Photo ID: 112414 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Thompson Curve (MP 526.5) Grand County, UT 98 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF While I think the Utah desert brings some incredible beauty with it, few spots are quite as delightful as the area known as Thompson Curve. This curve is near the top of Thompson Hill, and just east of the siding of Thompson. A westbound BNSF Denver-Provo is winding its way through the curves on a fantastic, partly cloudy Sunday morning. MRL 4306 is second in the consist, helping on the journey west. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112413 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Elba to Sagers (MP 516.2 to MP 519.9) Grand County, UT 78 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF After meeting the Provo-Denver and the eastbound California Zephyr, it is finally the Denver-Provo's turn to head west across the desert. The train is departing the siding of Elba and taking on the climb up Thompson Hill, a trio of EMDs in charge on the head end. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112410 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Elba (5,490 ft) Grand County, UT 78 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF Although BNSF has nearly 800 SD70MACs on the roster, it seems that large swaths of them are in storage these days. It actually feels a little rare to catch one out on the mainline. If you look closely, you might also notice that BNSF 9725 is now designated as an SD70MACe. BNSF partnered with Progress Rail to update 24 SD70MACs. The upgrades included replacing the original Siemens electronics with modern Mitsubishi electronics, installing new traction motors, and upgrading the cab to an isolated cab for crew comfort. The units also received the New Image paint scheme, if they were not already sporting it. Most SD70MACs still wear the Heritage 2 scheme. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112409 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Elba (5,490 ft) Grand County, UT 74 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF If you are a railfan, you are likely aware of the fact that it is not uncommon to find Montana Rail Link (MRL) SD70ACes on BNSF trains. BNSF purchased and took over control of MRL at the start of 2024. When that happened, BNSF also took over ownership of all MRL power, and the SD70ACes in particular have been scattered throughout the BNSF system. Here, MRL 4306 sits as the second unit on the Denver-Provo in the siding of Elba. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112408 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Elba (5,490 ft) Grand County, UT 78 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF BNSF's Denver-Provo, with an MRL SD70ACe second out, sits in the siding at Elba. The train met its counterpart here a few minutes ago, but is going to continue waiting for the eastbound Zephyr, which has already departed Green River. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112404 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 87 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF UP has been working to replace all the block signals out in the desert. However, due to the low levels of traffic...particularly the low levels of UP traffic...the replacement has been going very slowly. That actually allows for shots like this to still be possible! Not only is the original Rio Grande intermediate signal still being used here, but it still has its lunar indication! Rio Grande used this on uphill climbs, providing for a restricting signal that would allow trains climbing a grade to proceed by the intermediate without stopping. A BNSF Provo-Denver has just passed by, activating the restricting aspect. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112403 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 127 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF Six units lead BNSF's Provo-Denver through the middle of the Utah desert on the Green River Subdivision. It is shots like this why the Utah desert has become my favorite place for rail photography. There is always a risk when shooting out there that no trains will run all day. That absolutely can happen. But even when you are lucky enough to catch one train, you can do some pretty fantastic things with it! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112402 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Floy to Solitude (MP 540.9 to MP 546.2) Grand County, UT 96 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF There are some truly magnificent views amongst the dirt mounds in the Utah desert between the sidings of Floy and Solitude. BNSF's Provo-Denver is making its way through S-Curves in the area, as those impressive dirt mounds build up from the ground The Book Cliffs and Green River are visible off in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112401 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Sphinx to Desert (MP 562.1 to MP 567.0) Emery County, UT 455 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF You can clearly see the ups and down of building a railroad across the desert (or really any terrain) in this shot. The tracks move up and down over small hills in the distance as BNSF's Provo-Denver makes track speed on its journey east. Here, the train is between Desert and Sphinx. Six units on the head end, and two DPUs bringing up the rear. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112400 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Vista to Woodside (MP 575.0 to MP 581.0) Emery County, UT 403 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF It has been a generally cloudy morning, but the sun decided to break through here at Woodside, as the Provo-Denver crosses over the Price River. Love it when everything just comes together! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112399 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Mounds to Wash (MP 603.9 to MP 610.1) Carbon County, UT 95 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF BNSF's Provo to Denver manifest went on duty in Provo at 0200 (2am). Nearly six hours later, the manifest is headed east between Wash and Mounds. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112398 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Wash (Oil Transload Facility) Carbon County, UT 62 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF, Union Pacific A look at the actual transload facility at Wash. As you can see, there are 11 oil trucks currently unloading their oil in the pipeline that leads to the storage tanks. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112397 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Wash (Oil Transload Facility) Carbon County, UT 80 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF The yard here at Wash has existed for decades, although for a long time, it had coal hoppers in it and there was a small coal transload facility here. Starting in 2015, the facility started to be converted to an oil transload facility. For the past several years, oil trains are loaded regularly here. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112396 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Wash (Oil Transload Facility) Carbon County, UT 68 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF I found this unit to be rather interesting. Perhaps even one of a kind...the unit is a hybrid between the BNSF New Image paint scheme and the Heritage 2 paint scheme. I do not recall seeing a unit like this before. If there are more, such units, please feel free to comment on them! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 112395 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, May 4, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Wash (Oil Transload Facility) Carbon County, UT 73 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Green River (UP) BNSF, Norfolk Southern Three Norfolk Southern units, an SD70ACe and two AC4400CWs, are currently working for BNSF. They units will be part of an eastbound oil load, once the train is ready. At the moment, they are sitting at the transload facility at Wash. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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