Special POTD: Big Boy's Last Sherman Hill September

Just north of the border of Colorado near US-85, about equidistant between the outskirts of Cheyenne and the state line is Speer, Wyoming. Like most railroad places, it's just a spot on the map, a waypoint between here and there. In this case Speer is the junction where the north-south route of the old Denver Pacific connects with the main east-west Union Pacific Overland Route over Sherman Hill. This past week, 56 years ago, a Union Pacific Big Boy rolled westbound from Speer toward Sherman Hill with its manifest freight, and Dave Straight was there to photograph it.

Photo of the Day: Dave Straight, contributing photographer to Colorado Railroads

Another September would never come for most of the Big Boys to haul freight. Just 10 months and 2 weeks to the day after this photo was taken, the same 4015 would make the last revenue run for any Big Boy over these same rails before being retired and eventually scrapped. Only 8 Big Boys were spared, including 4005 sitting at Forney in Denver and the celebrated 4014 undergoing restoration (as this is written) in Cheyenne, just a cinder's glide from where this was taken.

Special thanks to Dave Straight (and John Hill) for sharing this finely aged photograph with us.◊

POTD - Morning Rays Make Magic Even More Rare On UP Westbound

The rising sun is one of the best ways to color your photographs. During maybe a  half-hour at most, the sun shining through more of the atmosphere than any other part of the day as a natural filter, bathing everything in a golden, almost fiery glow. This is especially true on the Front Range because mountain shadows make evening shots with that natural glow next to impossible.

Photo of the Day: Mike Danneman

Trains magazine Sept 2014

Mike Danneman is no stranger to POTD. Also his brother Tom Danneman had a single-photo, double-page spread on pages 36 and 37 (sample at right) in September's Trains magazine. So you might say it runs in his blood. His consistently good work has him sitting near rock star-status (if there is such a thing in the railroad photography world). Why are rock stars famous? Because they take something that is difficult and make it look easy. Today's Photo of the Day is a perfect example.

The Union Pacific sends its track inspection car over the Rio Grande's Moffat Route from Denver. Fair enough, except that the Moffat is west of Denver, putting the locomotives and the train heading west in the morning in their own shadows. But Mr. Danneman has shot the Moffat often enough to know that, in a quest for altitude, the track layers of over a century ago reversed direction to run the rail around the tongue of a mesa. This reversal is now called Little Ten Curve and Big Ten Curves, ten referring to their curvature. In that one spot, the westbound train would be facing geographic east. Be there at the right time and the rays of the sun will bathe the yellow train in a golden glow! Mike met the train in that 30 minute window and we see the magic results. 

He makes it look easy.◊

POTD - Late Summer Glory Days

The summer sun is quickly fleeting away for 2014. Have you made it out to catch a few trains at work? Me neither. ☹ All is not lost, however. Labor Day weekend is fast approaching and that means that a lot of us have a few extra hours to slip away and photograph something that will last a lot longer than what most of us do for work. No one dies wishing they'd spent more hours working.

For inspiration, I offer a few POTDs for your consideration!

Photo of the Day: David Sheppard

David Sheppard captured this bronzed bunch of Union Pacific locomotives led by 5711, traveling with a full load of coal southbound at Greenland, Colorado on the morning of August 20th, 2014. It's a common sight on the Front Range south of Denver, but does that make it any less glorious?◊

V&S Scrapping Towner Line Without Approval?

You may remember a post and a follow-up in late 2011 about the state trying to save the "Towner line" from being carved up by its erstwhile benefactor V&S Railway. Yesterday, Nathan Holmes of DRGW.net has posted news* and photographs showing recent activity, all of them destructive or foreboding to the former Missouri Pacific main line that once connected Pueblo and Denver with Kansas City and St. Louis.

Mr. Holmes was also out there in July covering a series of washouts that occurred July 15, when he also took a sharp picture of Union Pacific's sharp-looking heritage unit only a few miles from its former home rails. The MoPac as it is known is far from forgotten, with an historical society and an employee association and quite a few fans. Along with the Rio Grande and Western Pacific, the Towner line served to connect Gould's railroads to threaten the Union Pacific and all other transcon routes.

