Showing posts with label Union Pacific. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Union Pacific. Show all posts

Monday, July 26, 2021

POTD - Big Boy Under Threatening Skies

Photo of the Day: BUFFIE

Earlier this month, Union Pacific's Steam collective in Wyoming needed to stretch their Big Boy's legs before beginning their summer trip to New Orleans. A quiet trip to Denver seemed to be in order. Intrepid Denver-based rail photographer BUFFIE caught up with UP 4014 leaving Platteville on the trip back north to Cheyenne. The threatening skies and ideal lighting and classic black-and-white subject make it an easy candidate for Photo of the Day.⚒

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Suits Filed Anticipating Tennessee Pass Activation

Well, that didn't take long.

Proving that there is nothing new under the sun, the action announced on the 31st of December, 2020, Rio Grande Pacific To Lease Tennessee Pass Route, became the subject of at least two separate suits filed by lawyers whose interest in what's best for Colorado is dubious at best. The Union Pacific and Rio Grande Pacific most likely expected this knee-jerk reaction.

The Town of Avon and Eagle County have both agreed to split the cost of a challenge filed with the Surface Transportation Board (STB). Apparently, the occupants of the town and county are already convinced that the rails are mere days away from coursing with crude oil. The idea that the company doesn't want to haul crude and instead haul other freight and possibly provide a commuter service to towns along the line like the one they already conduct in Texas seems to fall on deaf ears.

The second suit comes in a January 8th filing with the STB. A corporation that was seeking to use the Tennessee Pass Route for their own purposes argued the STB should reject the Union Pacific's right to reactivate the line. That corporation is the similarly named Colorado Pacific Railroad, owned by eastern Colorado billionaire businessman Stefan Soloviev's KCVN, LLC. They are the owners of the Towner Line and most recently they failed to force UP to sell the Tennessee Pass route to them. They apparently have no corporate railroad presence on the web.

The STB is limited in what it can and can't decide. According to the Colorado Sun

Michael Booth, a spokesman for the Surface Transportation Board, said the board operates like a court, with strict parameters for approving or rejecting rail plans. The board’s goal is to insure [sic] rail traffic rolls smoothly and that competitive issues are resolved, Booth said. It doesn’t have a lot of leeway for rejecting plans by an operator who promises to fix up a critical corridor that has been neglected for decades.

“We have limited jurisdiction to decide economic regulatory affairs,” Booth said. “The board’s concern is mainly, ‘Does the line serve a public purpose?’” 

The Colorado Sun article continues, 

Before trains roll over Tennessee Pass, there will be much more review and studies by a host of local, state and regional authorities, including the Forest Service and Colorado Department of Transportation. The transportation board is a first step in what will be a long process.

The length of time reactivating this line is something that all parties must be prepared for. It is going to take some time to understand what activating the line means and doesn't mean for everyone involved. Pueblo alone will find its future a little brighter by becoming a junction again and not merely a stop on the Front Range. 

More importantly, if the Tennessee Pass route is rehabilitated, it will be updated and upgraded with Positive Train Control, a much safer means of controlling rail movements than the CTC-based approach that was in place in 1997 when the line was inactivated.⚒

Sunday, November 8, 2020

Class 1 Railroading in 1982

The illustrious David P. Morgan, longtime editor of Trains Magazine wrote towards the end of his time in 1982 about what constitutes a Class 1 Railroad in the United States. In 2020, we have just 5 railroads functioning in a semi-national capacity. In 1982, it was a much more interesting question. 

Column

His January 1982 column, "How Many Class 1s?" states, 

For all practical purposes, there are officially 39 railroads in the United States. . . .  [They] employ 92 per cent of American railroaders, operate 94 per cent of rail mileage, and handle 98 per cent of rail traffic. These 39 are the Class 1 (annual gross revenues of 50 million dollars or more) line-haul railroads

Of the roads he goes on to list, fully 7 of them were active in Colorado at the time of his writing: 

  • Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
  • Burlington Northern 
  • Colorado & Southern 
  • Denver & Rio Grande Western
  • Missouri Pacific (soon to merge with UP)
  • National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak)
  • Union Pacific

Morgan continued his analysis, weeding out railroads like the C&S, which would be absorbed into BN later that year and concluded, "Now we have, in effect 17 Class 1's--less than half the number we started with..." Burlington Northern, Rio Grande, Santa Fe, Union Pacific were the Colorado railroads included. He reduced the number even further by saying "75 per cent of the Class 1 route-miles of the country are controlled, or predictably will be, by just seven camps:" ATSF, BN and UP were in Colorado at the time. He concludes, 

