UP Retires ex-Rio Grande Tunnel Motors To Dead Line At Burnham

It was bound to happen. With a continued lack of demand because of the recession, old locomotives that have seen their share of railroad miles are rounded up and sent via "funeral train" to a retirement storage, known as a "dead line." Intrepid photographer Kevin Morgan chased a funeral train on April 17, 2010. This time it seems to be a large
percentage of tunnel motors that had been marked for retirement, with 17 out of 21 (81%) being SD40T-2s. The train continued on to the dead line at Burnham.

Highball, Westbound Photo Turn CRB001 Track One

Climb aboard, brakeman! We're going on a run for the latest Colorado railroad photos out there on the web. Put your grip beneath your seat, click the Read More link, and we'll get moving!

More Derailment Photos

As reported last week, there was a bit of spectacular derailment on the Moffat line right over Colorado Highway 72, dropping a hopper onto the roadway below and spilling several cars down the embankment toward the CDOT depot.

Kevin Morgan Returns

After a long absence, Kevin Morgan and his Colorado Railfan site have returned with new content! His coverage of the UP 1989 Rio Grande Heritage Unit heading up the snow bus west of Denver is the first of 9 planned photo essays soon to appear on his site.

KM: Rio Grande Heritage Unit Leads California Zephyr

The Rio Grande heritage unit, UP 1989, was sent out to Utah on Saturday last week and when an eastbound California Zephyr P42 engine wouldn't take a load (run its traction motors), Union Pacific loaned the heritage unit to lead the way from Utah through Denver. That's right, through. Kevin Morgan reports that there was no Amtrak power on hand at Denver and so the Rio Grande continued on east toward Chicago and BNSF territory. If anyone out there spots our unit, let me know! In the meantime, here's Kevin's pictures from the Moffat Tunnel eastward.

Photos Of Union Pacific's CFD Special

Every July, Union Pacific runs the special to Cheyenne Frontier Days from Denver to the parade and rodeo in the Wyoming capital. Thanks to Kevin Morgan, we have some great photos of UP Steam engine 844 for Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th.

Rio Grande Heritage Unit At First Light

Thanks to Kevin Morgan and his willingness to get up early on a Friday morning, we have some great shots of Rio Grande Heritage unit UP 1989 to go with our coffee. Thanks, Kevin!

One Last Look At The Ski Train

Kevin Morgan of Colorado​Railfan.com has done an excellent job following the Ski Train under Ansco's ownership. He has some real talent and we couldn't have asked for a better photographer to document her last years. Here are all of Kevin's photos of the Ski Train, starting with his most recent, when he visited Burnham Yard yesterday to take one last look.

James Griffin, a published Rio Grande historian, built his own un-official home of the Ski Train. It's present incarnation at sisna.com is its best-looking thus far. He's modeled the Ski Train for years and published a bit of a how-to on the same site, as there was no ready-made set in HO scale.

The Denver Post has compiled a slide show of Ski Train photos taken over the years. Additionally, people have been responding to the Denver Post's editorial on the newspaper's discussion page, similar to a neighborhood meeting. There have been some good comments and observations. Here are the other DP articles on the Ski Train's departure:

• Ski Train sold, to leave Colorado
• Ski Train heads to Canada after sale ends 69-year run
• Plan had been in works to relocate Ski Train

One good note that came out of that last article above was that the name and the logo were not sold with the equipment, meaning that we could conceivably see a revived Ski Train in the distant future, or some other rail-related endeavor. Whether this includes the flying Rio Grande seen on the cars and engines is undetermined

Here are some other links regarding the Ski Train, in no particular order:

• CNN Travel - The Ski Train: Colorado's Quiet Treasure
• CBS4Denver.com - Ski Train Service To End ("Toot Toot"? what a pathetic headline!)
• 5280.com - Short blog with photo of Ski Train in station
• Raible Designs - a dad blogs about his trip last year
• Boulder's Daily Camera - Ski Train departs Colorado for good
• Examiner.com - Historic Ski Train sold, ends 69 years of service between Denver and Winter Park (includes Kevin Morgan photo and Youtube version of Ski Train promo video)
  

Farewell, Ski Train, for now.

Rio Grande Ski Train Sold, Moved To Canada

It is with great sadness that I report that the Ski Train has been sold and will no longer operate in Colorado.

I'll let that sink in for a moment. The last remaining standard gauge operation that was truly a Rio Grande original is now gone. Started by the Denver and Rio Grande Western in 1940 as a means of getting the residents of Denver to their city-owned Winter Park ski area, the train operated over 69 seasons. It originated at Denver's Union Station and dropped skiers off for a day of skiing after emerging from the Moffat Tunnel, just 12 years old in 1940. The train would be wyed at Tabernash and wait in the siding at Frasier until the day came to a close, when it would return to the same curve and pick up happy and tired skiers for a relaxing ride home.

In 1984, Denver businessman Phil Anschutz purchased the Rio Grande and then in 1988, purchased the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), merging the two under the larger railroad's name. As part of the deal, a subsidiary of Anschutz Company would buy the Ski Train and operate it as a separate venture. They continued losing some money in the venture, but it was something they "wanted to do," according to company spokesman Jim Monaghan.

