Photo ID: 106509 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 9, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1544 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Always nice catching a UP manifest on the Moffat. This train is actually the Phippsburg Local, which originated in Phippsburg, CO overnight. Interestingly, the train left P-Burg with a crew based out of P-Burg. Typically, a Denver-based crew in Yampa (an away terminal) would just take the train east. The P-Burg crew took the train as far as Kremmling. There, a van arrived from Denver with a Denver-based crew. The left number board (as you look at the train in the shot) is a little interesting as it is black-on-white whereas the right number board is the standard white on black. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106508 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 9, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1585 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An eastbound UP manifest slowly passes by an Approach (yellow) signal at the intermediate signal at milepost 14.5. This particular train was a bit of a lucky catch on my part. It is the MPHNYX, also known as the Phippsburg Local...the only non-coal train that still runs on the Craig Branch. It only runs once every 3-4 weeks, as needed, depending on the customers on the branch. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106507 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Carr Street Arvada, CO 1441 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The westbound Denver-Provo is just about to clear the grade crossing at Carr Street. The City of Arvada has installed "quad crossings" and soon this crossing will become a quiet zone as trains will no longer use their horns. The two poles on either side of the train are a high/wide detector. If anything is hanging off the train that won't fit through the tunnels in the Tunnel District, they trip one of the wires, notifying the dispatcher. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106506 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Carr Street Arvada, CO 1475 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A pair of good old C44-9Ws, both in Heritage 2 paint, bring up the rear of the westbound Denver-Provo. It is becoming increasingly rare to find C44-9Ws alone on these trains as ES44s and ET44s have become so dominant in the last few years. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106505 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Carr Street Arvada, CO 1593 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF A westbound BNSF Denver-Provo starts its journey west out of Denver. The train got held up at Utah Jct for about 20 minutes as DS-86 and the Corridor Manager figured out what to do about a coal train at Leyden (which was ultimately tied down there). No doubt the Grand Junction-based crew will be happy to return back home. As is common for a lot of the BNSF Denver/Provo trains, this train was about 95% tank cars. Also of note is the ET44C4 leading the train! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106504 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1621 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific It used to be common place to find coal train tied down in the siding at Leyden From 1997 to 2003 or so, the chances of finding a train tied down here were greater than finding the siding empty! However, when the Bypass tracks were built connecting the Moffat to the Belt, this increased capacity in Denver and reduced the need to for trains to tie down here. Then, around 2005, the citizens that live around Leyden petitioned the City of Arvada to prevent UP from parking trains here for extended periods (due to the noise and the diesel exhaust). Not sure if any ordinance was passed, but UP stopped using Leyden on a regular basis for tying down trains. If tying down a train was necessary, it was done at Rocky. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106503 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1540 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The standard three units, all of which are a little older, are cut into the middle of the "Public Service" coal train in the siding at Leyden. The units are remote controlled from the engineer in the lead unit, typically mirroring the lead units. The engineer has the option to fence off the DPUs, however, and control them independent from the headend. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106502 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1412 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) XLCX, Union Pacific The hopper cars that Xcel Energy uses for hauling coal are pretty cool cars. In addition to being hoppers (meaning they can be emptied through doors in the bottom), they are also equipped with rotary Couplers so the cars can be rolled on their side while remaining on the track and coupled to the car ahead of and behind them. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106501 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1528 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This ET44AH has been hanging around the Moffat, running on coal trains for several weeks now. Kind of nice to have the newest power running on coal trains. The ET44AH is Tier-4 emissions compliant and can be pretty easily distinguished from its ES44AC cousins. The radiator is a bit boxier and comes to more of a point at the top. There are also four equal-sized radiator intake grills, unlike its cousin. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106500 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1463 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A trio of near-matched UP GEs leads the eastbound "Public Service" coal load in the siding at Leyden. I say "near-matched" because the lead unit is an ET44AH whereas the last two are both ES44ACs. Close enough! It is also highly unusual to see a coal load on the Moffat with anything other than two units on the point. This particular train is longer than most on the Moffat though. It is 115 cars and nearly 6,900 feet long. It would fit in the siding at Leyden with less than 200 feet to spare. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106499 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden (7,020ft) Arvada, CO 1449 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Looks like this coal load found some snow drifts on its way out of the Colorado high country. Sure, there's no snow on the ground here in the Denver area, but there's no shortage of it in the mountains. And extreme high winds (70 MPH+) in parts of the mountains no doubt helped to bury the tracks in places. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106498 Date Shot Photo By Friday, February 24, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1664 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Most eastbound coal loads on the Moffat only have a single DPU unit on the tail end. The "Public Service" coal train, however, has two. This is because this train is actually a little longer than most of the coal trains on the Moffat and the power from the extra units is definitely justified. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106497 Date Shot Photo By Friday, February 24, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1566 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A trio of elephant-style GEs (all facing backward) serve as mid-trains swing helpers on this eastbound coal load. Already the snow is starting to let up a little bit as this winter storm starts to blow on out of Denver. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106496 Date Shot Photo By Friday, February 24, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1599 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific As of this photo, UP has 170 ET44AHs on their roster. UP 2573 is one such example, leading this Public Service coal load at Blue Mountain. This particular unit was one of the very first Tier-4 units delivered to UP in late 2015. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106495 Date Shot Photo By Friday, February 24, 2017 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Blue Mountain Drive (MP 22.43) Arvada, CO 1725 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A February blizzard reduces visibility as an eastbound coal load makes its way through the S-Curves at Coal Creek and toward the grade crossing at Blue Mountain. A Tier-4 ET44AC leads the train east. 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