Western Railroad Discussion > UP 844 and a Stormy UP Transcon

Like many people along the Denver-Cheyenne corridor yesterday, I headed out to see UP 844 in action for the first time in my life. Having moved to Colorado about a year ago, I've been told by many that 844's runs between Cheyenne and Denver as part of Frontier Days are not to be missed. Wow, they were right! I ended up taking a railfanning drive to photograph UP 844 and other UP freights along the Greeley Sub, and to cover some of my favorite spots along the UP transcon east and west of Cheyenne. For the first part of the day I was joined by es44fan and his dad, after which I split and headed north. After lunch in Greeley, the drive to Cheyenne along U.S. 85 (much nicer drive than I-25) was uneventful, but I couldn't help but notice some serious storm clouds building to the northwest. After spending a short amount of time east of Cheyenne at a rural crossing on the Transcon it started to rain buckets and lightning flashed constantly, which pretty much remained the theme until I began heading back south to intercept 844 on its return to Denver. I should mention that UP parked 844 in a very accessible location that afforded some great photos prior to its departure south. That was a fantastic opportunity. To avoid a tornado warning to the southeast, I took I-25 south a bit, and cut over to 85 via Carr, CO (where there were many railfans), and was rewarded with a fantastic rainbow. Having dodged hail and a supposed tornado, and With plenty of shots from a stormy Transcon and UP 844 in the bag, I headed home to Denver quite content. Please enjoy some shots from the day. UP 844 photos are mixed in with the others as to keep things in chronological order. Thanks!

1. UP 844 roars north toward La Salle, CO.
2. After a short stop in Greeley, UP 844 approaches Ault, CO ("A" "U"nique "L"ittle "T"own, as they characterize themselves), where it will meet a southbound manifest.
3. After some signal issues, the manifest holding for northbound 844 proceeds very slowly south.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/13 11:57 by 757guy.

---

---

---

4. Northbound CSUX (Colorado Springs Electric) coal empties are next up through Ault, but the train will take the siding for another southbound manifest.
5. An intermodal/manifest train (interesting combo) makes its way through downtown Greeley.
6. A southbound manifest photographed near Nunn, CO, had this interesting test car in the consist. Storm clouds had started to gather, hence the darkening skies.

---

---

---

7. The first train I photographed on the Transcon was this eastbound headed out of Cheyenne as storm #1 looms just to the west.
8. Grain loads crawl west toward Cheyenne, as the train from the preceding photo rounds the bend out of view.
9. The grain train DPU slowly rounds the bend just west of my location moments before the first raindrops began to fall.

---

---

---

10. The sky opened up and a deluge began as this UP westbound approached my location.
11. A little bit of rain and lightning can't be a reason to stop photographing!
12. After enough of the storm out east, I headed into downtown on my way out to see 844 prior to its departure south. I was given a heads-up that 844 was easily accessible just south of the depot. Thanks Joe!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/13 11:33 by 757guy.

---

---

---

13. The same westbound I caught earlier at the beginning of the storm passes stationary 844.
14. UP 844, an amazing machine.
15. Great to see the Centennial make an appearance, too!

---

---

---

16. UP 844 rests prior to departure to Denver as major lightning begins to streak overhead.
17. Before dropping south, I headed west to capture more of the landscape. The vastness of this place is so impressive, portrayed by a westbound intermodal slowly climbing upgrade amid miles of rolling terrain.
18. Westbound intermodal continues to climb upgrade as the next storm begins to drop rain.

---

---

---

19. The gentle rain becomes a deluge as the intermodal above continues west.
20. Dodging hail and tornado warnings, this rainbow made a spectacular appearance just east of Carr, CO.
21. UP 844, on its way south, leaves the town of Nunn, CO, behind.

---

---

---

22. Another photo of 844 south of Nunn.
23. Between Platteville, CO, and Fort Lupton, CO, UP 844 soaks in the remaining rays of light just prior to sunset. The engine is splitting classic UP signals that will soon fall in favor of ubiquitous SafeTrans-type signals.
24. What a fantastic locomotive, and a terrific shot to end the day.

Thanks for looking!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/13 11:30 by 757guy.

---

---

---

Awesome! That little test car weighs more than one of the stacks in my train today; single well (QU) with two empty 40ft. containers.

Posted from Android

Great set of photos. #17 is the one that made me stop in my tracks. I liked the scale of the shot and it makes me miss the inter mountain west.

Art Reid
Brunswick, MD
Art's Photo Squirrel Flickr pages

Very nice series of shots! It looks like you had a pretty successful day...

Amazing work. And nice shots of a beautiful train

Nice set of photos! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone! I really appreciate it!

Hookdragkick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Awesome! That little test car weighs more than one
> of the stacks in my train today; single well (QU)
> with two empty 40ft. containers.
>
> Posted from Android

Thanks! That's so cool...I was amazed when I went back and saw that the weight was 80,000 lbs written on the side! What's that made of, solid cast iron?


cota1992 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great set of photos. #17 is the one that made me
> stop in my tracks. I liked the scale of the shot
> and it makes me miss the inter mountain west.

Thank you! I couldn't agree with you more about the landscape. Since moving to CO from VA, I'm constantly amazed by the types of landforms out here. Truly incredible.

Great series! #17 is fantastic!

Keep the Mars light off... great shots.

wesleygreer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great series! #17 is fantastic!

My thoughts too!
The eastbound in your seventh photo is the ZSEMN-18, always interesting to see what this train looks like further down the line...thanks for sharing.

Sorry, but 844 looks alot better w/o the Mars light.

Nice shots!!!! Glad you got to see 844 in action.