There is, DRGW.net says, at least one offer in front of the Federal Surface Transporation Board to buy the line outright. The worrisome sightings by Holmes and others interested in this line are indicative that V&S intends to scrap the line outright, regardless of its legal obligations. Why else place the scrapping equipment in key areas? It's like finding a circular saw and saw horses along a fence a neighbor wants to remove from your common property line. What are they planning? Wouldn't you ask your neighbor about his intentions?

One final bit of thought, and it is directed at those who might file Towner Line under "so what?" Once rights-of-way are gone, they are next to impossible to recreate or recover. If Pueblo wants east-west passenger service, Towner would be much easier to keep than to buy space on BNSF.

A message sent to V&S seeking a statement about the Towner Line via their site has yet to be returned.◊

* -  No direct link provided. If not visible, click here to search DRGW.net for the latest news regarding the Towner line

Union Pacific Railroad honored Missouri Pacific in 2006 with a heritage unit. Today, the transcon link is being chipped away by those who would sell Colorado short.
Photo: terry cantrell via Wikimedia Commons

Steam Generator Cars Legacy Lives On In UP Yellow

Union Pacific's EMD E9 #949 idles at Denver's North Yard with the Howard Fogg, a steam generator car in from Cheyenne for repair to the car's wheels. Photo: John Hill, contributing photographer

Contributing photographer John Hill captured Union Pacific's historic EMD E9  in Denver with car #209, known as the Howard Fogg. It is the last boiler car for the UP. The car is comparable to former Alco PB #6002 that the Rio Grande renumbered 253 when they converted it to generate steam for passenger trains like the California Zephyr, the Rio Grande Zephyr and the Ski Train. Nathan Holmes of DRGW.net explains the reason behind steam generator cars. In practice, the former diesel engines like the Alco were easier to convert because they were already built to MU (multiple unit) control standards. Therefore, they ran between the engines instead of behind them like the Union Pacific. The Howard Fogg must ride behind the engine lashup and not within it.

About Howard Fogg, the Painter

Named for the renowned railroad painter in 1996 after he passed away on October 1st of that year. Fogg issued numerous paintings of locomotives at the end of steam and the heyday of cowl-bodied diesels. This was during a period when American railroading was arguably the most colorful and diverse.

Examples of Fogg's paintings can be found illustrating many published works, including some editions of the definitive Rio Grande book, Rebel of the Rockies by Robert Athearn, as well as his own books. His works come on calendars, playing cards, porcelain platters and even things you can hang on your wall with frames. Most recently, Richard and Janet Fogg have published Fogg In the Cockpit, a book and a blog about Richard's father. Colorado railroads and narrow gauge were a favorite theme among Fogg's many paintings.

Legacy of Steam Power Survives To See a Big Boy

Given today's wireless and electronic gadgetry, it is a bit ironic that the power cars are indispensable for present passenger special operations using equipment made to run when steam was not just an option, it was the only way to power the cars in your train. Eventually, however, the standard for car power changed when Amtrak took new Amfleet and Superliner cars that relied on HEP, or Head End Power, based on the ready supply of electricity from today's diesel-electrics. Yet nothing seemed capable of killing off the last vestige of steam from the surviving vintage passenger cars like those of Union Pacific.

Inconspicuous to a fault, the Howard Fogg blends in with the passenger consist, ahead of the first dome and behind tool car Art Lockman and #6936, this time speeding through La Salle, Colorado, on its northbound jaunt to Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Photo: John Hill

Finally, in 2000, the car was upgraded to include HEP. The boiler still supplies the steam heat as needed for consist, but HEP provides the power for the high voltage needs on the train. Cars can be electric or steam, but everything from tools and bench work to AC, cash registers, and reading lights depend on the Howard Fogg. Union Pacific needs the Howard Fogg as a support car for the move of Big Boy 4014 from California to Wyoming, presently underway, which Kevin Morgan has confirmed is in Las Vegas, NV on April 30th.◊

POTD: Two Rocky Mountain Favorites Far From Home

How do you follow the greatness of the last three POTDs by Mike Danneman? It's not impossible, but highly improbable. Yet I can't help but go for a great night shot. I have truly enjoyed rail photography's love affair with night-time exposures. The 24-7-365 nature of railroading and the natural absence of light makes for time exposures that highlight what would be missed and hide what would be obvious from a similar exposure taken in the daytime.

