Western Railroad Discussion > Moffat Sub & Tunnel

My wife and I recently returned from a month long stay in Colorado trying to avoid some of the heat here in Dallas. We stayed near Rollinsville on the UP's Moffat sub but unlike Denverraills who poster earlier today we never saw a train in motion even though we crossed above the tracks many times. On two occasions we did see a mixed tanker and covered hopper train parked for an extended period of time at what I believe is the Rollins siding. Since we did not see the trains either arrive or depart I am not sure how long they were there but at least 12 hours and maybe longer. i am not sure in which direction they were headed since the locomotives were some distance away and the power seemed to be somewhat equally distributed at each end..
Near the end of our visit we made the 8 mile trip down the dirt road to the East Portal. There was a train at Rollins at that time and we encountered a second similar train parked at Tolland,.
When we arrived at the portal we observed some MOW work around the entrance and the very nosy tunnel fans were running. We spent a couple of hours walking on the trails above and behind the tunnel entrance and the fans were running all that time.. A question  - what is the normal operating pattern of the fans and was the lengthy run and the trans being stopped because of work going on inside the tunnel?.
One consolation prize of the trip for me was that on Friday 8/22 as we drove over Raton Pass on our way home with my wife at the wheel we passed the Herzog ballast train as it made its climb up the pass. I first rode over Raton in 1960 and it seemed like there was a continuous line of trains moving up and down the pass. Oh for the good old days..

I believe normal procedure for the tunnel fans is to run the fans for 30 minutes after a train passes, before another is allowed in.

Tom Loftus
Omaha, NE

one of the projects going on is tie replacement in the tunnel, last week

Runn ing fans to vent the tunnel smoke smell

If they're doing maintenance inside the tunnel they may have to run the fans to clear the exhaust from the MOW equipment.

  Check next week for major work train (working) and Herzog Ballast train in area. 

CYEPZ-28.

Some kind of major re hab project will be going on.