For several years now, BNSF has stored a "protection unit" in a short stub track off of Main 1 just north of "the sag" around Spruce. On occasion, a southbound coal load will stall out at the top of hill at Palmer Lake. If this happens, the unit can be retrieved and used to add some extra shoving power on the train. Prior to this, another unit would have to be borrowed from a following train. If there was no immediate following train, an engine might have to be called from Denver to come and save the day. On this particular day, the ES44AC would not be needed.
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