Western Railroad Discussion > Ski Train just east of the East Portal Siding Jan 28 20

One word "Brrr" the wind was blowing about 60 mph and the gusts were about 90mph.
By the time the tail of the train past I could not move my fingers!

Nathan Z.

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Here is the tail car Kansas, the new paint looked very nice.

The shots were worth it, never thought I'd make it up the line before the
Ski Train. It is due into Winter Park at 0900. The photos were taken at
0920 Saturday morning.

Nathan Z.

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Great pictures! How can people ski with 60-90mph winds?

Hey, Frosty Fingers,

What kind of locos are pulling this train? TIA.

Lane.

Nathan, great job under difficult circumstances. I have been at East Portal in January (1972) on a derailment. It doesn't get any more miserable. The locos are ex Amtrak F40's which carry their Amtrak numbers. I believe that they are now owened by the Ski Train. The weather at East Portal is different from that at the ski area (Winter Park). I'd say East Portal is always much windier and worse than Winter Park. These folks may well have had a great sunny day sking at Winter Park. . . Joe S.

frontrangeflyer Wrote:
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> Nathan, great job under difficult circumstances.
> I have been at East Portal in January (1972) on a
> derailment. It doesn't get any more miserable.
> The locos are ex Amtrak P40's which carry their
> Amtrak numbers. I believe that they are now
> owened by the Ski Train. The weather at East
> Portal is different from that at the ski area
> (Winter Park). I'd say East Portal is always much
> windier an worse than Winter Park. These folks
> may well have had a great sunny day sking at
> Winter Park. . . Joe S.


The initials are now SKTX instead of AMTK.

SKTX is used over the radios such as SKTX 242 west highball.... correct me if I'm wrong but they show up on UP cpu's as AMTK..

TME

KatDiesel Wrote:
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> The initials are now SKTX instead of AMTK.

I'm guessing this train service does fairly well?

Neat shot. I would suggest gloves the next time you go up ;-) There is a great line from Dumb and Dumber: "You've had an extra pair of gloves this whole time. Yeah, were in the rockies"

Pinlifter Wrote:
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> Neat shot. I would suggest gloves the next time
> you go up ;-) There is a great line from Dumb and
> Dumber: "You've had an extra pair of gloves this
> whole time. Yeah, were in the rockies"


Thanks Pinlifter
I had on glove mittens, the wind was just that cold and
I needed my fingers out to run the camera.
Nathan Holmes forgot the extra pair of gloves I had in the car, big mistake!

Nathan Z.

> What kind of locos are pulling this train? TIA.

Lane,

Those are ex-Amtrak F40PH's in the flesh. I don't recall if their numbers are the same as their Amtrak numbers, but that's the scoop. Talk to ya later.

Jody

frontrangeflyer Wrote:
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> The locos are ex Amtrak P40's...

They are F40's, but wouldn't P40's look great in that paint scheme too?

They are the same numbers as they were during their Amtrak years. Here is a consist for the Ski Train:

242 F40PH
283 F40PH
289 F40PH
1231 - Bike Car/Baggage/Dorm (Summer Only)
La Plata Peak - Snack Bar Coach
Mount Bierstadt - Coach
Pikes Peak - Snack Bar Coach
Mount Elbert - Coach
North Park - Cafe Lounge
Mount Evans - Coach
Pyramid Peak - Snack Bar Coach
Mount Massive - Coach
Winter Park - Cafe Lounge
Mount Princeton - Coach
Shavano Peak - Snack Bar Coach
Colorado Springs - Club
Glenwood Springs - Club
Idaho Springs - Club
California - Dome/Sleeper (Winter Only)
Utah - Lounge
Kansas - Business Car

Hello

BRRRRRR! is right, as I was also up there between Rollinsville and Tolland last Saturday, and the temps on my truck thermometer read between 11-14 degrees, mix that in with the howling winds, and ouch!....

I was certainly glad my shutter release was working that day.

I made my first trip up to the Moffat, sense moving out from California, and I forgot what light powdery snow can do when the wind is howling.
Early in the afternoon, I caught a westbound mixed freigh train at the Tolland road crossing, and I felt like I was being peppered with sand from the blowing snow. Not to mention the heavy drifts.

I told myself "Welcome back to Colorado RosevilleBill !".

F.Y.I. you weren't the ony Die Hard railfan out there that day, along with you and myself, I also bumped into Kevin Morgen and his dad out enjoying the day.

Great photos, I hope you didn't stay up there all day, and get t t too c c cold!


RosevilleBill

Grande-Fan Wrote:
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> Here is the tail car Kansas, the new paint looked
> very nice.
>
> The shots were worth it, never thought I'd make it
> up the line before the
> Ski Train. It is due into Winter Park at 0900. The
> photos were taken at
> 0920 Saturday morning.
>
> Nathan Z.


One minor correction, the Ski Train is scheduled to arrive at Winter Park at 9:30.

Great shots, it was absolutely worth the effort.

rosevillebill Wrote:
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<snip>
> Early in the afternoon, I caught a westbound mixed
> freigh train at the Tolland road crossing, and I
> felt like I was being peppered with sand from the
> blowing snow. Not to mention the heavy drifts.
<snip>

Just curious...
How do you guys protect your cameras in such conditions? I presume you try to protect them for as long as possible, under a jacket or something. But this means the camera stays relatively warm, which would result in the blowing snow melting on impact--not so good (image-wise) on the lens, nor is it good for the camera in general. Probably even more true now in the digi-cam age...
Thanks,
-Wes

CPB284 Wrote:
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> They are the same numbers as they were during
> their Amtrak years. Here is a consist for the Ski
> Train:
>
> 242 F40PH
> 283 F40PH
> 289 F40PH
<snip>

Okay, so here's one for the experts:
I am visiting my Mom out of state right now, and the other day she pulled out a small box of pictures. In there were included some RR pics I had given her over the past few years. Three of the photos show DRGW 3100 leading (ironically, since it was just patched this week--the final DRGW GP40-2 to receive its patch on the UP) the Ski Train. Behind the 3100 are two Amtrak units, still in Amtrak colors.

Now, I know that the Ski Train folks test-drove the Amtrak units before they decided on their lease-to-buy arrangement. However, from discussions with others in the past, I thought the units they test-drove were the same ones they bought (and yes I realize they actually own *three* units). What puzzles me, then, is the partial number I can make out on the Amtrak unit behind the 3100. It begins with a "4", and the second digit appears that it might have been a "0" or a "6" due to the curved left edge.

I'm guessing that this means that the Ski Train folks ended up with different unit(s) than the ones they tested. Either that, or there was some renumbering involved--which I doubt, since I can see absolutely no point in doing so, especially since they were still referred to as "AMTK" during their first few years on the Ski Train.

So, anyone know what actually happened here? And if in fact they received different units than the ones tested, does anyone know why they received different ones? And how many units were tested?

Sorry to add to this thread so late... If it doesn't garner much info I may have to repeat it as a new thread...

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Edit:
I did decide to create a new thread for this discussion 02/02/06...
-Wes
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Take care,
-Wes