As for the reasons leading to the sale of the historic train, it was a combination of things. Monaghan cited four problems faced by the Ski Train, in no specific order.

1. overall cost increases, particularly for liability coverage
2. operating issues with freight trains over the route owned by SPs successor, the Union Pacific railroad
   
3. uncertainty surrounding the redevelopment of Union Station and the Ski Train's place in that development (I blogged about this here)
   
4. a weakened overall economy

While no control can be exerted over issues 1 and 4, issues 2 and 3 should have been mitigated or resolved before the sale became an option. One could wonder if issue 2 was a monster of Anschutz's own making when the company sold SP to Union Pacific in 1996. The Union Pacific is no lover of passenger trains, as riders of Amtrak over the years can readily attest to. By losing ownership of the route, Anschutz lost control of whose trains get priority treatment. Additionally, recent maneuvers by the Obama administration and a Democrat-controlled congress have put pressure on the Big Four railroads to make Amtrak trains on their routes a priority, resulting in better on-time performance for Amtrak. This is all well and good, but could this well-intentioned maneuver by the government have lead to the California Zephyr taking the Ski Train's priority ranking over the crowded Moffat Route? It's a logical possibility, as the Amtrak effort coincided with the end of the 2009 Ski Train season. The sad irony is that by pushing state-sponsored trains, Obama and company are sending the capitalist private-sector trains to the scrap yard or, in this case, out of the country.

Issue 3 appeared on this blog back in January. As I said in the post,

RTD feels a "social obligation" to it, but that's different than a contractual obligation. Where do the skis, poles, boots and people go if the platforms are spoken for by the local commuter train to Brighton? Putting more cars on I-70/US 40 to Winter Park is not an option.

Now it appears that the non-option is the reality. Since the RTD announced plans for redeveloping Denver's Union Station, they never publicly specified where the Ski Train would fit in the plans. Translation: The Ski Train is not welcome. The cars on the pavement in Denver are now being moved to the mountains by the neglect of an agency designed to improve transportation in Denver. Parasite or patron, Denver has historically shown that it is for Denver's cause above that of Colorado in general, and this fits right in.

This is indeed sad news. At the age of 69, a wonderful train is being sold off, with no replacement in sight.

HT: Kevin Morgan

DP: Union Pacific Engine Examined As Possible Wildfire Source On Moffat in Arvada

The Denver Post is reporting that as many as nine wildfires were started by a Union Pacific train on the Moffat Route through Arvada. Grass fires stretched for five miles on Wednesday at 6:30 a.m. A Red Flag warning was issued by the National Weather Service for the area at the time, meaning that conditions were ripe for any wildfires to grow quickly. According to Scott Pribble of the Arvada Fire Department, numerous witnesses claimed they saw sparks from the train ignite dry grasses next to the tracks. The fires stretched from West 72nd Avenue and Oak Street to near the junction of Colorado 72 and 93, near Rocky.

The fires set by the train engulfed the home and barn of 92-year-old Margery Kusulas, who escaped with her daughter Angela only seconds before the fire reached them from the tracks, some 60 yards away. The fire burnt both structures to the ground and threatened the Pioneer Ridge subdivision before being extinguished.

While mechanical crews cleared the cars of both trains that were in the area at the time of any mechanical problems that would cause sparks or ignition of wildfires, they have isolated one engine that they want to get a better look at as the source of the fires. Union Pacific spokesman Marc Davis said that the two possible sources on a locomotive, arcing electricity from a bad motor or diesel flashover in one of the vents, were very rare. Union Pacific says they are already working with the parties affected, even while the investigation continues.

For more details with photos and the original story by Howard Pankratz, visit the Denver Post.

Kevin Morgan has pictures as well.

Molten Sulfur Tank Train Derails in Littleton Friday

Ed: Forgive the high number of posts yesterday and today. A lot of railroad news has happened lately, most of it noteworthy.

Kevin Morgan of Colorado Railfan.com captured pictures of the clean-up of a tanker train derailment in Littleton (AP story) that happened late Friday night, the 16th. According to Kevin,

BNSF's Bonneville, WY to Galveston, TX molten sulfur train (the GBNVGAT) derailed about 24 hours ago. The train runs down BNSF's Front Range Subdivision and then down the Joint Line. The derailment occurred in the "Littleton Trench" around midnight. The trench was dug in the late 1980's so the town of Littleton would no longer have to deal with grade crossings. Denver's Light Rail also uses the trench for its tracks. ... The derailment damaged the retaining wall separating the lines. It disrupted the roadbed beneath the northbound track for Light Rail and even dumped some debris on the track. Not sure how long it'll take before Light Rail will re-open.

Thanks to Kevin for the great pictures! AP couldn't do any better!

Morgan Captures UP Special On the Moffat

Kevin Morgan caught some great photos of the UP Board of Directors special on the Moffat Route. The Rio Grande Heritage unit 1989 and the C&NW Heritage unit 1995 provided the motive power. As usual, he got some great shots! He also managed to capture a rarity, an Amtrak California F59PH on the California Zephyr eastbound. Eastbounds in the afternoon are hard to catch with the right light, but Kevin's all pro.

