At the west switch of rocky, the westbound Zephyr is sporting a colorful consist as it climbs toward Big Ten Curve, running precisely on time.
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Posted By Terry Ten Eyck On Saturday, March 21, 2026 At 7:03:18 PM (PT)
Kevin’s great photograph captures AMTRAK #5 heading almost exactly due south and entering the longest curve on the Atlantic side of the Moffat Road. Westbound from the middle of the east/west alignment portion of the Rocky siding, the Moffat Road is on its steady, continuous 2.00% grade, compensated for curvature until it reaches the slack grade designed into the Plainview siding. This 3,045.2 foot long, three radius compound left curve is the first and lower of the two curves between the Little Ten horseshoe curve and the Big Ten muleshoe curve. This unique curve contains a 3° segment, followed by a short 1° segment, followed by an 8° curve. It has three spirals – one at each end and one combining spiral at the transition between the middle 1° segment and the higher 8° segment. The curve climbs 52.65 feet from beginning to end. This is one example of the complex location engineering done by Robert Edward Cowden in December, 1902 for Chief Engineer Horace A. Sumner to ‘wiggle’ the line into the existing terrain’s most economical location to construct and operate.