In sum, we have far fewer railroads in the U.S. than the number that appears at first blush, although in terms of the world (2 roads in Canada, 1 in Mexico, and of course 1 each in France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, U.K., etc.) we have a distance to go, particularly in view of the fact that 154 years after B&O's charter we still do not possess rails under one flag linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Well sir, if you're looking for a monolithic rail structure in America, it still hasn't arrived 38 years later, a whopping 192 years in total! Although, thanks to a round of mergers in the 1990s, we have today 2 Class 1 freight railroads in Colorado. Neither of which seem to have a vested interest in the state as the Rio Grande did back in 1982. ⚒

Friday, February 21, 2020

The Beginning of the End for UP 3985

Challenger 3985 charges south with the Circus Train toward Denver September 28, 2010
Photo: John H. Hill
While fans of the Union Pacific come down from the high of their inaugural season of Big Boy 4014, it cannot be all good news coming from Cheyenne, the heart of UP Steam just over the border in Wyoming. UP announced their intention to retire Challenger-type 3985, the other articulated steam locomotive inhabiting the UP Steam shops.

Built in July 1943 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and retired by UP in 1962, the 4-6-6-4 Challenger was restored as a volunteer-initiated project back in 1979. Returned to service with UP in April 1981 and converted to oil in 1990, it held the title of world's largest operating steam locomotive until the return of Big Boy 4014 in May 2019, although its last active run was in October 2010.

Why not keep her running? Apart from UP Steam having its hands full with 844 and 4014, the other two big steam engines, 3985 was looking at a long and extensive restoration. According to Kevin P. Keefe, "Such are the consequences of running the wheels off it," since its return to service. Weighing this against the decreased demand, there's just not that much reason to keep her active.

Nonetheless, any time a steamer goes silent, it's a sad day for the railfan. Like Keefe, I feel a need to honor the Challenger. Keefe says,
With all due respect to N&W 2-6-6-4 No. 1218 and its brethren, I can’t see how UP’s 4-6-6-4s cannot be considered the world’s most successful simple articulateds, given their sterling dual-service operational record on UP, not to mention how they begat near-carbon-copies on Clinchfield, D&H, Northern Pacific, and SP&S.
Those near-carbon-copies on Clinchfield? They were delivered to the Rio Grande as their L-97 class, numbered 3800-3805 in May and June 1943. They served until 1947 when the D&RGW sold them to the Clinchfield, renumbering them 670-675.1 The Rio Grande didn't actually want the Challengers, either. They wanted 5 more Baldwin 4-6-6-4s (Class L-105), but the War Production board assigned the Alcos by tacking them on to the Union Pacific's order. The Rio Grande opted not to buy them, instead leasing them from the Defense Plant Corporation. They were, in 1943, the last new steam engines the Rio Grande ever received.2 So, for many born after 1950, the Challenger a way for us to witness, perhaps unwittingly, the Rio Grande's main line steam in the post-war years.

Let us remember perhaps the most important aspect of the Challenger's story: the volunteer initiative to restore it to service. Few at Union Pacific saw the advantages of full restoration except these volunteers. The uses of old steamers was limited to park centerpieces to bolster civic pride. The public perception was that railroads were profit-shy and mired in regulation and bureaucracy. Additionally, eight years earlier, Amtrak had removed the last point of contact of the Union Pacific with the American public. Aside from delaying drivers at grade crossings, there was no reminder to the public of the services the railroad provided to the public. It's not a huge stretch to say that without the volunteers stepping forward, Union Pacific's public image would be far less than it is today.

While an ending, this is not necessarily the utter end for 3985. Challenger will sit in the Cheyenne roundhouse alongside her stablemates for the foreseeable future. It costs very little to preserve a steam locomotive already sheltered from the elements. Perchance it might cost little more if a slow, paced restoration was quietly undertaken? Perhaps in another 20 years, we may see the need for three steam locomotives in the steam program. It's always a possibility, especially if UP continues using steam to power its public relations.⚒

References
1 Locomotives of the Rio Grande by the Colorado Railroad Museum p.59
2 Rio Grande: To the Pacific! by Robert LaMassena p.160

UP Steam #3985 Fact Sheet
Wikipedia

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Wrinn: The End of the Beginning For UP 4014

Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains Magazine, puts a bow on the opening year of the UP Steam Big Boy era in his blog post. Despite the pains Precision Scheduled Railroading is causing UP, a public relations juggernaut in the shape of a 4-8-8-4 is affecting all who fall within its shadow. Who knows what the future holds for this mammoth goodwill ambassador? ⚒

Photo: BUFFIE



Thursday, August 8, 2019

POTD - A Crossover Before Crossing Over Palmer Divide

It's been quite a while since we've had a Photo of the Day, so it should be a good one! A new photographer has been making quite an impact over at RailPictures.net. His name is Timothy Tonge and his photos, while not all from Colorado, hold nothing back in the way of beauty and sight lines! A prime example of this is his photo of a BNSF grain train heading south at Spruce, Colorado on the Joint Line between Colorado Springs and Denver late on a summer evening, July 11, 2019.

Photo of the Day by Timothy Tonge

As Mr. Tonge also points out, Spruce was one of the locations where the main lines of the Rio Grande (lower, left) and Santa Fe (right) crossed over each other. By the middle of the frame, the former Rio Grande main is the curving grade on the right! All of this was a fight to gain the elevation needed to crest the Palmer Divide just a couple miles distant.

Those familiar with the line will notice something a little strange about this shot. Although there are 4 locomotives, they are all trailing as pushers. The train is following the right-hand rule that is almost always in place on the Joint Line, allowing both UP and BNSF to use the former Rio Grande and former Santa Fe main lines as a double-tracked expressway for most of its distance between Denver and Walsenburg. It is remarkable that despite mergers, this has remained a two-railroad district for over a century!

PS: There is a theme to the Photos of the Day over the next week. While they all feature the same photographer, railroad, and section of the Joint Line, there is also a hidden theme that will be revealed on the 15th.⚒

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Follow Up: Transcontinental Railroad Symposium

As a follow up to my previous post from April 26, it's worth noting that the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden is conducting a symposium on the weekend of June 7-9 on the Transcontinental Railroad.
Celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad with a decidedly Colorado twist.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday June 7-9, 2019

The top scholars in railroad history explore the struggles undertaken to build one continuous line of track from coast to coast and the resulting impact this had on our nation’s settlement and economy.
Speakers currently on the schedule include filmmaker Richard Luckin, David Bain, Peter A. Hansen, James Ehernberger, Kyle Wyatt, Dick Kreck, and Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains magazine. Of particular interest is Saturday afternoon when Al Dunton is scheduled to present The Colorado Connection, speaking on the Kansas Pacific and the Denver Pacific Railroads. Presiding, of course, is the director of the Colorado Railroad Museum, Donald Tallman.

The symposium will be held off-site from the museum for Friday and Saturday, and seating is limited. Reservations required by Friday, May 31, 2019, only 10 days from this post, so do not wait! Visit the event site for all official details.⚒

Friday, April 26, 2019

Was It Truly A Transcontinental Railroad?

In two weeks, dignitaries and pundits will call attention to a small bluff in western Utah named Promontory Summit where rail crews from two different railroads met and held a golden spike ceremony on May 10, 1869, 150 years ago. These facts, and more like them are certain. Among the statements and praise for the men--great and small--who commissioned and built it, statements will be passed as fact with hyperbole and oversimplifications mixed in. It's important in these times to remember the facts and, among them, Colorado's special place in America's transcontinental railroad history.

Photo: Andrew J. Russell, Restored by Adam Cuerden

While we could review much of the history of 19th century America in how the transcontinental railroad changed the course of history and formed the world we live in. Without it, much of America--and the world--would be different. It's not really possible to overstate it's role in forming the United States. But is it possible to oversimplify it or overstate certain facts? Absolutely! While we celebrate the transcontinental railroad with the Golden Spike ceremony, most of it is more symbolic than the actual formation of a transcontinental railroad.

True or False: The Golden Spike joined the nation by rail

FALSE -- The Golden Spike joined the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads, tying Omaha and Sacramento. A trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific by rail was not possible on May 10, 1869. While the Central Pacific did connect to Sacramento, it would not reach San Francisco Bay until much later that same year. Even with that gap filled, you would be forced to disembark your train at Council Bluffs, Iowa, to take the Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry across the Missouri River to Omaha. While your travel time was cut from months to weeks, it would be over-simplifying to say the nation was joined by rail.