The Folsom local lights up the night in Sacramento, California as it makes its scheduled pick-ups and
drop-offs, far from the Rocky Mountains UP 1901/(ex-D&RGW 3155) called home in its early years.
Photo: Joe M

California photographer Joe M. published this photograph on his RRPictureArchives.net site in 2009. His one photo that qualifies for inclusion as POTD is Union Pacific 1901, last seen here on Tuesday when she was with her two sisters. Today, we have the former Rio Grande GP60 waiting while she takes her conductor back on board. Tools like the trusty lantern of the conductor are as old as railroading itself. A lantern serves to light the right-of-way, as it does here, as well as inspect cars and signal to the rest of his team how they should proceed. It's a long night in Sacramento, California, longer still if you dream about enjoying a cold one after your shift is done.◊

POTD: Shamrocks, Clovers, Three Days Are Over

Mike Danneman, whose photos are 3 for 3 this week on POTD, has delivered a fine string from his flickr account. The St. Patrick's Day theme this week has been pretty fun ...for me, at least! Monday, the obvious connection was the green locomotive. Tuesday was less obvious with Rio Grande's last 3 locomotives pulling together as a single unit, a subtle nod to Patrick's use of a shamrock (similar to clover) to teach the concept of the Trinity to his friends. Today, it's even more obscure for those who don't know their Irish lore.

Southern Pacific never looked better than August 1, 1999, squeezing between rockfall fencing
and rafters intent on enjoying Browns Canyon and the Arkansas in the short summer season.
Photo: Mike Danneman

Yes, in one of the crueler changes of the UP-SP merger (also mentioned all 3 days, unintentionally), the snaking coal drags and other serpentine trains that plied the Tennessee Pass route have vanished. Tennessee Pass was the original standard gauge route "Thru the Rockies" before the acquisition of the Denver & Salt Lake by the Rio Grande and it's official merger in 1947.

Today's photo is perhaps as exceptional as they come. Thank you, Mr. Danneman, for sharing these with us!◊

POTD: 3 In A Row - The Rio Grande GP60's

In his second appearance this week for POTD, Mike Danneman is an accomplished railroad photographer whose work shows up in books and Trains magazine with enough regularity that many photographers might envy him. Of course, he has a way of being in the right place at the right time!

GP60s 3156, 3154, & 3155 lead SP and UP locomotives head north toward Blue Mountain Crossing
between the Big Ten curves and Tunnel 1 west of Denver on its way to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Photo: Mike Danneman

As an example, he captured today's Photo of the Day in the foothills west of Denver as the three GP60s of the Rio Grande--the last locomotive units ever--hauled the Denver to Roper (Salt Lake City) manifest train up the grade toward the Moffat Tunnel on the old Denver & Salt Lake. In an interesting twist, it would seem a the six locomotives formed a recapitulation of 60 years (roughly) of the Rio Grande's ownership history with itself, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific. Regrettably, all three locomotives have been repainted or renumbered, per Utah Rails, but all are still active within the last year.

There is no doubt that it's a late 90s Denver skyline, is there?◊

POTD: St. Patrick's Day Green Cruises By On The Moffat Road

BN and March 17th seem to go together, don't you think? In this case, Mike Danneman captured a surviving BN locomotive in Cascade Green on the long ramp of a grade toward the Flat Irons and the Moffat Tunnel. As a direct result of the UP-SP merger, BNSF obtained trackage rights over the Moffat Road and since then has sent a remarkable quantity of trains via that route.

