Photo ID: 110961 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 30, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Rocky (7,330ft) Arvada, CO 341 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An eastbound UP Grand Junction to North Yard manifest, comprised mainly of covered hoppers, is stopped in the siding at Rocky. It'll wait here for the next 45 minutes or so, waiting on the arrival of the morning westbound Zephyr, just departing Union Station at the time of this picture. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110942 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Tunnel 1 (MP 23.4, 366 ft) Arvada, CO 244 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific 20 years ago, when coal was just about at its peak on the Moffat, who would've thought that oil would essentially replace coal as the energy sources rolling on the rails of the Moffat!? While oil trains are nowhere near as numerous as coal was 20 years ago, there still seems to be 2-3 oil trains, on average, every 24 hours on the Moffat. One such example would be this empty, with an ET44AC on the point, approaching the east portal of Tunnel 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110941 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS022 (West Eiesle (Clay)) Arvada, CO 248 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific On a mostly clear morning, a westbound UP oil empty heads out of Eisele (Clay), heading around the curve that will take it over to Blue Mountain Drive and the climb up to Tunnel 1 and beyond. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110940 Date Shot Photo By Tuesday, August 20, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 231 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Following about 20 minutes behind a westbound BNSF manifest, a westbound empty oil train (with five units on the point) makes its way around Big Ten Curve. This perspective, looking east towards the plains, really helps to exemplify the amazing architecture of the Moffat route as it climbs to the Rockies, barely exceeding a 2% grade on the climb. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110927 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 275 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific An SD70ACe, an ES44AC, and a C44AC-CTE all lead an oil empty. Note that, directly behind the power is a single covered hopper. This is a buffer car, offering some space between the power and the tank cars that carry waxy crude oil. The train is making away around the east edge of Big Ten Curve. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110926 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 265 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Every car that makes up the wind break on the inside of the curve on Big Ten Curve has graffiti covering them. The cars have been repainted at least twice in their history, but that seemingly only creates a fresh template, inviting new graffiti "artists". A westbound oil empty wraps around the outside of Big Ten, led by an SD70ACe. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110925 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Big Ten Curve (MP 19.5 to MP 20.2) Arvada, CO 260 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific I really like this shot, with the three units leading elephant-style on the most common type of train on the Moffat in 2024. Alas, the paint scheme on the three units...particularly the burnt flag on the long hood of the lead unit...are not the best UP has to offer. The train is climbing up from Rocky toward Big Ten Curve. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110924 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS019 (West Rocky) Arvada, CO 253 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Sunflowers are popping up along the right-of-way as we move closer to the end of summer. Three units, elephant-style, lead an empty oil train out the west end of Rocky on the journey west. These oil trains, while not as numerous as coal trains were two years ago, are by far the most common train on the Moffat today. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110923 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 252 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Morning light bounces off the conductor's side of the train on the point of a westbound oil can train. The train is headed for the transload facility in Wash, UT, just east of Price, UT. The oil is taken to the facility from oil wells via truck, and then moved to trains before heading east. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110922 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 240 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific The relative high speeds of the rails on the plains are behind now for this westbound oil train, making its way through the narrowest part of Barbara's Gulch. Note the speed sign on the right side of the rails, indicate the max speed for eastbounds once the entire train has passed beyond the sign. Why the two numbers? The top number (60 MPH) is the max speed for passenger trains. The bottom number (30 MPH) is the max speed for everything else. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110921 Date Shot Photo By Friday, August 16, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Barbara's Gulch (MP 15.9 to MP 17.2) Arvada, CO 250 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific Working its way west through Barbara's Gulch, three elephant-style units are on the point of a UP oil empty. The number of oil trains seems to have increased on the Moffat somewhat in the last year or so. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110913 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 15, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS013 (West Leyden) Arvada, CO 252 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific As the eastbound oil train rolls away from the camera on the main track at Leyden, a westbound BNSF manifest (the Denver to Provo) has turned its lights back on full and is ready to depart west as soon as DS-380 aligns the switch and gets a light for the train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110912 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 15, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leyden to Rocky (MP 13.4 to MP 17.4) Arvada, CO 294 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific After meeting the Zephyr at Eisele and meeting a UP oil train at Rocky, the train will meet a BNSF manifest at Leyden, just ahead. UP 9576 looks pretty sharp in the new UP paint scheme. 15 years ago, most of the buildings (and houses) visible in this shot did not exist. This western most part of Arvada has grown a lot. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110909 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 15, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 235 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific While UP has been focused on rebuilding some older unit, they still have 170 Tier-4 GE units (ET44ACs) on the roster. UP 2583 is an example of one of these units, as noted by the extra large radiator intakes and interesting bulge directly ahead the radiator intake. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110908 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 15, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Eisele (Clay) (5,780 ft) Arvada, CO 236 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific UP 9576 is a C44ACM, recently rebuilt from SP 8112, a C44-9W. One of the largest parts of the rebuild included changing the units from DC traction motors to AC traction motors. Several Class 1 railroads are pursuing rebuilds instead of buying new Tier-4 units from either GE or EMD. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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