How was the nation joined by a truly coast-to-coast railroad connection? On August 15, 1870, two crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad met at Comanche Crossing at Strasburg, Colorado. By joining their rails together, it was possible to embark a train at Jersey City, New Jersey and disembark at Oakland, California. The Union Pacific would not complete its Missouri River Bridge until March 25, 1873. Until that date, the true transcontinental railroad actually passed not through Omaha but through Kansas City and Denver.

Ready for more?

True or False: Promontory Point has a museum run by the National Park Service

TRUE -- You can visit the museum and watch a re-enactment of the Golden Spike ceremony most days out west of Salt Lake City. Just don't look for parking on May 10th.

T/F: The Union Pacific still uses the Golden Spike route

FALSE -- While much of the route is still the same, the route by Promontory was shifted to a more favorable grade well to the north of that historic location. The Comanche Crossing site east of Denver, however, is still in use, even with a museum.

T/F: Union Pacific owns the full route of the transcontinental railroad today

TRUE -- On September 11, 1996, Union Pacific Railroad purchased and merged with Southern Pacific, which had itself been purchased by the Denver & Rio Grande Western only 8 years before. Southern Pacific purchased the Central Pacific in a series of maneuvers beginning in 1885.

T/F: Union Pacific is bringing a special locomotive to the party in May

Are you kidding? TRUE! Union Pacific took one member of the largest steam locomotive class in history from Pomona California back in 2014 and has put it through a full restoration. The Big Boy 4014 will be heading to Utah this May for the ceremonies. Union Pacific's "never-retired" steam locomotive 844 will also be on hand for the celebration. For more information, visit Union Pacific Steam

In conclusion...

So was it truly a transcontinental railroad? Depends on your point of view. Politically, yes. Businesswise, maybe yes to a degree. As a passenger? Well, if I had to hoof it over to a ferry and then wait six months for Sacramento and San Francisco to join... then no, not hardly. But, from Atlantic to Pacific in 1870 through Denver on the Kansas Pacific with my private railcar? Sure! I'd call that a railroad.⚒


Special note: Though the Comanche Crossing web site has been down for more than a year, it's archived page still survives and from all indications, the museum is still in operation, opening June 1st through the summer every year.

On Wikipedia:

Promontory, Utah
Comanche Crossing on the Kansas Pacific
Union Pacific Railroad

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Of Lines Loved and Lost

For Christmas, I received Narrow Gauge in the Rockies by Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, sixth printing, first published in 1958. It is illustrated with photos from W.H. Jackson, Otto Perry, and Richard Kindig, and paintings by Howard Fogg. Its pages are flowing with history and elaborate, almost florid accounts of life surrounding the narrow gauge in Colorado. Its foreword speaks of the narrow gauge railfan as if they were the Hebrews of old, saying,
To perpetuate the memory of the narrow gauges a generation that would gladly exchange the com­forts of here and now for yesterday in Boreas Pass has taken steps that stand as a testament of de­votion without parallel among other antiquar­ians no matter how dedicated. The Rocky Mount­ain Railroad Club tells their story in volumes that only a toler­ably strong man may heft; there is a Narrow Gauge Museum and Motel at Alamosa toward which dedi­cated railroad buffs every­where as Moslems [sic] toward Mec­ca; there is a periodical devoted solely to narrow gauge tidings which is the de­votion­al reading of The Faith­ful, and there are narrow gauge books, pamph­lets, post cards, ex­cursions, engine models, book ends, beer mugs, paperweights and pictured likenesses of the cars beyond all counting. To have ridden the San Juan or the Silverton Train is a greater experience than to have seen Shelley plain. The Faithful sigh for the snowsheds of Lizard Head and by the waters of Gunnison they sat them down and wept.
Even though it's a bit ostentatious and maybe pretentious in its prose, I can't help but see myself in this paragraph. I have indeed turned myself toward Golden (now where the said Museum and former-motel owner moved from Alamosa), bought countless mementos, ridden the Silverton Train and the surviving portion of the San Juan each many times over. I mourned the loss of the Rio Grande Southern while walking Lizard Head Pass and sat in the depths of the Gunnison and--I kid you not--wept bitter tears silently by its banks that the Denver & Rio Grande narrow gauge is no more.

Am I embarrassed to admit to those tears? No. Those who don't understand the loss and share in the grief have my pity. Furthermore, for all the faults, both real and perceived, the days of yesterday contained, they also had gems, real and perceived, that today's progressed people have never experienced. It is truly a loss that our forebears did not retain them.