Spartan-nosed BN 7062, an EMD SD40-2, leads it's Stockton-based consist through Rocky, passing
a Union Pacific coal drag with it's distributed power visible behind the derail stand on Oct 1 1999.
Photo: Mike Danneman

No stranger to trackage rights, BN had long enjoyed the fruits of it's agreement with the Rio Grande for a connection between Denver and it's southern Colorado assets along the Joint Line. Now with well over 15 years on the route, BNSF's colors appear to be on the Moffat to stay.◊

BNSF Heritage Hoppers

Heritage fleets just keep on getting bigger. This year, BNSF has finally gotten with the program and produced a half-hearted "heritage hopper" harem.


Photo by John Csoka

It's almost as if they looked at UP and NS and said, "Oh, alright. Here. But don't expect us to paint them snazzy colors or anything."

What? You mean like these?



Both photos by Keith Schmidt.

The models were created by MTH, but probably could be adapted by the prototypic Union Pacific. A look at some concepts from the model railroading world might just show us what's possible for BNSF to try, if they're ever so inclined. In particular, Lionel (yes, that Lionel, 3 rails and all) designed some passable heritage designs that would catch anyone's eye.

Burlington 1848

Burlington Northern 1970

Frisco 1876

Great Northern 1889

Northern Pacific 1870

Santa Fe 1996

Above 6 photos Lionel.com LLC. (Catalog)

As with Union Pacific, the road numbers of the locomotives signify a year. In this case, it's based on the year the railroad started (save Santa Fe), rather than the year they joined the system. While there are no prototypical or "real" engines for these models (at least, not yet), I have to admit that when the design is scaled up, they look pretty sharp. To wit:



Which is your favorite? What about a Colorado & Southern locomotive? Do you think UP should start painting heritage hoppers based on the success of the Heritage Fleet?◊

Front Range Flooding Affects BNSF, UP

There have been widespread road closures due to flooding, including I-25 in both directions from Denver to the Wyoming state line. In my experience, any disruption that affects a road will affect a railroad to some extent, with an emphasis on proximity to the source. This holds true for this week's craziness. Greeley--I've just learned--is inundated.

Colorado's Woes Owed to Historic Rainfall

While Colorado has had occasional and rare stretches of showers and overcast skies, the rainfall this week has shattered records. In some places, over half a year's worth of rain fell in a few short days. No one I know can recall this kind of flooding ever happening here. Ever.

Erosion fascinates me. Water under pressure does amazing things. Canyons thought to form over millennia can happen within days, as witnessed on Mt. Saint Helens, given the right pressure, viscosity and debris. Dams thought secure can overtop and within minutes begin to tear open. And as witnessed this week on network TV, roads can be eaten out from under cars while people sit inside unaware and in grave danger.

Considering the weight of locomotives, cars and cargo, imagine what a pair of rails need to stay solid. Railroads are only as good as the ballast beneath them. Still, there's something else I noticed today.

Colorado's cities (red) and railroads (dashed lines). Quick and ugly map created on nationalatlas.gov
The northern half of the Front Range Urban Corridor is highlighted.

When you look at the state's railroads, perhaps the most densely developed railroad corridor is the northern Front Range, the piedmont between Denver and Wyoming, and ground zero for our disaster. Clearly, the worst place to have a flood in Colorado--as far as rail is concerned--is right there. It's development fueled the 19th and 20th century economies for Colorado and the rest of the mountain states. History runs thick. This area saw the first rail connection for Denver and the then-Territory of Colorado with the rest of the nation on the Pacific railroad. These rails served the introduction for thousands of travelers making their way to Colorado for a holiday or a new life to settle as a pioneer.

Ironically, Amtrak's Pioneer traveled the same rails, but in the opposite direction from Denver northward to Seattle until the early 90s. Since then, only the California Zephyr continues to grace Denver's presence. While Amtrak hasn't issued any information regarding the status of the daily Zephyr, both Class I railroads in Colorado have issued statements.

Class I Railroads Affected

Union Pacific issued a statement yesterday regarding the impact of the storms, indicating a likely delay of 24 hours for the affected areas including Limon, Colorado Springs, Commerce City, Rolla and Greeley.

BNSF issued a more detailed statement today regarding specific locations, saying,

The track at South Colorado Springs, Colorado is out of service due to washout. South Colorado Springs, Colorado is approximately 72 miles south of Denver, Colorado. The main track is expected to return to service later this evening, Friday, September 13, 2013.