The Best Side of the DNC In Denver

In 1908, Democrats came to Denver to nominate William Jennings Bryan in an unsuccessful bid for the Presidency. One hundred years later in 2008, Democrats came to Denver to nominate Barrak Obama. While the success of this bid is unknown, the convention is in the books and delegates are returning home. The convention brought together a little of the old and new, even in locomotives. One that has its roots in the last century and one that has its future in the next century sat side by side in Denver on the last day of the convention. Kevin Morgan captured this one shot among many others that day.



One word: Beauty!

UP Steam In Denver For DNC

Editor's Note: There's a lot to report on, lately, so there might be a few more posts than usual.

The Union Pacific Steam team is displaying their locomotive 844 in Denver for the Democratic National Convention this week. They are scheduled to be in town until this Thursday, August 28th. It departs back to Cheyenne on Friday the 29th. Kevin Morgan caught the trip into Denver last week. (view this and all special events on the Colorado Railroads calendar)

BNSF Freight Local Derails In Westminster, Vandalism Suspected

According to Kevin Morgan of ColoradoRailfan.com, the Longmont Turn, a BNSF local, rammed a tree stump placed on the tracks, presumably by vandals. The train was going near track speed of 40 MPH at 10:30 PM Monday evening and all four engines derailed as well as several freight cars in a massive dogpile. The lead unit, BNSF 8105, an SD-60M managed to remain upright.

The derailment happened at 95th Avenue and Wadsworth Parkway in Denver's northwest suburb of Westminster. Other Denver media, including 9news.com and the Denver Post (all news outlets), have picked up the story. Three crew members were aboard the local and one was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Police still don't know who may have placed the stump or trunk on the tracks, only that it could have been much more serious had the train been carrying something other than building supplies.

Kevin has more pictures from this afternoon. Crews are still working to remove the debris to re-open the line. There is no current estimate on when the line will reopen.

Amtrak's California Zephyr Detoured, Then Stopped

There's going to be at least three posts today, including this one. Rather than put it all under one mega-post and make you read through all of it. I decided to split them up.

Kevin Morgan, who runs ColoradoRailfan.com, was out photographing some rare power and unique sidings when he heard Amtrak's California Zephyr on his scanner. This particular train was detoured off the normal Burlington Route rails because a barge rammed a bridge in Iowa. Kevin caught up with the CZ at Leyden, already nine hours late.

It seems this train made it as far as Reno, Nevada, before it was turned around and sent back to Chicago because it was over 12 hours late due to the detour and traffic delays. Whether it's in or out of service on it's return is not known. Because the train was not provisioned at Emeryville, California, stocks on board the dining car will likely be near empty for the return trip. If it is running as number 6, I imagine it's probably going to be making a Harvey House stop (or three) on the way back.

UP Centennial To Pass Through Denver Today

According to Kevin Morgan, Union Pacific's last active DD40AX engine #6936 is passing through Denver today, in the early afternoon. It is en route from Grand Junction, CO to Sharon Springs, KS with a passenger special that is touring the UP system. This cannot be confirmed by DRGW.net's Locotrace, however. Kevin places it in Denver any time between 12:45 p.m. and 1:45 p.m., with the caveat that such time is "subject to a lot of change."

Good hunting, Kevin!

Rare Power - Alaska RR GP-49s En Route To Texas

The Alaska Railroad sold its GP-49s for a second life in Texas and they recently made their way through Denver on a BNSF "dead in consist" move. Kevin Morgan has the pictures and the specs on these one-offs over at ColoradoRailfan.com. According to AlaskaRails.org, these two are the only ones going to Specialized Rail Transport in Houston. The rest have already been sold.

The Last Unpatched Rio Grande Unit Is Retiring

What a time to come up lame with carpal tunnel syndrome! Let's start with the most recent news.

The Union Pacific's last un-patched tunnel motor from the Rio Grande, #5371, is retiring. It headed east this morning from Utah presumably to be retired. Kevin Morgan of Coloradorailfan.com got pictures of the train as she came the east. As you can see, someone has already grabbed her number boards.

Her future is in doubt, but this Grande fan hopes and prays she is donated to a good museum.

More posts will follow.

Grande Web Photographers Craft Their Art

Kevin Morgan of ColoradoRailfan.com snapped these shots on Friday the 21st while the Colorado Rockies had their last homestand against the Arizona Diamond Backs. Though the D-backs would top the Rockies 4-2 that night, it wouldn't prevent the Coors Field staff from setting off some fireworks, lending a spectacular backdrop to Kevin's shots of Grand Luxe rail's passenger cars at Union Station a few blocks away.

Meanwhile, CJ Lamas has been playing around with stuffed animals (or is the proper term "mascot" or possibly "character of dubious gender?") down in Antonito and Chama on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic. The costume didn't interfere with these shots, as he picks some beautiful views of Colorado narrow gauge steam. The autumn rains really add to some of these shots too.

Congratulations to both photographers for excelling in their art!