The Joint Line in Colorado between Union Pacific and BNSF officially ends (at its southern point) at Bragdon. Here, the BNSF track is the western track, leading to the BNSF yard in Pueblo. Likewise, the UP track is the eastern track, leading to their yard. Here, a BNSF manifest is on the main track (the siding of Bragdon in the foreground) as it heads for Pueblo.
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There is a lot of green to be found at the "top of the hill" at Palmer Lake along the Joint Line in Colorado. BNSF's Denver to Kansas City (HDENKCK) has an elephant-style lash-up (including a Warbonnet) as the train enter the single track CTC.
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For about a half mile along "Hogan's Alley", the Joint Line parallels I-25. An empty UP rail train, coming from Mason City, IA, heads south Main 1 after meeting BNSF's "Kick-Den" (Kansas City to Denver manifest) on Main 2 a mile or so back.
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This is the northern start of the 120-mile Joint Line in Colorado. MP 0.0 at 20th Street. An empty UP rail train comes down from Prospect Junction at North Yard, preparing to enter Main 1 to proceed south. Curving off to the right, BNSF tracks head toward their own 31st Street Yard.
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At Kalamath (pronounced "Cal-uh-math") Street, a freshly recrewed northbound coal empty comes across the grade crossing on Main 2. After making its way through the yard, it'll continue north on the Brush Sub toward the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.
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This spot about two miles north of Palmer Lake is a great spot for a telephoto shot of an entire southbound coal train. The train loops back and forth as it descends through the Sag.
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A few miles north of Palmer Lake, this southbound coal load is descending through "the Sag". This is one of the location where the Santa Fe tracks once crossed over the Rio Grande tracks in the pre-Joint Line days. Some coal trains will occasionally stop here to cool their traction motors before continuing south.
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In between Castle Rock and Larkspur, a southbound BNSF coal load is pulling hard up the 1.5% ruling grade. The train is making about 14 MPH which is pretty typical for such trains on the Joint Line. The grade crossing in the background is for West Tomah Road.
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A group of railfans gather near the grade crossing at Palmer Lake and watch as a northbound BNSF manifest moves from the single track to Main 2 on its journey north toward Denver.
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On this particular day, there was a railfan meet being held at Palmer Lake. There was a pretty good turnout of probably 20 people over the course of a few hours. Here, a few fans shoot a northbound BNSF manifest.
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Two New Image ES44ACs lead BNSFs Kansas City, MO to Denver, CO manifest (HKCKDEN). The train is about to leave the single track CTC behind and continue north to Denver on Main 2.
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BNSF's southbound HPASSAG heads south at Palmer Lake. This train came down the Front Range Sub the previous night. It arrived in Denver earlier this morning, had a crew change, and headed south on the Joint.
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I saw this power - two SD60s both being leased to BNSF - earlier in the day near the yard. Now, the units are leading the southbound Denver to Kansas City manifest (HDENKCK-13). The first four tank cars have reporting marks CORX and are filled with beer from the Coors Brewing plant in Golden!
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For all the orange units (be it H1, H2 or New Image) that BNSF has on their roster, there are still a fair number of non-orange units to be found on the Joint Line! Here, an SD70MAC and a CEFX AC4400CW leaser unit bring up the rear of a south bound coal load just starting the journey down the Joint Line.
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SPSF!? A patched former Espee GP40-2 is currently assigned to Colorado Springs switcher duties while a northbound unit tank train - led by a warbonnet C44-9W - flies by on the main line.
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