Nonetheless, I cannot stand in judgment of those who failed to keep those lost treasures, for one by one, other, non-narrow gauge lines are similarly dying in front of our eyes with only a little interest shown in preserving them. I am thinking chiefly of the Tennessee Pass line from Pueblo all the way to Dotsero. It is more than 21 years after seeing its last through revenue train, and the line is suffering from profound neglect.

This may be just my own opinion, but it seems Union Pacific cares little for jobs or industry in Salida, Leadville or Minturn. With the closure of Burnham and other points and routes, it's easy to think that the suits sitting in UP headquarters wonder why all jobs can't be based in Omaha, Seattle and San Diego. It's highly doubtful we would fare better with CSX or NS, were they to merge with the UP.

I believe the citizens of Colorado and her government need to be able and willing to use their powers to preserve the thoroughfares built and maintained by generations before so that the means of moving people and goods through Colorado does not waste away. Even the Moffat Route is not impervious to the forces of consolidation and removal. Am I looking at a future in which Granby and Craig sit isolated like Gunnison and Dolores and the Moffat Tunnel lies in ruins like the Alpine Tunnel? I sincerely hope not.⚒


Beebe, L., & Clegg, C. (1970). Narrow gauge in the Rockies. Berkeley, Calif: Howell-North

Thursday, November 29, 2018

POTD - Main Line Steam at LaSalle

John Hill captured Union Pacific legend No. 844 as it crested the slight grade at LaSalle, Colorado, on her speedy way from Cheyenne to Denver on Thursday, July 19, 2018, to pick up her passengers for the Cheyenne Frontier Days special. Since its revival in 1992, the Denver Post has chartered the special to haul nearly 800 passengers from Denver over the Wyoming state line for a day of catered meals, dancing, live music, socializing, and games, and that's just the fun onboard. There's still a rodeo to watch when they get there!

Photo of the Day: John Hill

Union Pacific 844 leads diesel 1943, The Spirit, an SD70ACe painted in a unique livery celebrating the nation's armed forces and its 5 branches. The diesel commemorates a U.S. Army Air Corps B-17 bomber, The Spirit of Union Pacific, purchased in 1943 by employee war bonds to support America's winning role in World War II.

The CFD Special would not complete this year without incident. On July 21st, two days after this photo, the train clipped a woman standing too close to the rails at a crossing near Henderson, killing her on impact. Her death halted the train and passengers were bused from Henderson to Denver 2 hours later. On its site, Union Pacific requests the public keep a minimum distance of 25 feet away from any track. ⚒

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Glenwood Springs Museum Closes

The 14 year-old Glenwood Railroad Museum closed forever as of  Monday, November 27th, 2017. Since 2003, the museum operated in the former Women's Waiting Room in the east end of the historic Glenwood Springs railroad depot, built by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1902.

Until 2016, it had always enjoyed a $250 per-year lease, educating the public and providing a place for Amtrak passengers to visit while waiting to embark. Glenwood Springs is Colorado's most popular passenger destination, second only to Denver's Union Station. However, Union Pacific decided it didn't want to foster goodwill and interest in western railroading as much as it wanted $30,000 per year in what it believes is a market rate for the space.

Their last hope was a bond issue that failed in the 2017 election cycle. The month of December was spent finding homes for all the artifacts and exhibits collected over the years.

Thanks to Trains Magazine for the tip.

Sunday, August 6, 2017

POTD - Cheyenne Frontier Days Special Rides Again

It almost goes without saying. This year's Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo had a steam special run by Union Pacific. I say almost because, although it has been a regular trip for many years, a lot of planning, effort and money go into making this event happen every year. The citizens of both Wyoming and Colorado owe a debt to The Denver Post, Union Pacific, and the many staff and volunteers who invest their time and effort to making the CFD Special happen. Without it, the rodeo wouldn't be as popular and the economic impact would be profound. Highball, UP 844!

Photo of the Day: John H. Hill
Today's photo of the day is by Colorado Railroads' contributing photographer John Hill. He captured the Cheyenne Frontier Days Special high-stepping its way south through Weld County past Nunn and toward Carr and Denver Union Station on July 20, 2017 at 11:08 in the morning, led by Union Pacific's famed 844. A class FEF-3, oil-fired 4-8-4, it has never officially been retired, and since the 1980s it has served as the railroad's primary public relations dynamo. I can't fault them for it. If I had a horse this beautiful, I would show it off each chance I got! ⚒

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Caboose Hobbies To Re-open In Lakewood

Caboose Hobbies, in whatever form the store survives, is set to re-open on Alameda Avenue in Lakewood just south of the Federal Center this month. The Denverite has more.

