Western Railroad Discussion > Tabernash, Colorado

There's a wye there that the Ski Train uses to turn around. The track extends quite a bit west and north of the wye, too. What's it there for? Does it reconnect with the main up in the canyon? For that matter, why was it built? It can't be just for the Ski Train, can it?

Check this out, courtesy of FrontRange
http://drgw.ws/data/maps/map-detail.asp?p=012006

TME

The siding is the original Denver, Northwestern and Pacific main line built in 1905. Don't know when the line change was added.

mapboy

One must remember that at one time Tabernash was a major engine terminal, helpers being added to most eastbound trains for the climb to the Moffat Tunnel, and before that, over Corona Pass. The wye and lead track are the remnants of the yard that was once upon a time, a very busy place. Before DP, helpers still came over from Denver, parked on the wye, and then shoved one or more trains up to the tunnel. They then returned to Denver with the last train they assisted. Before they got stricter, helpers did cut off on the fly just before entering the tunnel.

KK

You've probably figured this out if you looked at FrontRange's map of the area, But nobody has explicitly stated it...
The track you are referring to is the Tabernash siding. The main and siding are not contiguous, but instead form two of the three legs of the Tabernash wye.
As a side note, the Ski Train can be/has been wyed both ways. They can run up the main, back through the wye onto the siding, and head back east, or they can do it just the opposite -- it's really at the behest of the dispatcher. It's not uncommon for the DS to let the Ski Train sit on the wye at Tabernash for a while in order to run trains around it in one or both directions... I remember at least once or twice where we sat there on the wye until all chances of getting lunch back in Fraser were lost (typically the train is wyed and brought back to the siding at Fraser, where it sits until about an hour prior to the scheduled departure from Winter Park). Often we get back to Fraser between 11:00 and noon, leaving us three-plus hours to do lunch and/or play...
Take care,
-Wes

symph1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There's a wye there that the Ski Train uses to
> turn around. The track extends quite a bit west
> and north of the wye, too. What's it there for?
> Does it reconnect with the main up in the canyon?
> For that matter, why was it built? It can't be
> just for the Ski Train, can it?