The tracks at Boulder, Colorado and Loveland, Colorado are out of service due to multiple washouts. Boulder, Colorado is approximately 30 miles northwest of Denver, Colorado, and Loveland, Colorado is approximately 52 miles north of Denver, Colorado. No estimated return to service has been issued yet. Customers between Broomfield, Colorado, and Dixon, Colorado, will not be serviced until track is restored.

You can bet the MOW gangs are going to have a time making the weak sections solid again.

Stay dry, folks! Hopefully, we've seen the worst of it.◊

Railroading 101: Modern Freight Railroads

With no Bronco game :-[ this Labor Day weekend, there's more than enough time to take in a movie or an extra show. A few years ago, History channel turned out an episode about "Freight Trains." Although one or two minor errors slipped by--that I could tell, anyway--the 45 minute documentary does a more than passable job in explaining the basics of steam piston valves, diesel engine construction, freight cars, yards, and virtually every other aspect of modern railroading in America, including the demise of steam and FRED's elimination of the caboose. While there is nothing that ties into Colorado directly, there is plenty to keep even the casual viewer interested.

It was good to see Jim Boyd, former editor of Railfan & Railroad magazine and an accomplished author make an appearance in the episode. He was a great asset to railfans everywhere. He will be sorely missed.◊

UP Big Boy Locomotive -- Largest Ever Built -- May Again Roam In Colorado

UP 4014 during her operational days
Photo: Union Pacific

It's official. Union Pacific Railroad announced today that it has re-acquired one of their legendary 4-8-8-4 steam locomotives with the full intention of restoring it to active service. After a lengthy stay in the rumor mill, UP reached an agreement with the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Southern California Chapter in Pomona, to transfer ownership of #4014 back to the railroad. Union Pacific plans to relocate No. 4014 to Cheyenne, WY, where their "Heritage Fleet Operations" team will work to restore it to operating condition.

UP donated #4014 to the historical society December 7, 1961, which was the 20th anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the same year that the first Big Boys began operations. The locomotive arrived January 8, 1962, at its current display location at the Rail Giants Train Museum in Pomona.

"Our steam locomotive program is a source of great pride to Union Pacific employees past and present," said Ed Dickens, senior manager of Union Pacific Heritage Operations. "We are very excited about the opportunity to bring history to life by restoring No. 4014."

What About Denver's Big Boy?

Big Boy 4005, the Big Boy on permanent display at the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver may have been considered for restoration, but given the long duration #4005 spent out under the open sky in the years before the museum moved, she almost certainly would have cost more to restore although it's unclear Union Pacific ever seriously considered the locomotive, one of several surviving Big Boys around the country.

More

• about Big Boys.
• about #4014 (new UP data)

Opinion 

Union Pacific 4014 in Pomona CA in 2005
Photo: Morven, Wikimedia Commons

It remains to be seen whether Union Pacific has a use for 3 steam engines in a special program. Certainly, the steam program is Union Pacific's prime goodwill ambassador, crushing other companies' PR machines under a million pounds of live steam. On the other hand, could it be setting us up for a retirement of #3985, the Challenger that UP restored back in 1981. Such wouldn't be likely right away, but odds would favor its early retirement if someone finds the costs of running or repairs to be unjustified. Personally, I'm excited at the possibility of finally seeing a Big Boy in motion. I only wonder what the world's largest steam locomotive is truly going to cost.◊

UP Crew Readys Venerable 844 Steam Engine For Annual Denver Trip

As seen here, Union Pacific is readying the never-retired 4-8-4 Northern steam engine #844 for it's annual series of trips between Denver and Cheyenne's Frontier Days. I've chased the 844 numerous times, but never to Cheyenne, oddly enough. Nonetheless, I know others like Skip W that have already greased up their tripods and cleaned their lenses. For some, chasing is a hobby, others a diversion, but for folks like Skip, it's a passion.