When the store closed at its original location on 500 S Broadway on September 11, 2016, it was the end of an era. The largest model train store in the world closed on the 20th anniversary of the Union Pacific - Southern Pacific merger on September 11, 1996.

While Denver Billionaire Philip Anschutz had purchased the Rio Grande in 1984, he had Rio Grande Industries purchase the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in 1988 and the two companies functioned as separate divisions of the same railroad. As a result, it was easy for me to imagine nothing had really changed. Unfortunately, the day everything changed was the merger of the Union Pacific. For me, that was the day the Rio Grande, Denver's home railroad finally died.

So it's a little more sad than before. On the other hand, it would feel even worse if Caboose Hobbies had closed forever. Now she has a fighting chance. When they open, drop by 10800 W. Alameda Ave, Lakewood, Colorado if you are in town! They should be are not (yet) open. If you are out of the metro area, visit www.caboosehobbies.com! They should have gift certificates for sale!⚒

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

POTD - Right At Home In the Tunnel District

Would you believe it's been 10 years since Colorado Railroads - www.corailroads.com - began? I wouldn't have realized it but for the fact that the Rio Grande Heritage Unit produced commissioned by Union Pacific is 10 years old next month. What a great job they did on that design! Having met the designers at the unveiling, I was pleased to tell them that they really did a great job capturing the feel of a very diverse railroad with a solid and, I believe, unifying design that, as far as I'm concerned, would look great in a production run! It's the least Union Pacific could do, considering how seldom the locomotive seems to make it through Colorado.

At home
Photo of the Day: Mike Danneman

Mike Danneman captured the vagabond UP 1989 when the notch-nosed, brawny SD-70ACe was leading a comparatively grimey sister ACe. Mr. Danneman said the UP Heritage Unit "looks right at home exiting Tunnel 29 east of Pinecliffe, Colorado," heading east over former D&RGW territory in the Moffat Road's Tunnel District on July 10, 2006.◊

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

POTD: Climbing the Divide At Dawn

Photo of the Day: Kevin Morgan
Good morning! That's what you can say about today's Photo of the Day, Kevin Morgan's dawn photograph of Union Pacific's daily manifest train from Denver's North Yard to Roper, Utah. Climbing out of Denver's suburbs toward the Big Ten curves, the Flatirons and eventually the Continental Divide summit inside the Moffat Tunnel, the train has about an hour lead on Amtrak's California Zephyr, which is yet to load in Denver. This shot is the second of two that morning. Kevin's work is consistently such a high quality, he could easily fill a yearly calendar! ◊

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Burnham Shops In Final Countdown To Closure

For more than 140 years, the at-first narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and its standard gauge successors have maintained a locomotive maintenance facility and yard at 8th and Pecos in central Denver. In less than 3 weeks, that facility will turn it's last wheel.

Such news is a bitter pill to take.

It's no secret that declining coal traffic in Colorado and the unlikely prospect of its revival, at least in the domestic sense is driving the business decision. Nearly a year into a continuous drop in earnings, Union Pacific isn't shy about falling back on the tried and true method of shoring up a soft bottom line by consolidating operations and reducing expenditures. The bitter pill is the number of "relocated" jobs--at least 210--and the location, which is to some Rio Grande fans, sacred ground.

In his comments on the Denver Post news article announcing the closure, rail historian Dillon A. wrote
I propose that the Burnham yards be put on the Register of Historic Places. This facility is where hundreds of thousands of steam and diesel locomotives were overhauled and repaired. A good example of why this needs to be saved and saved NOW are one of the locomotives that came from this facility. These locomotives still survive on the Cumbres & Toltec scenic Railroad in Chama, New Mexico, Durango & Silverton scenic Railroad in Durango, and one at the Colorado Railroad Museum.  ... These locomotives were the narrow-gauge K-37 class of the Denver & Rio Grande Western. Out of 10 made, 8 still exist and one is currently operational. #491 is operating at the railroad Museum in Golden. These locomotives are the greatest example of the power and craftsmanship that this facility produced. That is why this facility needs to be saved NOW. It might just look like an old rail yard, but it holds MANY secrets and hold LOTS of opertunity [sic] for future historic rail preservation.
While my heart strongly echoes these sentiments, interested parties must either hastily coalesce into a preservation group or contact the existing preservation organizations like the Colorado Railroad Museum or History Colorado to get involved. Otherwise, we have little right to complain. 

