Local
A Matched Set of Screaming SD40s
On April 23, I got a call from my cousin in Fort Collins, CO, about the Longmont switch returning to Longmont with 2 HI SD40-2s as power. It’s roughly 20 minutes from when it goes by him, so to plan where I wanted to get it, I asked him how long the train was, and his response was 56 cars.
Not expecting them to pick up from the Great Western in Loveland, I headed for the south part of town, where they’d be climbing the 3-mile long, 1.7% Derby Hill. Shortly after I got there, I heard them talking on the radio. Turns out they were indeed picking up from the GW! I headed back into town, and made it to the BNSF-GWR transfer track with about 5 minutes to spare before they pulled out with 21 cars.
Front Range Usuals
On April 21, the Front Range Sub saw its usual trains go through. In the morning, the Laurel to Denver came through with a matching set of ES44DCs. Knowing that’s what the power was, I just decided to get a shot at Loveland siding, as the morning light would be good for it.
Orange GEs dominate the day
On Thursday April 3, Denver received a little bit of snow, but up in Loveland we only got some light rain overnight. That morning, I got a call from my cousin in Fort Collins saying a southbound oil train was going by with a BNSF ES44C4 and a H2 Dash-9 up front.
Knowing that isn’t the most exciting power, I went for an exciting location. I decided to get the loaded train climbing the short, 1.7% Derby Hill in south Loveland, CO, as I knew they’d be working pretty good. After a little bit of a wait, the train showed up.
Great Western Sunday running
In recent weeks, the Great Western has been handling so many cars that they’ve had to run trains on Sundays to get ready for the upcoming week. In mid-March, the Windsor to Milliken transfer had some nice power.
On March 16, the train ran with UP ES44AC #7896 and UP SD70M #4888. These locomotives had pulled an oil empty into Windsor, so to return them to the UP they took them to Johnstown and Milliken to interchange back there. This is only shown in the video below.
On March 23, the train was led by CSXT SD60 #8705 and BNSF SD70ACe #9225. These locomotives were in the same situation as the previous week: they had dropped an oil empty in Windsor, so they were available. We were unable to catch them running the train on the mainline, but we got to Johnstown in time to get the nice light.
Bad for Great Western, Good for Me
On February 17, the Great Western ran its normal nighttime operation, taking a train from Johnstown, picking up at Officer Junction, into Loveland yard for drop off to the BNSF, and to pick up from the BNSF, and take cars back to Johnstown.
However, at some point a couple lumber cars came off the track. So this morning (Feb 18), when I was going north through downtown after getting an oil change, I was rather surprised to see the HLCX sitting by the depot. I drove around the area and saw several vehicles sitting by the derailment spot, so I kept my distance. I walked in and got a couple shots before being scolded by an employee for taking pictures on private property without permission (I’m 100% honest when I say I didn’t know I was on their property. I’m still not sure I was).
He said next time just ask, and told me to have a good day. As I was walking back to my car, I saw the former Hudson Bay Railway GP9 (incorrectly labeled as a GP20) was no longer sitting where it had been. At that point I took off to find that it had left with what train the HLCX GP38s had put together.
Old EMDs in Nice Light
A couple hours after getting a northbound ballast train on January 24 (see previous post), my cousin called saying the Longmont switch was leaving North Yard for Longmont’s East Yard. I asked him how many cars, hoping to repeat what had happened 10 days earlier, but there were only 25 on it.
I decided to stay close to home, so I got it at 37th street near my house. I waited about 5 minutes before I could hear it climbing Loveland Hill a few miles to the north (making me wish I’d’ve gone there!). Leading the train was BNSF 1920 in front of BNSF 1572 and BNSF 2342.
Switching SDs Meet a Stinky Slinky
About 2 minutes after I turned my phone on this morning, I got a call from my cousin in Fort Collins telling me a sulfur load was coming with “a Heritage 2 dash-9 and a Canadian Pacific on the front and a heritage 2 dash-9 and an ES44DC pushing on the back.” I figured with the consist I could just get it climbing the hill north of town and head back home, only going a few miles.
As I was leaving, I heard some chirping on the scanner, and determined that the Longmont switch was switching at Quad Graphics, aka Quebecor. So I immediately turned and headed that way, and decided I could get the two meeting. I got to the crossing at 37th street as they were pulling the cars out of the spur. I parked as they were backing a few onto the main. They proceeded to put 3 cars on the main, drop 3 back on the spur (leaving them with one), pick up the 3 on the main, and put them back on the spur. Once all 7 cars were back together, the power backed onto the spur with the cars to let the sulfur load go by.
Once the load was clear, the Longmont switch got a warrant to proceed north to Fort Collins to pick up cars from the Great Western to take south. And remember how I only wanted to go a few miles? Well, this all took place about 1 mile from my house.
Foreigners Switch Fort Collins
After getting several shots of CREX 1318 on the Denver to Great Falls (see here), I decided to check out Riverside Avenue in north Fort Collins where the Great Western and the Union Pacific interchange. It turns out the UP local didn’t run on New Year’s Eve, but I didn’t come up empty. As I got there the Great Western, using two Hudson Bay Railway GP35s, was working.
I found an off-road to park on and was able to get a couple traffic-free shots among the plethora of vehicles out at lunchtime on the last day of the year.
Runnin’ Trains Before the Storm
Tuesday the 3rd, the weather was supposed to start decent and get worse as a front moved through in the middle of the day. At 11:00 it was 49 degrees and sunny, but by 2:00 it was 30 degrees and there was no sign of blue sky anywhere.
A little before 1:30, I got a text from my dad in Longmont saying a northbound was going by him. It takes a train 40-50 minutes from there, depending on length and where in town it was. 35 minutes after getting the text, I decided to leave to set up for it somewhere. As I was walking to my car, I heard the horn of a southbound blowing for 57th street! Turns out the Longmont switch was coming back from North Yard with a decent train in tow.
I wasn’t able to beat them to the road near our house, so I was going to leave them. However, they had added a former-BN whiteface SD40 to the consist (see here for the previous consist). Because of this, I decided to go get it again. Because of their size and the traffic lights in Loveland, I was unable to catch them until Campion, so I decided to just highball for Longs Peak siding. I didn’t wait there long before the train came roaring up the hill in Run-7.
Moffat Tunnel Sub pictures posted
To go straight to all the pix, click on the “Moffat Morning Pix” tab or click here.
On Friday the 15th I was to meet up with Max and John for another railfanning day, this time on the Moffat. We were to meet at CO HWY 93 & 72 at 6:30 AM, but my alarm didn’t go off, so I didn’t wake up until after 5:30. I quickly made lunch and left, arriving at Rocky siding right around 7:00. As I was pulling off, I could see the DPUs of a westbound going over the east siding switch. So I turned around and got it at Blue Mountain Road.
KO Trains 