The route will follow that of the Denver Pacific, the first railroad to connect Denver with the outside world by rail in 1870, six years before statehood and our nation's centennial. Those were the days of ornamental steam, when antlers and whale-oil lamps sat above link-and-pin couplers and wooden cowcatchers. Like the Cheyenne Frontier Days itself, the 844 is more than just a working anachronism. It's a functioning mode of transportation, and the industrial age technology belies it's youth. While the 844 was built as UP class FEF-3 in 1944, over 74 years after 1870, the engine itself is 68 years old,  and much younger than the 142 year-old route it will be rolling over at a rocket's pace very soon.◊

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POTD - Grande Retirement of a Tunnel Motor

Kevin Morgan, long a favorite, gets the POTD honor today, not just because of the unique perspective
of this shot, but because he remembered the detail of staying out of the reflection of Ogden, Utah.

Since it's retirement in 2008, Rio Grande SD40T-2 #5371, the only Rio Grande diesel to retire without being re-numbered or sold off, has been joined at the old loco's home by SD40T-2 #5401, which saw brief service as patched Union Pacific 9871. Though they haven't relocated the engine to the property, it's good to know that such vital pieces of contemporary railroading is going to survive in the both of the states the Rio Grande called home.◊

UP 844 and SLRG 18 Met In Walsenburg

Union Pacific 844 and San Luis & Rio Grande 18 had an unannounced meet in Walsenburg, a town that's served as the long-time junction of the Denver & Rio Grande's La Veta Pass route that links Alamosa and the large San Luis Valley with the southern end of Colorado's Front Range. The SL&RG extra with three Rio Grande Scenic cars traveled for the first time into Walsenburg under its own steam. It's likely the first time since the 1950s that two steam engines had met in this southern Colorado town. YouTube user JointLineRailfan captured the late evening-lit meet of the two oil burners on Sunday, November 4th.



Great catch, even if it was in the dark! ◊

Union Pacific 844 Tours Colorado Starting Tomorrow

The Union Pacific Steam program is a veritable powerhouse of corporate goodwill that any Public Relations department would love to have. Any live mainline steam out west is likely to happen under the UP Steam shield.

As part of their UP 150 Celebration, Union Pacific sent it's million-pound* ambassador of good will, steam engine 844 down to Texas last month for its UP 150 Express tour. It's return route will come home through Colorado, starting tomorrow. The planned route follows I-25 for most of the way up the Front Range, using the Joint Line.

Here's the itinerary from their site, followed by their locations in Google Maps.

UP 150 Express in Colorado

Location	Arrival	Departure
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Des Moines, N.M. Saavadre Street Crossing and Larkin Street		11:01 a.m.
Trinidad, Colo. County Road 75 Crossing at County Road 71.6	1:15 p.m.	1:45 p.m.
Walsenburg, Colo S. Hendren Avenue and W. 5th Street	3:15 p.m.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Walsenburg, Colo S. Hendren Avenue and W. 5th Street		8:00 a.m.
Pueblo, Colo Look for signs beginning at access road	11:01 a.m.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012 On Display
Pueblo, Colo 400 B Street	Open  10:00 a.m.	Close  4:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Pueblo, Colo 400 B Street		8:00 a.m.
Colorado Springs, Colo 112 Pikes Peak Ave.	9:45 a.m.	10:45 a.m.
Palmer Lake, Colo S. Spruce Mountain Road at S. Perry Park Road	11:45 a.m.	12:01 p.m.
Denver, Colo North Yard (no public access)	3:01 p.m.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Denver, Colo North Yard (no public access)		8:00 a.m.
Greeley, Colo Old Depot, 902 7th Ave	12:45 p.m.	1:15 p.m.
Cheyenne, WY UP Steam home	3:01 p.m.

UP 150 Express in Colorado Nov 2012
Map presented by Colorado Railroads, for informational purposes only, information as announced by Union Pacific on 11/3/2012


Remember that Sunday morning at 2 a.m., Colorado leaves Mountain Daylight Savings Time (MDT) and returns to Mountain Standard Time (MST). All times are taken from the UP Steam site and should be MST. For informational purposes only

* - 905,000 pounds, give or take

Happy hunting to all main line steam fans!◊