Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF Officer's Special on the Rio Grande

The BNSF Railway ran a seven car officer's special via trackage rights through California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado this past week. This was apparently the very first eastbound special BNSF has run via the Rio Grande since they obtained trackage rights from UP in 1996. The company runs a westbound special via this same routing averaging one every couple of years or so.

I was able to catch it on Thursday, October 1st and followed it for more than 130 miles. I have posted six images that journey . . .

1. After traversing the old Western Pacific between Alazon, Nevada and Smelter, Utah, the PEKGJJ 01 rolls through Center Garfield on UP's Lynndyl Subdivision near Kennecott Copper's smelter at the foot of the Oquirrh Mountains.

2. 53 miles east of the first shot, the special curves through photogenic Sutro Cut on the former Rio Grande in Utah Valley with Mt. Timpanogos in the background.

3. 16 minutes later, BNSF 7418 East has emerged from the Thistle Tunnels in Spanish Fork Canyon on a line relocation constructed by WW Clyde for the D&RGW in 1983 to bypass a huge mudslide that dammed the Spanish Fork River and closed the mainline and Hwy. 6 through Thistle.

(continued)

James Belmont
Salt Lake City, UT

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4. Running between Soldier Creek and Highway 6, the special did a fine job outrunning a patch of photo clouds at milepost 666 near Detour.

5. One of my favorite photographs from the trip catches the train gliding downgrade along the Price River just west of Kyune.

6. Lastly, the PEKGJJ 01 rambles through the former D&RGW Helper Yard with the rugged Book Cliffs in the background.

The special made good time between Provo and Helper at about two hours running time for the 75 mile journey through twisty Spanish Fork and Price canyons. It climbed 2925 feet of elevation and descended 1640 feet from Provo to Soldier Summit and down to Helper. 

Thanks for looking,

James Belmont
Salt Lake City, UT

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WOW.......ET44C4 will be nice on the head end.........3900s.....

SLAAAAM DUNK!  Great shots.  Right place at the right time.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO

electromac Wrote:
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> WOW.......ET44C4 will be nice on the head
> end.........3900s.....

BNSF 7418 looked remarkably well maintained for a GE more than seven years old.

James Belmont
Salt Lake City, UT

What a great selection of photos!  I really enjoyed these; many thanks for showing them here.  The first and fourth photos seem to have a 3-D effect that I seldom see in pictures. Perhaps it's the way the shadows fell in those scenes.  Glad you made the chase.

Rich

A nice series of photos of the trip! Thanks for sharing!

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Great bunch.
JB

Looking to buy the Moffat......
 

Furriners!

GREAT pics!! Thanks for sharing.

Great stuff, James! Always enjoy seeing your post here.

Posted from Android

Excellent photos James, that is a nice looking train. I'm bumbed I missed it.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

An excellent series and congratulations on IOTD.
John

Great shots!

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Man, those downsampled, low res images are killing me...

'Wouldve been great to see in at least one megabyte each... Sheesh!

When we stay the same for long enough, we are going backwards. Booooooo!

Mark

At the very least, they should allow 1024 pixel width images, but alas 900 is the max.

SD40T-2 Wrote:
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> Man, those downsampled, low res images are killing
> me...
>
> 'Wouldve been great to see in at least one
> megabyte each... Sheesh!
>
> When we stay the same for long enough, we are
> going backwards. Booooooo!
>
> Mark

James Belmont
Salt Lake City, UT

Wonderful work, James. So glad the weather cooperated.

Hello James,
many thanks from Berlin in Germany for sharing this pics.
Great series!
Phil

Great Pics!

Jeffrey Rossi
Mesa, AZ
HD Videos - AZ RailFan Site(No Ads)