Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF oil over the Rio Grande

The fallout of Colorado coal and its impacts on the Rio Grande traffic levels have been well covered here. As UP seems seems content to let their traffic fizzle to near nothing, BNSF has been doing something remarkable, adding trains! Within the past few months BNSF has been running semi-regular unit trains of copper concentrate from New Mexico to Kennecott in Provo, UT, unit sand trains to Wellington, UT, and now this, a Fryburg, ND - Salt Lake City, UT loaded oil train. We'll see if this was a one and done or can become a regular too. After eliminating Kremmling as a crew change, BNSF now only uses two crews compared to UP's four running Denver - Provo along the old D&RGW. After so many years of demise around here, it's incredibly refreshing to see something GOOD happening and I hope BNSF is rewarded for their efforts. 

U FYNSLC4 13 78 loads, 2 empties, 3x2, 2.16.17

~ Dell, CO

~ Range, CO



 

Wow, so that's what sunshine in Colorado looks like, LOL.

Great shots, T.

So, where's the snow?

James Belmont
Salt Lake City, UT

GrandeGold Wrote:
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> So, where's the snow?

Thanks JB, it's been so warm the past 2 weeks, the few feet of snow we had on the ground below 7,000' is toast!

T
 

Nice series!  Thanks for sharing.

Christina

Wow, You nailed it! 

eatontm Wrote:
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> Thanks JB, it's been so warm the past 2 weeks, the
> few feet of snow we had on the ground below 7,000'
> is toast!

You mentioned the elimination of the Kremmling crew change. The Rio Grande ran the Railblazers with just one crew change, at Grand Junction. That sucker keps those rails hot. Plus they ran from GJC all the way to SLC to boot!

Yes, I'm missing the Rio Grande right about now.

James Belmont
Salt Lake City, UT

Awesome shots. I was told that UP's system was showing that train heading to the port of Richmond. But the one before it and the next one that should be headed over the Moffat in the next day or so are showing Salt Lake as the destination in UP's system.

Posted from iPhone

Spencer Peterson
Payson, UT

Wow, Fantastic shots! All 5 of 'em:} Go BNSF!

GrandeGold Wrote:
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> You mentioned the elimination of the Kremmling
> crew change. The Rio Grande ran the Railblazers
> with just one crew change, at Grand Junction. That
> sucker keps those rails hot. Plus they ran from
> GJC all the way to SLC to boot!
> Yes, I'm missing the Rio Grande right about now.

No doubt! I want to see BNSF run a SLC connection from the Alliance, TX Q and Chicago, IL Z, out of Rennicks (North Yard), pigs or single stacks, and steal the UPS from UP :)

T

Fantastic series of photos! Thanks for sharing.

-Dalton 

2 and 3 are very cool angles! Great series

PQM

I wasn't going to look, then I noted Tlyer was the poster!   Getting into drone photography?  Making me homesick you know!

Rob

You know how to turn my crank.

OregonOldGuy Wrote:
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>  Making me homesick you know!
>
> Rob

I learned how to fly!

You picked a good time leave, unless you like deadline units, that's pretty much all you're missing in GJ lately.

Hope life is well up there.

T

double_check Wrote:
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> You know how to turn my crank.

That's all I really care about!

T

Excellent like always, Tyler. Great to see something good over the Rio Grande nowadays. 

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

OMG, what a set of great shots!

There was a time in the late 80s when Grande crews bypassed Bond on lots of trains, not just the railblazer....It was called the ID )interdivisional pool....

Posted from iPhone

Amazing photography, as I have come expect.
JB

Great photos.

Ronda Thomas