Photo ID: 113407 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tomah Road to Larkspur Douglas County, CO 25 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Exit 173 off of southbound I-25 is visible at the base of the shot, the exit used to get from the interstate to the town of Larkspur, CO. Main 1 follows this exit and the Main 1 continues through the eastern edge of Larkspur on the journey south. Two relatively new ES44ACHs (or ES44AHs) lead this southbound coal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113406 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tomah Road to Larkspur Douglas County, CO 33 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This particular spot at MP 41 along Main 1 north of Sedalia is great spot to get a little color in your shots, even at the end of December when most of the deciduous plants have lost their leaves. A southbound coal load is climbing up the 1.4% grade along I-25. Main 1 here is owned by BNSF while Main 2, on the other side of I-25, is owned by Union Pacific. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113405 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sedalia Douglas County, CO 26 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF It has been an unusually temperate fall this year, with not appreciable snow seen through all of October and November. The first light dusting of snow came just 24 hours earlier along the Front Range. Here, on the final day of November, it is a frigid 17°F and overcast, but no real snow to be found as a southbound coal load comes through Sedalia. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113404 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Louviers to Sedalia Douglas County, CO 35 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF Coal production in the United States has been on a steady decline since 2011, with a few exceptions or spikes between 2016 and 2019. Coal production in Wyoming in the Powder River Basin is no exception, with the peak production coming in 2008 when 466 million short tons were mined. By comparison, that number dropped to 191 million short tons in 2024, and is forecasted to drop even further to 185 short tons in 2025. That's rough 40% of the peak production from 2008. Despite the decrease, there are still plenty of coal trains to be found on the Joint Line, with this southbound load making a good case-in-point just north of Sedalia. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113403 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Acequia Douglas County, CO 29 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF With the implementation of the EPA Tier 4 standards in 2015, railroads have all but stopped purchasing new locomotives from EMD (Caterpillar) and GE (Wabtec). The Tier 4 locomotives available from both manufacturers are more expensive and more complicated, which has discouraged railroads from purchasing many. Most of the locomotives ordered new in the last decade have been "Tier 4 credit units". These are Tier 3 units (ES44ACs) that railroads have received from emissions credits. Both of the ES44ACHs (or ES44AHs) on this southbound coal load at Acequia are credit units, delivered in late 2023 and early 2024. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113402 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Littleton to Acequia Littleton, CO 37 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF This southbound coal load is passing over the C-470 freeway and underneath the relatively new onramp from southbound US-85 onto eastbound C-470. The train is on Main 1, owned here by Union Pacific, and dispatched by BNSF. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113401 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Hogan's Alley Denver, CO 25 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Colorado Springs (UP)/Pikes Peak (BNSF) BNSF A pair of relatively new ES44ACHs lead a southbound coal load on Main 2 along Hogan's Alley (and I-25) just a few miles from downtown Denver. This is the far north end of the Joint Line with both BNSF and Union Pacific running trains here, although both mains here are owned by BNSF. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113400 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, November 30, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sand Creek to Irondale Commerce City, CO 32 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Brush (BNSF) BNSF Right at sunrise, as the sun crests the horizon to the east, a westbound (soon to be southbound) coal load rolls by the massive grain elevators just east of the diamond at Sand Creek. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113399 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, November 29, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rennicks Yard Denver, CO 37 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots BNSF, Santa Fe Classic Santa Fe blue and yellow units are, of course, becoming increasingly rare in 2025. So, I was really happy to nab this shot of a BNSF GP39-2 (still painted in "Yellowbonnet") with a former-Santa Fe SD45-2B sitting in North Yard in the distance, waiting to be moved to Iowa. BNSF 2854 is switching some intermodal cars around at Rennicks. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113398 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, November 29, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North Yard Denver, CO 39 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots SPTX One of the more interesting units to have ever existed! B-units were tried by various railroads at various times since the introduction of diesel-electric locomotives. Such units have a prime mover and traction motors, but simply lack a cab. This means they can only be controlled when they are in a consist with another unit (or units). EMD never produced an SD45-2B (seen here); rather, Santa Fe did a conversion program themselves that removed the cab from eight SD45-2s, creating B-units. I am not sure exactly what the reason was for doing this. If anyone reading this caption is aware of the reason, feel free to leave a comment! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113397 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, November 29, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North Yard Denver, CO 52 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots SPTX This unit and this paint scheme really take me back to my childhood. As a kid of the 1980s, I remember seeing a few SD45-2Bs when my dad would take me out train chasing. It was really cool to see ex-ATSF 5703 here in North Yard, waiting to be moved to Iowa, hopefully for restoration. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113396 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, November 29, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North Yard Denver, CO 42 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots BUGX, Amtrak A note on the door of this F40PH has a note indicated that the unit is running "dead in consist", and that the handbrake is located near the rear door. The cab doors are locked and inaccessible. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113395 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, November 29, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North Yard Denver, CO 47 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots BUGX, Amtrak A few days earlier, I got a few shots of this ex-Amtrak F40PH at BNSF's engine house in Denver. The pervious day, the unit (along with an ex-ATSF SD45-2B) were transferred to Union Pacific. Here, the last F40PH delivered to Amtrak from EMD sits near the fuel tracks, waiting to head to Iowa. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113394 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, November 29, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North Yard Denver, CO 35 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Union Pacific A trio of UP GP38-2s sit in North Yard, UP 663 kicking up a ton of exhaust. All three of these units started their lives as Missouri Pacific units. Missouri Pacific, being primarily a high plains railroad, is one of a handful of railroads that ordered some units without dynamic brakes, deeming them unnecessary for the terrain they ran in. Today, such units are almost always relegated to yard service. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113393 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, November 29, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North Yard Denver, CO 39 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Union Pacific This UP GP38-2 has seen better days for a number of reasons. I'm guessing that it has spent some time either in the Houston area, or in Southern California, based on the extensive graffiti. Additionally, white exhaust is pouring out of the exhaust stacks as well. In a diesel-electric locomotive, this is generally indicative of unburned diesel fuel in the cylinders, sometimes from injection timing issues. However, it is possible that it might just be the result of a cold start, and the temperature this morning is only about 25°F, so if the unit was just started, that could explain the exhaust as well. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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