Colorado State Fair Express Chase

I could post all the footage and photos I got of UP 844 as it came south from Denver to Pueblo, but I would be hard pressed to keep up with Kevin Morgan of ColoradoRailfan.com. Seeing him near Larkspur and again in Pueblo, I saw how easily the pros drift through the amateurs and somehow make it all look so easy.

I still might post a few. I'll have to recover my ego first. In the meantime, I'm offering an editorial, although it will likely just add to the consensus of the railfan community at large.

I was reminded yesterday that mainline steam tends to bring out the very worst of railfans. I will spend little time citing what's wrong, but it's still worth noting that:

• Slowing traffic to a crawl on a major Interstate highway just so they can pace a train that is still 100 to 200 feet away from them causes active and thorough resentment from not only the general public, but other railfans trying to get to the next photo location
• Walking in front of the photo line to get their own shot reveals just how unprofessional and ridiculous some railfans can be, especially when the same person shows up in shot after shot after shot. His wearing a pale yellow T-shirt makes it all the worse

On the positive side, I appreciated so many of the fans finding discrete places to photograph the train. Positioning themselves in the bushes, below the grade or generally out of the way, many of the photographers were decent to each other and respected each other's desire for the perfect shot. Following the golden rule--even in a hobby--by talking with folks already set up about where you can go to stay out of their way helps everyone feel respected and yields some good rewards. The challenge of catching a locomotive at speed is challenging enough without climbing all over each other to do it.

While it's not unique to railfanning the events, there is a great opportunity for connecting with others. Among railfans, you can easily spot loyalties and what sub-category of railfan they find themselves in. There's the big steam fan, the narrow gauger, the local historian, the obscure short-line fan, the camera geek and the dabbler, to name a few. One usually finds a mixture of two or three interests in a single railfan, but there is usually a chief love, proudly proclaimed somewhere about the person on their shirt, cap or jacket, making it easy to spot each other. Striking up conversation about such a love is easy and opens up roads to long and true friendships.

Speaking of great loves, I was gratified at the UP's surprising good taste in letting the Rio Grande Heritage unit, UP 1989, assist the 844 over the Palmer Divide. It's always a beautiful sight to the eyes to see the flying Grande in gold and black on home rails, especially the joint line. It was 136 years ago, before Colorado was even a state in the Union, that the Rio Grande's founder directed the Grande to build south from Denver. When so many "& Pacific" railroads were going east-west, Palmer was the true entrepreneur, defying convention and running north-south to tap the riches of the Colorado piedmont on the way to Mexico City. That he never made it past Raton is dwarfed by the fact that his work still survives today.

Operation Lifesaver in Delta

Operation Lifesaver will be pairing up with Union Pacific Railroad to promote grade crossing awareness in Delta, Colorado in early July. Visit the Delta County Independent for more details or tickets. ColoradoRailfan.com has speculated that it might involve UP's Rio Grande Heritage unit, 1989.

ColoradoRailfan.com Treasures

I don't normally rant and rave over the work by Kevin Morgan, because his work really does stand on its own. Yet, I'm really impressed with this batch. He seems to be improving his timing with shots and catching the moment just right. For example,


Notice the following elements:

• The eye immediately goes to the early light catching the locomotives
• The skyline is immersed in early morning haze, but the buildings are still visible
• The curve squeezes as much train as possible into the frame
• The late spring foilage lends a great deal of rich texture to the scene
  

Here's another one...


The shot is practically begging Amtrak for space in it's 2008-9 route guide. If I were their editor, I would take it and put text bleeding into the right side of the frame to cover up the quonset huts, but Kevin's angle makes that an option, not a necessity. His work should be seen a lot more. He's got the talent to make it in Trains on a regular basis. Why I don't see more of him in the by-lines in that mag has got to be because he's not letting them see his work.

Keep up the good work, Kevin!

A (Sort of) Familiar Face

Update: as of 2/16, the regular motive power (F40s) are back on point, not that they look all that bad either.

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Kevin Morgan of coloradorailfan.com captured the photo below along with several others near Tunnel 1 on the Moffat Route. The Ski Train is powering it's way up to Winter Park along the Front Range of Denver using 2 of it's 3 F40PHs along with Union Pacific engine 1989, the Rio Grande unit of UP's heritage series. Ski Train F40PH unit 289 was down due to a bad bearing, opening the roster for UP to put a (sort of) familiar face in a very beautiful place.

The UP1989 was unveiled in June 2006 at the North Yard facilities in Denver to a crowd of enthusiastic rail veterans and railfans.

Plow Trains

Kevin Morgan of coloradorailfan.com has photos of the plow train extras that were run by the UP on the old Kansas Pacific line to counteract the effects of the Christmas and New Years Eve blizzards. As always, the photos are excellent. Here's a sample:


Of particular note is the DRGW Jordan spreader, which Kevin notes was used on Tennessee Pass before the UP closed it.

Kevin Morgan, Photographer

These pictures of the Ski Train by Kevin Morgan are poster-worthy. Take a look. Click on the photos to visit ColoradoRailfan.com