opportunity on this afternoon.
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It is a beautiful President's Day 2011 as UP's South Local proceeds through a clear signal on Main 1 at South Denver. This is the local where two main tracks go to triple track when heading south.
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The symmetry of a Unit Grain train is one of the things that makes it a lot of fun to shoot! With the sun finally coming out from behind the clouds, this grain empty passes south past milepost 35.40 on Main 1.
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A southbound "Earthworm" is heading south along I-25 just south of Castle Rock. I caught two trains on the Joint Line on this day and, to my amazement, neither was a coal train! Crazy how much Castle Rock has grown in the past decade.
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The sun is playing hide and seek behind the clouds as BNSF's Denver, CO to Amarillo, TX manifest comes around the curve south of Castle Rock. The train had some interesting power with a pair of Norfolk Southern units on the point. The second unit was (obviously) Conrail, but is now on Norfolk Southern's roster!
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A BNSF southbound without a BNSF unit in sight. Heck, there's not even a unit from a western railroad in sight! BNSF's Denver, CO to Amarillo, TX is making good time on the approach to Castle Rock.
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Four GE units and a single GP40M-2 head back toward North Yard from Burnham. I thought it was interesting that the doors on the long hood on UP 1526 were open after leaving Burnham! The unit (ex-SSW 7291) was definitely online.
On August 1, 2003, I shot this very same unit when it was still in full, unpatched gray! It was working on the Montrose Local on that particular day.
A pair of light UP units departs northbound on Main 2 from the north Burnham Lead at Walnut Street. The north lead may not be around much longer as RTD's FasTracks project may result in the lead being removed.
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It has literally been years since I had last shot a non-coal UP train on the Joint Line. While I do love BNSF, it is always nice to catch a break from the norm! These auto racks are being sent to Arlington, TX for their next assignment.
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Hey! Quit tailing me! Because BNSF tends to under power their coal trains, they can only go 10-15 MPH up the Palmer Divide. Consequently, manifests frequently get stuck behind the slow moving coal drags. Here, a UP auto rack train has caught up to a slow-rolling coal load.
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You can shoot the big red barn at Greenland from the east side in the morning, but you can also setup a pretty descent shot of it from the west side in the afternoon. Here, a pair of UP SD70M's lead a string of about 60 empty auto racks south.
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