Western Railroad Discussion > Dog's Breakfast, er, Lunch, on Donner Pass

I stuck around after shooting the flanger heading east through Norden early in the afternoon of Sunday, March 24, 2024, as the signals protecting the crossover at CP RV191 West Norden had stayed lit and soon changed to an approach indication for Main Track 1. After a short wait, UP 7846 showed up with a dog's breakfast of a manifest in tow. I'm not sure which train this is, but I believe it's likely either the MRVGR or MRVNP. The mix of snow flurries and sunlight created the perfect scene and atmosphere for these winter shots and video on Donner Summit.

Photos 1 and 2: UP 7846 along with UP 5417 and UP 7961 lead a manifest east over Donner Summit on the afternoon of Sunday, March 24, 2024.
Photo 3: The train was being held at CP RV 193 East Norden before being allowed to continue through the Tunnel 41, as the late running California Zephyr was given priority through the Big Hole. DPU UP 9095 is seen here with the tail end of the train hanging out of the snow sheds at Norden. The slopes on Mount Judah served by the Judah Chair and Summit Chair at Sugar Bowl can be seen above the train in the background.

Continued...

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Video: I tried to include as much of the train as possible, as this one had a bit of most everything, but the time and size constraints necessitated a little trimming. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Sean

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WOW! Just plain excellent shots.

Dick Ebright
Rochester, MN

Very cool series and video!

Larry

broken_link Wrote:
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> Video: I tried to include as much of the train as
> possible, as this one had a bit of most
> everything, but the time and size constraints
> necessitated a little trimming. Enjoy!
>
> Cheers,
> Sean

Enjoyed! Fun to see the GEs shake some snow off the trees.

Fantastic shots, and great clarity and audio on the video!

Sean... simply amazing photos followed with an awesome video. I love that you captured most of the train and not just the engines and a few cars that followed. Being able to check out the weathering and graffiti on the different cars from the comfort of my desk allows me to make better models. Thanks for sharing your work.

Michael Mickens
Placerville, CA

Excellent!!

REALLY nice set of shots and the video.  If that was all the speedit could make there, I wonder what the speed was on the really hard pull east of Colfax.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO

cchan006 Wrote:
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> Enjoyed! Fun to see the GEs shake some snow off
> the trees.

The four-stroke GEs are definitely thumpers. I enjoyed seeing their reverberations knocking down some snow as well.

I'd guess that this train was probably making half of track speed, give or take, when it climbed the sections that are greater than 2% with a lot of curvature. UP milks these AC units for all they're worth, and it's quite a show to watch them around Gorge/Casa Loma. To be fair, track speed is only 20 mph through West Norden on Main 1 according to the timetable I have, and the crew might have known they would be holding at East Norden for Amtrak 5.

tehachcond Wrote:
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> REALLY nice set of shots and the video.  If that
> was all the speedit could make there, I wonder
> what the speed was on the really hard pull east of
> Colfax.
>
> Brian Black
> Castle Rock, CO

#1 and # 2 images are calendar quality. Excellent . Enjoyed your video.  Thanks for sharing . 

Sharp and clear, colors are great, that UP power looks good in the snow.  Good stuff!

Andy

Stunning shot! Great work.

Kevin Morgan
Arvada, CO
ColoradoRailfan.com

Very nice..!!

Great stuff!