Western Railroad Discussion > UP OCS West on the Moffat

Greetings!

Yesterday afternoon, a westbound UP officer's special special departed from UP's North Yard (in Denver) around 2:30pm and headed west on the Moffat Tunnel Sub. It was rumored that an Executive Vice President for UP was on the train. The train was headed for Salt Lake City, although it would layover in Grand Junction for the night before being scheduled to depart for SLC this morning.

I booked it for the west slope of the divide, hoping to chase it for awhile as the light permitted. The train made good time west up the Moffat and popped out of the Moffat Tunnel at 4:20pm. The skies were somewhere between partly cloudy and most cloudy, depending on where you were. At the Moffat, they happened to be mostly cloudy, so it was quite shadowy (see pic #1) as the train passed by the Winter Park ski resort and the platform used by the Winter Park Express Ski Train. Love or hate UP, you gotta admit they typically make sure their passenger trains have some good looking power on them and this was no exception with a beautiful pair of matched SD70Ms (4533 and 4404).

From Winter Park, it was time to try to get ahead of him to the west. Not always an easy prospect as speeds through downtown Winter Park and Fraser (for cars) is 30 MPH. Fortunately for the railfans in pursuit, the high/wide detector at MP 58.8 was not working. Did not make a single sound at all. So, according to rule, the train had to stop and the conductor gave it a quick walk. That gave more than ample time to get ahead and set up for a shot between Fraser and Tabernash (see pic #2). Fortuantely, the skies had turned to the "partly cloudy" side here, and there was some pretty great lighting for the special as the ski slopes at Winter Park provided for a wonderful backdrop. Even here in late May, some of the runs at Winter Park are still open for skiers.

Upon reaching Tabernash, the special would again get briefly stopped (for about 15 minutes). A westbound BNSF manifest (Denver-Provo) was in the siding at Granby, and now the Zephyr (#6) was coming into the picture eastbound. With nowhere to go, the special held the main at Tabernash. For those not familiar with Tabernash, it is somewhat unique in that the siding and the main are nowhere near each other through most of the block. Back in the steam days, Rio Grande stationed steam engines here to assist in the steep climb to the Moffat Tunnel. A wye still exists (although it is out of service) and was used to wye the steam helpers after returning from East Portal. The Continental Divide was once again a great backdrop for the couple of minutes of sunlight the special got (see pic #3) while sitting alongside the Fraser River.

I continued west as far as the town of Parshall, but these three shots were really the best from the afternoon chase. If you are interested in all the shots from the chase, they are on my website.

Thanks for looking!

Kevin Morgan
Arvada, CO
ColoradoRailfan.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/24 07:45 by ColoradoRailfan.

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Just wow!
JB

Does anyone have insight as to when this train may arrive in SLC?

Excellent images!  Wish UP could keep all their SD70ms looking this sharp.

texchief

Fantastic shots. Hard to pick a favorite. But #2 would be the one. Ben

Great shots Kevin! Looking forward to your other shots....

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

Wow, that is some fine work there sir!

Out 

Stunning images Kevin, well done.
—Mac

All that for a VP? Wow blowing money while service is shits

Great photos! Is shot 1 a drone, or side of the hill? === === = === JLH

Shot #2 is a beauty.

Beautiful trio of shots!
GK

Wonderful pictures in a pretty land.

And now changing gears here slightly for some clarification.

On the UP they have neither Officers nor "Officer Car Specials."

For their non-agreement supervisor employees they use the term Manager. Examples include Manger of Train Operations and Manager of Track Maintenance. Not Trainmaster or Roadmaster.

As for the trains such as the one pictured in this thread, they would likely be called a "Passenger Special" or "Engineering Special." Something along that line. You won't hear the term OCS used for them by the people actually on them.

Mileage likely varies on other railroads, but being that this is a UP train pictured, we might as well get the UP terms correct.

Fantastic trio Kevin!!

Well ...   just another routine WOW for you Kevin.

PCBill

Awesome shots!!

Excellent Scenes!  Last Photo is super awesome.
ALLEN

Four stars. 

Thank you all very much for the kind words!!

Kevin Morgan
Arvada, CO
ColoradoRailfan.com

Way to go, Kevin. Thanks for sharing.

Paul Brennecke
Golden, CO