Western Railroad Discussion > Loveland & Ft. Collins recently

Photo 1 - A nice feature on the Longmont - Ft. Collins Local lately has been 3-windshield SD60M BNSF 1415, reportedly originally BN 8128, resurrected from the dead line and still with pretty good Cascade Green paint. On 11/20, it is pulling back onto the BNSF ex-C&S Front Range Subdivision off the transfer track from Great Western Railway at Loveland, CO right past a front porch, a lot of engines for such a rickety track, but more on a later day...

Photo 2 - The Longmont Local departs Loveland, CO over an irrigation canal at the ancient Loveland Mill on the same day.

Photo 3 - A few minutes later a 3/4 view of nice BNSF 1415 in Loveland on the myriad of fill riprap where the tracks were washed out from the Big Thompson River flooding in October of 2013.

There's mooore...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/14 23:01 by highgreengraphics.

---

---

---

Photo 4 - A few more minutes later, climbing Derby Hill south of Loveland, CO.

Photo 5 - On 11-22, a colorful lone KCS Belle leads a northbound E MLMCDM 827 Texas Utilities Martin Lake to Cordero Mine, WY detour coal empty curving away from the country elevator and old sugar beet dump location of Marion, CO and 57th Street. On the rear of the empty are two DPU's, BNSF 9435 and 9286, and the seemingly timeless Great Western Sugar silos in Loveland look on in the distant background.

Photo 6 - Today's UP LaSalle-Ft. Collins Local heading to the Holcim Cement Plant loadout whistles across North College Ave. in Fort Collins, CO, still with the newish UP 8746 ACe on the point.

There's mooore...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/14 22:33 by highgreengraphics.

---

---

---

Photo 7 - Nearly immediately after crossing the Cache La Poudre trestle featured in earlier posts, in the background here, the crew of the Local likes to stop briefly at a small coffee shop adjacent to the tracks, and today was no exception! These northbound views only work well on overcast days, as we would be looking right into the sun here if the skies were clear.

Photo 8 - At Milepost 33, 33 miles from LaSalle on the north side of Ft. Collins, is a ragtag wye, unused industry spur and weedy siding which I believe was called "Poudre" at one time. Here are the northbound cement hopper loads passing milepost 33 amid the nearly-bare trees close to the Cache La Poudre River.

Photo 9 - The weedy siding has been the home of an Ohio Crane and its tender flatcar for some time since work was done on the Cache La Poudre trestle, and here the UP Local is passing it. That flatcar was built from a cut-down heavyweight passenger car in the late 1960's. Its greatest value might be in the roller-bearing 6-wheel passenger trucks under it. Though it does not show on this side, enough yellow is bleeding through on the opposite side to see "Cushioned Load" on yellow, and oddly it remains here with the MofW Kenefick Green. So the question is, were these cars used in revenue service after being cut down? If so, were they used as regular flat cars or were any equipped for intermodal?

There's mooore...

---

---

---

Photo 10 - Today's BNSF Longmont Local had BNSF 1415 leading southbound again, and here is the power on the Great Western Transfer in Loveland, CO picking up two blue lease units and two cars to be taken to Longmont, with the Great Western Sugar silos, smokestack and the old wooden depot looking on, and in the far background is the Utah Railway-paint SD35 looking a bit out to pasture next to the shop. I can't improve on NH2006's excellent photos around Ft. Collins of this SD60M on the Local, so I started here.

Photo 11 - Pulling westerly toward the BNSF ex-C&S Front Range Subdivision with EIGHT units on this rickety transfer track that runs past backyards of residences.

Photo 12 - The Local with all 8 units rests in Loveland Siding after meeting a northbound coal empty detour. There is a street right here, and I bet that a car would not show up at the critical time for the meet with the single Grinstein MAC up front, but nearby an elementary school had just let out and of course a car had to show up 5 seconds too early and pulled up right in the middle of the picture so I lost the meet shot with the head end.

One mooore...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/14 06:47 by highgreengraphics.

---

---

---

Photo 13 - The Longmont Local with its multicolor lengthy consist is nearing the top of Derby Hill as it rolls into Campion, CO this afternoon, in the far distance on the left in this telescopic view can be seen the Marion country elevator that stands next to the tracks at the far other end of Loveland in Photo 5.

Happy railfanning! === === = === JLH



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/14 06:06 by highgreengraphics.

---

Really great series of photos. I especially like photos 5, 7 & 8.

Ronda Thomas

Great scenes HGG! I really like the way the colorful consist looks strung out in #12.

well done. thanks for posting

Thank you as always for posting these photos. I saw the lone KCS Belle leading the coal train on Saturday through Campion. That's certainly not something you see everyday.

Jim Barton

Great bunch! First and last are my favs.
JB

Real threepiecer - fine. What for a great series...! Thank You for posting. #2, #8 and the last are my favorites.

And #8 with biggest engines on this fragile looking track. Great view.

Phil

GREAT stuff...!!! Thanks for sharing.