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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Here's a train that I would usually shoot on the Front Range Sub. This GATBNV is an empty Sulfur Train headed for Bonneville, WY. Upon arriving in Denver, it will get a quick crew change and head north on the Front Range Sub.
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A roster shot of an SD60M that wears a one-of-a-kind paint scheme. When BNSF was first formed in 1995, two unique schemes were tested. The first scheme is on BNSF 9647 and bears the nickname the "Vomit Bonnet". The scheme featured here was a prelude to the original Heritage Scheme. The scheme is actually slightly different on each side of the unit. The (small) blue stripe shown on this side of the unit is absent on the other side.
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The oldest (orange) BNSF paint scheme meets the newest (orange) BNSF paint scheme! BNSF 9297 wears a one-of-kind paint scheme - a prototype for the original Heritage scheme - and leads a New Image unit on the point of a unit tank train.
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A pair of UP SD70ACes lead a unit rail train down Main One on the north end of the Joint Line. UP 8573 is less than seven months old in this picture, having been delivered in mid-May of 2007.
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