The power for the Dirt Train is found working in the yard at Helper, UT. Not much more needs to be said for this picture!
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The Dirt Train follows a huge S-curve along the floor of the Utah Desert, the Book Cliffs in the background. The Dirt Train is heading toward Banning and, eventually, Columbia Junction.
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Although the Dirt Train is not a glamorous job, four Rio Grande tunnel motors can be found working it all the way up through 2002.
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Just east of the yard at Mounds (which is little more than three or four tracks used by UP for temporary storage), the Dirt Train moves along the Sunnyside Sub branch heading towards Columbia Junction.
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Four Rio Grande SD40T-2s lead the so-called "Dirt Train" eastbound just east of the siding of Wash near Wellington, UT. The Dirt Train actually carries trash from the Salt Lake City area to a landfill on the Sunnyside Subdivision in the Utah desert.
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Rio Grande SD50 5502 was given a yellow patch and "officially" turned to UP 5096 on July 27, 2001. On this day, 5096 is on the MDVNP (Denver to North Platte), waiting to depart on the Belt Main Track.
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GP40-2 3121 leads a short three car Rocky Local at Leyden on a cool January day.
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GP40-2 3111 sits on the siding at Leyden. Note that number boards covered and painted over on the back.
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The Rocky Local sits patiently at the east of Leyden, waiting for a westbound coal train.
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1999 or 1979? It was great having the opportunity to capture so many tunnel motors in one place before they fell into retirement, or into the UP patch shops.
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A somewhat unique tunnel motor at this point, DRGW 5345 had a rotating beacon above the cab, and a full light package on the nose. The horn, however, had been moved back to the long hood.
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Although many of its colleagues left Helper over the course of the next six years, 5390 was there up until it blew a main generator and had to be taken to Illinois to be fixed….and patched….late in 2005.
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DRGW 5385 idles quietly in the foreground, while its fellow tunnel motors wait near the engine house in the background for helper duty.
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Note that DRGW 5406 is missing its orange stripe along its running boards! Sometime around 1995, the unit was retrucked at Burnham, and everything below the walkway was repainted black. The orange stripe was never reapplied.
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DRGW 5385 sits alone in the yard in Helper on Memorial Day. At this point, 5385 was being used as a yard switcher in Helper.
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