Western Railroad Discussion > Interesting Morning on the Moffat

Hello!

It was a bit of an interesting morning on the Moffat (that's UP Moffat Tunnel Sub) today, which is good considering the light traffic lately.

The first "train" headed west this morning consisted of five units. The light power move was headed for Phippsburg on the Craig Branch. UP runs coal trains that are "captive" to the Craig Branch. The trains run from the Axial Mine to the Ute and Hayden power plants. All of this is located on the branch. Must be time for the power to be switch out! In a few days, the current shuttle power will likely run light back to Denver.

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1. The light power move headed west in Barbara's Gulch between Leyden and Rocky.

Kevin Morgan
Arvada, CO
ColoradoRailfan.com

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Around 9:30am, BNSF's daily trackage rights train (Denver to Provo) departed. However, the train only made it to Leyden before developing a problem with one of its three units. The train limped along at 12 MPH to the main at Rocky. There, it held up and waiting. BNSF sent another unit out to Rocky. The unit sent just happened to be a Norfolk Southern ES44AC!

Right behind the light NS unit, a rock salt train departed from Bypass 1, headed for Nephi, UT. I was able to stop off at Leyden to shoot the rock salt train before heading west to try to get the NS-led BNSF train. I went up to Blue Mountain and the time was great! The crew had the NS unit on and the air test complete and was rolling west again.

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2. The UP rock salt train heads west on the main at Leyden with a pair of SD70Ms for power.

3. The catfish-led BNSF Denver-Provo winds through the S-curves at Blue Mountain.

4. This is not an uncommon shot, except for the units crossing Blue Mountain Road! Thought it was a fun shot to only show the NS unit.

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All of this has happened and the westbound Zephyr still hasn't even made it in to Colorado! After hitting a vehicle near Omaha, the train is now running 10+ hours late!


 

Kevin Morgan
Arvada, CO
ColoradoRailfan.com

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All three shots are nice catches Kevin! Looks as though the Chinook winds are working quickly to remove the snow from the scenery...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

No cruddy light at Blue Mtn.! Thank goodness for extended lunches:}

Nice series sof photos. That appears to be one of the most desolate mail boxes that I have seen before. 

I will be be in the Winter Park area within the next week. What is the train count thru there in daylight hours?

Jay

Great series of photos.

Ronda Thomas

Great pictures Kevin always enjoy them, Rocky to Moffat is my top personal favorite.  Do you have the numbers for last week?

Notch8 Wrote:
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> Great pictures Kevin always enjoy them, Rocky to
> Moffat is my top personal favorite.  Do you have
> the numbers for last week?

Thanks!

I just got the number posted (and it is nothing good!):
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3957526

Kevin Morgan
Arvada, CO
ColoradoRailfan.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/16 06:24 by ColoradoRailfan.