Western Railroad Discussion > A Couple of Front Range Sub Questions

I have a couple of questions regarding the Front Range Sub. First, why is the the LAUDEN usually DPU'ed and the DENLAU not? Are the grades that much steeper in Wyoming South than the grade out of Denver to Cheyenne?

Second, did the siding at Brooomfield extend further at on time to the North? When out taking pictures I have seen evidence of road bed on the North side of the main line past the railroad crossing at the North end of the Broomfield siding. It appears to drop lower than the main does and I cannot determine where it terminates.

Thank you in advance!

Two things effect the DenLau and LauDen. Generally speaking the DenLau train consist are more empty the loaded, maybe 30% for of the train has loaded cars where the LauDen has nearly 90% loaded cars. A 4000 ton train to a 10,000 ton train. Moving from Denver to Cheyenne and Cheyenne to Wendover the grade tends to drop the rise between Wellington to Cheyenne but because the Denlau is lighter it's not effected as much Denver is 5280 feet while Cheyenne is around 6100 feet. Also coming from Wendover to Cheyenne again you are coming out of the North Platte River Valley (4500 feet) to Cheyenne. There are several hill between Wendover and Cheyenne including Dwyer, Wheatland and the big one Altus. with Altus being the big run starting around mp 188 and finishing around mp 158 going from approx 5000 feet to 7200 feet. DP'd trains work much, much better then conventional consist account you are unlikely to find the weak drawbar in a train doing it this way. Believe me I know

As to the siding at Broomfield. The Buck local ran from Utah Jct to Broomfield, then went onto the Lafayette Branch through to Longmont then on to Lyons Colorado looping through such area a Erie and some other towns I can't even remember. Lumber, coal and cement were the main products of the line but after a Bridge burned down outside Longmont that was never replaced the Line was split into two sections. Both today are served by the Longmont Switch engine who on Tuesdays and Thursday make the trip up both the Lafayette side and the Lyons side depending on the customers needs and cars available. Not sure how much of the Lafayette line still exists both this line and the Lyons line are now considered industrial track and no longer actively dispatched.
CWR

Thanks CWR! The DPU's make sense now.

As for the track up the Lafayette branch last time I checked the tracks end at Hwy 7 (Arapahoe Rd) in Lafayette, although there may be places where the track is still visible as you head toward Erie. I know you can still see the rail bed most of the way to Erie. The tracks in Lafayette still cross 120th St twice and a couple of years ago one could see some covered hoppers stored there for gravel loading for TXI. I believe TXI purchased their own hoppers now and I have never seen them stored past the South crossing of 120th St. It is nice seeing the switch up there once or twice a week being that my work backs right up to the tracks!