Western Railroad Discussion > O Train fail, over-under(?), red/white leaser in snow

BNSF stealthily moved their Officer Special from Denver to Cheyenne at night. On the off-chance it might go somewhere in daylight, I made the trip to Cheyenne yesterday in sometimes-treacherous road conditions. Cheyenne got anywhere from 6 to 8 inches of snow, and was overpopulated with trucks as Interstate 80 was closed between Cheyenne and Laramie due to high winds blowing the stuff into drifts and causing black ice. As it turned out, the Officer Special sat in front of the depot all day, and was stationary for a VIP dinner in the evening. After dinner, it left northbound in the dark again. The good thing about Cheyenne is that if your BNSF plans don't work out for photos, one can be occupied with UP trains, though going west out of town was problematic due to the severe weather.

Photo 1 - The location where the Officer Special remained all day, as preparations are underway for the dinner in the evening. The locomotive in the background framing the Cheyenne station sign was a DPU hanging off the end of an empty wind-turbine train of all flat cars, seen earlier...

Photo 2 - ...Much earlier, and Cheyenne was still asleep this early on a snowy Sunday morning, no cars on the road, enabling me to hang out in the middle of West Lincolnway!

Photo 3 - Don't ask me why a train of all empty long flat cars needs a DPU, but here it is passing over a Denver-bound manifest on UP, also with a BNSF GE as part of its consist. To me this does not quite qualify as an over-under, but the orange swoosh power above and below at the same time is interesting.

There's mooore...



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/14 22:01 by highgreengraphics.

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Photo 4 - Again, hanging out by UP is a good way to pass the time. Here is an eastbound stacker moving swiftly under the C&S Bridge, passing another eastbound stacker moving slower in the background after a symphony of locomotive horns as they both blew for the crossing.

Photo 5 - The obligatory trek across the field yields the same eastbound again motoring right up Archer Hill on its way to Chicago.

Photo 6 - A heavy westbound plods up Track 3 in maximum power with Wycon in the background, the road to get here was in pretty bad shape!

There's mooore...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/14 15:27 by highgreengraphics.

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Photo 7 - Many have wondered about UP's eventual entry into the Swan Ranch Industrial Park at Speer, WY. Here is the switch, a mile east of Speer right at Milepost 516, very much under construction. It is leading to grading wide enough for two full balloon loop tracks, presumably for oil loading. Due to a train stalling on the icy rail trying to climb up to Speer, Track 4 was full of parked trains, and in between two of them here a westbound on Track 3 climbs past the new junction location which is full of new signaling, suggesting a new crossover on the main lines. I believe the switch in the foreground is a serious derail that is wired into the signal system, note the riser cross-connect box, and it had to be installed to complete this OS section. My guess is that the responsibility to continue the rails and switches past this derail onto the industry grounds will go to a contractor.

Photo 8 - An eastbound led by the newest GE Heavies enters Cheyenne for a crew change next to the Transfer Track switch that leads to BNSF, a line segment which is rumored to be replaced by the new trackage at the Swan Ranch Industrial Park. For now, however, a crew is on a Granite ballast train at the BNSF yard which will use this switch in a few minutes.

Photo 9 - The new GE's brighten the gloom as they round the curve between the depot and East Cheyenne pulling their stack train with a fresh crew in charge.

There's mooore...



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/14 20:05 by highgreengraphics.

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Great bunch. BNSF or any other RR takes a chance everytime they do that with long empty flats IMHO.
JB

Photo 10 - At East Cheyenne, a loaded ballast train is leaving Track 1 to go into the outside siding as the Conductor walks ahead to line switches and the new Heavies throttle up to leave town as they pass eastbound on Main 2 with the doublestacks in tow. That's the Frontier Oil Refinery dominating the background.

Photo 11 - The UP crew at the BNSF yard on the empty Granite Turn ballast train has waited for their turn to enter Main 1 on UP, and after permission from the UP and BNSF Dispatchers, they whistle mightily over all the crossings on the Transfer leading to the UP mains, here with the Tribune-Eagle newspaper siding on the right, and the now-empty original Cheyenne power plant, which predates the State Capitol building and provided power originally for the Cheyenne Street Railway trolley system. Note that BNSF's contribution to the power is an unusual-for-this-train Goatboat, and an even more unusual red-and-white ex-Soo Line leased SD-60.

Photo 12 - Storming under the C&S Bridge into the storm, veteran SD40-2 3201 (which has led this train countless times for cab signals in UP's CCS Territory) is audibly slipping while leading on the icy rail, alternately dropping its load and throttling up, and every time in-between an inky puff of smoke belches out as seen here.

There's mooore...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/14 21:59 by highgreengraphics.

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Photos 13 and 14 - The Granite Turn rounds the curve at Borie, the real object of attention here is the white ex-SOO SD-60 clear back on the rear, which is hard to see in a near-whiteout, and I had to look like local folk here for the authorities, to get past the drifted-in and unplowed closed Otto Road to this spot, I dared go no farther!

Photo 15 - Looking at the rear of the westbound consist charging into the swirling snow, not quite sure why they ran this as word was they would not be loading trains, as all roads were impassable and gravel pit employees could not get up there.

I checked in one last time at the C&S Yard to see if the Officer Special might leave, and people were showing up to eat, but nobody was there to run the train. I was worried that I-25 might be closed at Wyoming Hill at Speer due to the icy road and many accidents, so I hi-tailed it home, at 20 miles per hour until the State Line, where road conditions improved greatly. The officer Train left to go north after the dinner, yes at night again, but I do not know where its next stop was or where it is now.

Happy miserable weather railfanning! === === = === JLH



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/14 22:04 by highgreengraphics.

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I wondered of that was you. I passed you returning home from breakfast at the west Village Inn with my railroad friends as the empty windmill train passed over the UP and you were sitting just west of the bridge. Nice photos and I think you have an awesome Christmas card with that one you took out at Borie.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Nice snowy shots! I caught the new GEs at 4 p.m., 120 miles east of Cheyenne in Lodgepole, NE. The one shot I squeezed off is a few threads below. That train was really moving!

GREAT set of snow pics!!! Thanks for sharing.

Awesome shots, thanks for sharing!

Jay

Highgreen.....you've done so many of these superb photo essays up in the Cheyenne/Sherman Hill/Speer area. Bet you know your way around better than the locals that live there!

You really earned these shots!

Don't you just hate this global warming???

GeneL Wrote:
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> Highgreen.....you've done so many of these superb
> photo essays up in the Cheyenne/Sherman Hill/Speer
> area. Bet you know your way around better than
> the locals that live there!

He is loco. Errr…I mean local!

Great job JLH! And that over/under counts!

highgreengraphics Wrote:
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> I was worried that I-25 might be
> closed at Wyoming Hill at Speer due to the icy
> road and many accidents, so I hi-tailed it home,
> at 20 miles per hour until the State Line, where
> road conditions improved greatly.
> Happy miserable weather railfanning! === === = ===
> JLH

Road conditions improved at the Wyo/Colorado State Line? Go figure! ;-)

Pat from Littleton, CO.

I know, I always muse that there must be some reason why they made the State Line where it is. I can't think of the many times it was a clear, calm, warm day in Fort Collins, and you drive the 35 miles to Cheyenne, and it is almost comical, sometimes very comical, it is gale force wind, cold, nasty and snowing or raining or both. Sometimes it's just obnoxious! === === = === JLH

Wyoming is the windest place I have ever seen. The state should be filled with turbines

Very nice stuff, JLH

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

Fantastic series of photos. Love the UP & snow pics.

Ronda Thomas