Western Railroad Discussion > Last week in Colorado....

My wife and I spent last week in the Centennial state, and here are some random shots of what we encountered.  No.1 is at Strasburg, where the "real" golden spike was said to be driven in 1870.  No.2 shows an hour and a half-late CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR commencing its climb up the Front Range at (I believe) Rocky.  No.3 is the same train just west of Rollinsville. As if we needed yet another reminder of how quiet the Moffat line is nowadays, the snow from the previous night was still covering both rails of the main line prior to Amtrak's arrival.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/20 19:57 by BaltimoreOhio.

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Heading southward, No.4 shows BNSF 5902 idling in front of the old Santa Fe depot in Castle Rock.  Former Rio Grande 01513 is parked at Colorado Springs in No.5.  In No.6, we see the 19th-century Colorado Midland depot at Victor.

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No. 7 captures a southbound at Greenland.  Typical Colorado weather is depicted in the next 2 photos, which were taken about 24 hours apart-  No. 8 is as the RTD Mineral station (note the green signal even though both tracks are occupied(?) ).  No. 9 is at the RTD Dry Creek station.

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Nos. 10 and 11 show a northbound at Palmer Lake, and then the local that proceeded south after the NB cleared.  No. 12 is the same northbound, this time stopped at Greenland.

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Nice variety!
BB
 

In No. 13, we see a slow-moving coal train proceeding south through Castle Rock.  No. 14 shows the abandoned Rock Island east of Peyton.  I can only imagine what first-time visitors must have thought as they looked out the window from the ROCKY MOUNTAIN ROCKET and caught their initial glance of Pike's Peak.  Finally, we caught an empthy wind mill train speeding west through Arroya.  Thanks for looking!

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Shot 11 looks like it would be the "PPL" or Pikes Peak Local. Usually rates SD40-2's. Goes south to the Colorado Springs area. South one day north the next, usually.  Nice catches. Ben

Nice bunch. Good catch on the Pikes Peak Local as it only goes south twice a week on MON THURS. A little disturbing to see the clear signal in number eight with the main obviously occupied ahead ? !
JB

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> Nice bunch. Good catch on the Pikes Peak Local as
> it only goes south twice a week on MON THURS. A
> little disturbing to see the clear signal in
> number eight with the main obviously occupied
> ahead ? !
> JB

Nice series, thanks for posting.  

I'm wondering if that "clear" signal in #8 isn't a switch point indicator.  Notice how low it is, almost a dwarf, while the signal shown later
is a high signal.  Is this possible?  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

I believe that some of those RTD signals are only switch point indicators not block occupancy indicators. This would appear to be the case with this green signal. It is at the end of the line as well so it would not need to give block occupancy indications. 

I have noticed on the commuter lines they use a more typical railroad style green over red signal and they flash the indication to indicate "diverging". I think RTD only uses these signals as switch positions not block occupancy. I have seen one flash red before when there was no train behind the signal. 

On the Light Rail the signals are set up like a street traffic light in most areas Red/Yellow/Green and these are block occupancy indicators as well as switch route indicators. Such that when the route is to diverge, the signal flashes no matter the color. The light rail lines seem to only use the switch indicator signals at the ends of the lines. 

RTD has definitely not set things up like the railroads. They hire bus drivers for the Light Rail which is why the signals look like typical traffic lights. A contractor runs the commuter lines but they seem to have greatly simplified the signals to only be switch alignment indicators. The commuter lines also have PTC (though poorly implemented) which is probably why they don't have block occupancy signals. The way the trains run based on the schedules also prevents collisions in the single track areas.

Lee Ryan - Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO  

Awesome shots!! Thanks for sharing them.