Photo ID: 113319 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 64 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This tie plate inserter is setting out new tie plates on top of the new ties that have been installed just minutes earlier. Once the tie plates are in place, a spiker will come next and spike down the plates/ties. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113318 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 47 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This Tie Extractor/Inserter (TE/IE) is currently working as an inserter. A crane has placed new ties along the right-of-way and the inserter is sliding the ties underneath the rails. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113317 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 50 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A string of maintenance equipment works to replace the ties along the right-of-way west of Leyden. UP has laid new ballast and is now replacing thousands of ties on the Moffat over the course of the next few months. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113316 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 54 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific In this overhead shot of the mainline west of Leyden at MP 14.5, you can clearly see the tie gang and the work they are doing. All of the ties you see that are perpendicular to the rails are new ties that are waiting to be installed beneath the rails. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113315 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 57 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This is what a major maintenance project on a Class 1 railroad looks like! A long line of machines, each with its own specific purpose, stretch west on the tracks west of Leyden. At the front of the line (closest to the camera) is a crane that is piling up old ties. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113314 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 61 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Here in Barbara's Gulch east of Rocky, a UP tie extractor has shifted and, instead of pulling ties out on the south side of the tracks, it is now pulling them out on the north side of the tracks. Maintenance workers are walking the rails and make sure old tie plates have been moved out of the way ahead of a crane that is piling up old ties. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113313 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 60 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A Union Pacific tie extractor is pulling designed old ties out from underneath the rails, leaving them along the right of way. A hundred feet or so behind the extractor, a crane is working to clean up the old ties. It is picking them up three or so at a time and putting them in piles along the right-of-way to be picked up by a work train in the future. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113312 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 58 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An overhead view of the tie extractor as it works to pull out old ties, marked with green paint, from beneath the rails. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113311 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 63 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This piece of maintenance equipment is picking up old ties that have been removed by the tie extractor, running ahead of this machine. Work trains dropped off new ties along the right-of-way a few weeks ago. However, if a few extra ties are replaced, this crane has some new ties in tow that it can lay on the ground if they are needed. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113310 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, November 13, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 61 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP is in the midst of a major maintenance project on the Moffat. This particular piece of equipment is called a Tie Extractor/Inserter (TE/IE). A clamp on the side of the machine grabs onto a tie on the outside of the rail and pulls the tie out from under the rails. As you can see, not every tie along the rails is being replaced. The new ties are laying at (roughly) 45° angles to the rails. The old ties are perpendicular and will be picked up by the next piece of equipment. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113306 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 10, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS016 (East Rocky) Arvada, CO 95 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific A UP work train is departing the siding at Rocky to continue east toward Denver after picking up the gondola behind UP 6279. This AC4400CW has spent a lot of time on the Moffat, as it was originally delivered in June 1995 in scarlet and gray as SP 278. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113305 Date Shot Photo By Monday, November 10, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS016 (East Rocky) Arvada, CO 72 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP 6279 stopped in the siding at Rocky to pick up the gondola you see directly behind the unit from the house track at Rocky. With the car now part of the consist, the train is continuing east toward town. The yardmaster at North Yard informed the train that they will actually head to the 36th Street Yard, crossing the Belt Industrial Lead. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113281 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS022 (West Eiesle (Clay)) Arvada, CO 91 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The conductor on this westbound oil train is on the ground after putting the switch at West Eisele (Clay) in hand throw. The train had to flag by the west switch as a PTC problem prevented DS-378 from getting the train a light. The conductor will reboard the train and it will continue west at restricted speed until encounter a more favorable signal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113280 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 64 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific This westbound UP oil train is slowing to a stop on the main at the west end of Eisele. There is a PTC problem at the west switch this morning, and DS-378 cannot set up a signal for the train. The conductor will have to put the switch in hand throw and the train will flag by the signal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113279 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 94 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific There had been a bit of a drop off in UP oil trains on the Moffat in the past few months. Rumor had it that UP had redirected them to run over the Overland and then over Soldier Summit. However, recently there seems to be a new increase on the Moffat, hopefully marking a return of UP oil trains in Colorado. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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