At this point, UP spokeswoman Callie B. Hite says the railroad plans to prepare the 70-acre locomotive repair yard for sale. There are about two dozen buildings on the site, which is zoned for industrial uses. "The 70-acre property is located in an area experiencing renewed urban development," Hite was quoted in the article.



Opinion

More than 20 years ago, I can remember gliding past the "dead line" on neighboring tracks operated by Denver's pilot Light Rail line, scrolling past the many Southern Pacific and Union Pacific locomotives, searching intently for a Rio Grande in among the dirty grey and dingy yellow engines awaiting their fate to be rebuilt or sold. It's hard to imagine that the next time I do ride past, the dead line, shops and structures could be all demolished and plowed under for a scenic strip mall or trendy retail "infill." This was a place that birthed the Rio Grande's narrow gauge conversions, refit and rehabilitated the mighty 2-8-8-2's and their kin during the heyday of steam and rebuilt and repaired the generations of diesel locomotives that defied gravity over the spine of the continent. For generations, men punched in, endured hours of hard, sweaty work in grimy iron horses, some loving every minute of it. Their sons and grandsons remembering their work with pride. This place probably will now be re-developed and paved over with not even a hint that such history transpired there, except perhaps the irony of the same name, Burnham Shops.

If you disbelieve me, consider that today's Elitch's was in 1993 a very different place, the Colorado & Southern yards. Abandoned and quiet, they still had history waiting inside structures that had stood for decades. In two years, the only hint that remained of it's railroad past was a heavy, through-truss turntable, and in only a few more years, it was gone, replaced by a mediocre bat swing ride. It became a forgotten corner in a park that itself has suffered under a series of lackluster owners and stagnant growth after moving from it's own home in 1994 over a century old in the West Highlands of Denver. Is that really what should happen to Burnham?◊

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

POTD - Bowie Black Diamonds

Photo of the Day: Kevin the Krazy 1
A Union Pacific coal drag leaves Somerset towards Paonia, allowing a worker of a private orchard to cool his heels while it clears his crossing. While coal from eastern states has all but played out or otherwise dropped from domestic use, "high-BTU, low-sulfur, compliance thermal coal" from Bowie on the former Rio Grande is still in demand. On the other hand, recent layoffs at the same mine have threatened to destabilize the western slope's economy and make scenes like this one vanish forever. The first of two POTDs this week by Kevin A. Sadowski.◊

Friday, April 10, 2015

POTD: Snowy Majesty From Greenland Ranch

Today we get a second shot from March 25 by Chris Paulhamus. When the weather is perfect like this, would you turn a second shot down? Taken an hour later than Monday's POTD, Chris notes that the wind has picked up a bit by blowing the heat shimmers across the center of the frame. Pikes Peak's east ridge remains in the clear. Had the auto focus been left unchecked, I wonder if we would be looking at the same picture.

UP 4591 Greenland 24 Mar 15
Photo of the Day: Chris Paulhamus
While the loco is more maize than Armour (mustard) yellow because of the diesel grime accumulating on its nose, 4591's winged shield brings a bit of the wild blue down to the rails. The perfectly dead on shot is another great contrast, especially the organic horizontal lines compared to the SD70-M's rigid steel lines. The meridian of light and dark is also carried by the landscape, owing to the difference in altitude.

Even on it's own, weather differences can make for a startling contrast, especially in spring when warmth along the Front Range doesn't reach the snowy climes at altitude. For the next two months, a trip to Greenland and Douglas County Open Space might be worth it for the practice. For best results, go in the morning, and bring your tripod and your scanner!◊

Friday, February 13, 2015

POTD: Big Ten in '15

Perhaps no place better symbolizes the challenge faced by railroads heading west from Denver than Big Ten Curve located on the former Denver & Salt Lake Railroad as it climbs from the western suburbs toward the low foothills of the Front Range. Almost as if nature or nature's God knew what was needed for David H. Moffat's railroad to reach the lowest rung of the Rockies, a low mesa juts out of the ramparts just south of Rocky Flats.

