The power for the Rocky Local has run around the wye and is now backing to attach to the hopper returning to town. The train will shove down the spur back to the mainline and will then be in position to return to town.
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Two things are being done by the Rocky Local in this shot. First off, the power is preparing to spot some covered hoppers on the tail leg of the wye. Once those have been spotted, the power will come back around the wye in the foreground, attach to the hoppers in the foreground and shove back down to the mainline.
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Approaching the grade crossing at what used to be the west entrance to Rocky Flats, the Rocky Local is moving along at a cautious 10 MPH. A few of the hoppers that were to be dropped off at TXI Aggregate could not fit on the inbound track. Those hoppers will be spotted on the tail leg of the wye near the old Rocky Flat. They will be delivered to TXI at a later date.
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Backing down the Rocky Spur toward TXI Aggregate (at the end of the line), the Rocky Local passes by "Old Time Lumber", a company located right off Highway 93.
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Even as common as patched Espee AC4400CWs are these days, it is still pretty uncommon to catch two of them together in a consist! Such was the case on this Sunday morning though, as UP 6406 (ex-SP 360) leads a coal load east out of Leyden after meeting three westbounds. Interestingly, the train is actually headed for the power plant in Cañon City on the eastern end of Tennessee Pass!
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The "powers that be" do a very good job of keeping either former Rio Grande or former Espee power on the Rocky Local. On this day, the local had a trio of fly letter (former) Espee GP40M-2s. These units have been on the local for a few weeks now. The train is about five miles away from North Yard.
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Not too often these days that you find a mainline train where the power has spartan cabs across the board! That was exactly the case here though as the eastbound Rocky Local makes its way through the cut between Carr Street and 68th Ave in Arvada.
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This former GP40M-2 has suffered from yellow-door replacement! However, somebody has taken the time to remove the UP Shield from the nose and repaint "SP" on the scarlet red instead. UP 1510 is leading the Rocky Local as it shoves 30 cars back across CO-72 on the spur. Note the brakeman on the last car, hanging on for the trip back.
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A trio of (patched) Espee GP40M-2s with fly letters have conquered the 8% grade away from the mainline along the Rocky Spur. The units are crossing CO-93 (which connects Boulder and Golden) as they head toward the former site of Rocky Flats.
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For five minutes before this train showed up, Blue Mountain was drenched in afternoon light. A fluffy white cloud moved in just as the train was leaving Clay! Oh well, nice to get a shot of one of the 15 remaining unpatched Espee AC4400CW's (as of this shot) in the consist.
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In this day and age (being the time this picture was taken), unpatched Espee units are becoming harder and harder to find. Of the 279 AC4400CWs that Espee had, only 15 were left unpatched as of this photo!
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This is something of a back-lit shot, but I decided to post it anyway. The reason being that this unit was in the consist of the MDVSI-04, getting ready to head east out of town. I have a strong suspicion that this unit might be headed for North Little Rock for a fresh coat of Armour Yellow paint!
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The sole DPU unit on the back end of this westbound coal empty sits in the morning cold. It is clear, but it is only 20 degrees outside. The icicles hanging down from the anti-climber are starting to melt away!
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From high above the tracks (east of Cliff), we look down on one of the very few remaining unpatched Espee AC4400CW's, SP 144. The unit was the second unit on the head end of an eastbound coal train.
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At the time of the photo, there were less than two dozen unpatched Espee AC4400CW's left, most being the 100-199 number range. This number range is not equipped with DPU capabilities, and thus has had a lower patching priority.
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