Union Pacific Manifest Enters the Moffat Tunnel
Автокөліктер мен көлік құралдары
Here is one of my favorite shots I had a chance to get while on my trip to Colorado. Now this shot might not be my best technical video, but it is something I have wanted to see for a long time; a train entering the Moffat Tunnel.
The Moffat Tunnel was constructed between the years 1923 and 1927 by David Moffat. This is a train and water tunnel that cuts directly through the continental divide in the Rocky Mountains. The tunnel is 6.2 miles long and sits at 9,239 feet above Sea Level. The Moffat Tunnel allowed the completion of a crucial shortcut between Denver and Glenwood Springs, CO. Trains could now make a faster passage through the Rocky Mountains as they traveled fro Denver to points west. The East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel (where this shot was taken) is a few miles west of the town of Rollinsville, CO. The vents used to air out the tunnel are located here at the East Portal. The vents are needed frequently as many trains will pass through here a day. The tunnel sees Amtrak's California Zephyr, a couple BNSF manifests, and a mixture of Union Pacific manifests and coal trains.
Unfortunately for me, the day I traveled to the Moffat Tunnel, dispatcher had given many MOW crews T&T (track and time), which meant there would be work on the tracks and therefore no trains would be running. I heard over that some of the MOW crews had T&T all the way till 14:00 (2pm). So I spent my entire morning hanging out and waiting for the trains to finally come. And luckily for me, they finally did. I saw two westbound Union Pacific trains enter the tunnel as well as a third westbound train just down the road at Tolland. What started out as a nightmare quickly turned into a great day.
In this shot, we see the Union Pacific MNYRO enter the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel. The MNYRO is a manifest from North Yard in Denver, CO to Roper, UT. This was the first train of the day. The engineer put on a nice little horn show as he approached the tunnel. This train would spend the next 30 minutes in the dark as it stalled for a short period of time just before exiting the West Portal at Winter Park, CO. I hope you enjoy!
Here are some pictures of this train:
RailPics:
www.railpictures.net/viewphoto...
www.railpictures.net/viewphoto...
Flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/amtrakda...
Пікірлер: 9
Epic to the absolute max!
Awesome video, I have rode the California Zephyr thru the Moffat Tunnel.
Excellent shot and location! Approach Diverging is the signal indication.
Great shot
I was railfanning the gulf coast of Alaska when you shot this video
Just up there today for the afternoon and it is a beautiful drive west of Rollinsville along the S Boulder Crk . At the East portal if you get to close to the tunnel opening a recorded warning sounds in English Arabic,Spanish, etc etc "Stay away from the tracks , this is restricted area, the Authorities have been notified and are on their way" .Had to laugh cause if security was really on the way every time a hiker or tourist is seen on the cameras, the turnover would be ridiculous !
Hated to see the D&RGW go by the wayside, but one good thing about the subsequent SP merger and UP takeover is that you now get to see GE's on this line, whereas Rio Grande was all EMD.
It's a wierd feeling going through this tunnel on Amtrak. The crew even tells the passengers to stay in the car there in until were out of the tunnel. I guess there afraid of carbon monoxide poisoning. It's also really dark in there too.
why do they have signal lights when they have such little traffic. also a poorly maintained rail line.