Big 10 Curve from the southwest
Photo of the Day: Mike Danneman
Today's Photo of the Day, from seasoned veteran photographer Mike Danneman, shows a BNSF manifest freight descending the Big Ten Curve towards Denver using BNSF's trackage rights over the Union Pacific's Moffat Route. Mr. Danneman managed to capture this photo only earlier this week with a couple of warm days that afforded him and his associate Rich Farewell unusual mid-winter access to a hiking trail overlooking Big Ten. It is likely this same trail that afforded Ralph Parsons almost the identical exposure for Robert A. LaMassena's signature work, Colorado's Mountain Railroads.

In the caption for Parsons' photograph, Robert LaMassena says of Big Ten,
Perhaps the most difficult location was the transition from the western end of the prairie to the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains. This was accomplished by wrapping the track around a small mesa to form a bent hairpin curve. Six miles of track lay between two points only 1 1/2 miles apart, on the ground, but displaced vertically 600 feet.
In 2015, Big Ten is a convergence of geography, technology and more than a century of railroad men and machines working to lift countless tons from prairie to the crest of the continent!◊

Friday, October 3, 2014

Know Your Union Pacific EMD Locomotives

There's something about being able to identify a locomotive. Perhaps being able to identify something allows a person to connect with the subject. This was a big deal in the days of steam when spotting a specific engine class could tell you not only what railroad, but whether it was a brand new lighwogjtstreamliner or a thundering Pullman heavyweight behind her. Today, identifying diesel locomotives in main line service isn't always simple matter.

For a complete guide on identifying locomotives,
this is probably your best bet! Schraders / Library
On one hand, when I first started trying to figure out the make and model out on the Moffat Route and elsewhere, there were EMD locomotives and GE locomotives. I quickly figured out a fast rule of thumb: The GE's always seemed to have an exhaust on the roof, usually in the middle of the hood section. These days, the exhaust is even easier to spot. I just look for the fluted aluminum stack sticking up about a half-foot above everything else. If it's there, it's a GE loco rather than an EMD.

On the other hand, Identifying the model of a locomotive isn't as simple as a quick look. While it's relatively easy to tell the difference between a GE and an EMD locomotive, it's significantly more complex a task to determine the model.

This isn't a comprehensive guide. There are books like Greg McDonnell's 2008 guide that are much more researched. However, there is a fairly consistent means of identifying the two most popular, state-of-the-art models by EMD that are in use on the Union Pacific railroad (as well as BNSF). It involves examining the radiators.

A vertical comparison between different versions of EMDs SD70 locomotive as seen on the Union Pacific railroad
Click to enlarge. Photo collage by Alan Radecki (CC 2.5), Identification and graphics by Colorado Railroads
As you can see, the three different versions on top are all considered SD70Ms, and the fourth is the Tier 4 compliant SD70ACe. The 3 bottom locomotives all have flared radiators, but only the ACe's have space between the radiators and the end of the hood.

As late as 2004, EMD produced the previous version of the SD70s AC version, the SD70MAC, which might better explain the disparity in suffixes of the EMD model numbers.

Deciphering the EMD Model Numbers

SD stands for Special Duty because it was anticipated that this design would see only limited use as opposed to General Purpose (GP) road switchers. While GP locomotives have 4 axles, SD series have 6 axles, 3 per truck, with each axle powered independently. The notation for this by AAR standards is C-C. As far as it being Special Duty, EMD no longer produces any of the GP series.

70 indicates the place in the series. As a rule, EMD numbered SD series on the 5s, but skipping 55 and 65. Since SD70, EMD filled SD75 and then SD80 and SD90 series in short succession, but the latter 2 were non-starters with design shortfalls. The SD70, like the SD40, has built a reputation for reliability.

M was applied as a suffix applied to comfort or safety cabs when they were the option and not standard. When the SD70M was introduced, the standard cab was the short hood, low nose design from the early days of EMD locomotives. Today, the situation is reversed, with any company that wants one to specify the Spartan cab. So far, the Spartan has but few takers.

AC Initially, all diesel electrics functioned using Direct Current (DC) produced by a prime mover as two phase AC and then rectified to DC. Today's AC units change that DC electricity to three-phase AC. This solves some problems that have dogged DC diesel-electrics for years.

e eco-system friendly, specifically "EPA Tier-3 emissions certified" as EMD says on their site.

One last thing...

Incidentally, I've appreciated Union Pacific's long-standing choice of the American flag for the side of it's locomotives. Sure, it's not a big leap from the UP shield to the flag, but being an American (and especially a Coloradoan) is particularly important to me.◊