POTD - Floating a K-37 Over the Animas At Tacoma

Today's Photo of the Day is by Kevin Madore, who a year ago today captured Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad's oil-fired K-37 493 as it crossed the Rio de las Animas at the Tacoma bridge. The way Mr. Madore used his wide angle to shape the scene it makes the thousands of pounds of steam and steel seem to float, barely touching the bridge. I know that every bolt is feeling the the heaviest of the Rio Grande's narrow-gauge (actually a former standard-gauge!) engine as it rolls across it, but somehow the wide angle view and the elevation makes the engine seem to glide across! 

In the right hands, photography is science and artistry coming together to create magic. Sometimes you can make the heaviest things float on air.⚒

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.⚒

POTD - Electric Wig Wag Lights A Lonely Crossing Under A Distant Moon

Lonely Vigil

You've driven hours on miles and miles of lonely two-lane highway to reach a lonely, seemingly forgotten county road crossing on the open plain of eastern Colorado. The wind stirs and a bite in the air tells you that you are not so far from another winter's chill. You smell the hint of agriculture, and it seems a feed lot must not be too far away. But the air also carries a bit of juniper from Devil's Canyon from the north and west.

You feel it before you see it. A slight hum in the rails and then a flash of a beam cuts through the night. Within moments, the bell and the light activate at the crossing, though it's just you it warns as it wags almost lazily back and forth in time with the bell. A second or two later, the Southwest Chief is upon the crossing. A blast of wind and a whiff of diesel, a blur of streaking lights, chrome and steel wheels, it flies over the rails!

Photo of the Day: Jadon H.

All too quickly, the end of the train flashes past and the marker lights recede around the corner, taking one of the slight bends in this straight line part of the state. The signal stops, its job accomplished for the night. It will not see the next train, the westbound Chief for hours. The moon passes behind the crossbucks and you see again the myriad of stars and galaxies wheeling slowly onward above. A meteor, like the Chief, flashes for a brief second and is gone, swallowed up in the night. You turn for your vehicle. Suddenly, a warm mug and a soft bed don't sound so bad right now. ⚒

POTD - Early Fall Evening Paints The Southwest Chief With Subtle Hues

The route presently served by Amtrak's Southwest Chief has survived the nationalization of passenger service, service cutbacks, meal cutbacks, and maintenance funding impasses to become one of the most popular trains, certainly in the west and perhaps the entire system. The ongoing challenge will be to keep the present Mountain route while still expanding connections to Pueblo and up the Front Range to Colorado Springs, Denver, and Fort Collins.

Photo of the Day: Jadon H.

RailPictures.Net photographer Jadon H. has ventured out of Texas to southeastern Colorado to deliver some first class photos of Southwest Chief. The eastbound Amtrak #4 descends into Trinidad from Raton Pass and the highest point on the former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe system. Passing in front of Fishers Peak, the eastern skies turn the finest southwestern pastels as the day comes to a close, reflected in the silver Superliner cars. The long descent across the prairie beckons the P42 DCs on into the night. ⚒

POTD - Old Bridge With a New Perspective

Today, we are finishing our look at Timothy Tonge's work along the Joint Line between Larkspur and Palmer Lake, an examination that wouldn't be complete without a stop at the ATSF bridge just south of Larkspur. This bridge is no stranger to those familiar with the line as it passes over both East Plum Creek and West Fox Farm Road as it splits from South Spruce Mountain Road. Spruce Mountain, of course, was the old Denver highway before I-25 was built. On July 19, 2019, a pair of BNSF swooshes lead a coal train south over the bridge on the climb to Palmer Lake.

Photo of the Day - Timothy Tonge

Now to reveal the hidden theme mentioned last week: All three of the Photos of the Day have been taken using a drone. It would be impossible to get each of these shots any other way, unless Mr. Tonge has quietly developed an ability to fly and take photos at the same time. Each of the shots has given us a new view of BNSF operations on this very picturesque, scenic portion of the Joint Line. Done well, a drone can elevate anyone's photographic abilities. Done poorly, it can be a menace and even illegal. I think we can all agree that long-time railroad photographer Timothy Tonge has done well!⚒

POTD - A Painted Lady Came Out West

Today being Tuesday, it's fitting to return with another Photo of the Day by Timothy Tonge. On July 23, 2019, it's not quite mid-morning and we're further north along the Joint Line near Larkspur. A rare morning shower graces the sky with a fraction of a rainbow, reflecting the colorful locomotives. Second in the locomotive lashup is BNSF 8480, an EMD SD70ACe not quite 5 years old. She is being led by KCS 4604, a GE AC4400CW in Kansas City Southern's popular heritage paint scheme. Together, they're hauling a loaded coal train south toward the Gulf of Mexico, a once-common sight that's becoming rarer and rarer these days.

Photo of the Day - Timothy Tonge

This paint scheme is not without controversy, especially in modeler circles when they focus on exactly what shade the darkest color is. Most folks say black, but a closer look and the company press releases both reveal it's actually a Brunswick Green, a color only bright sunlight can reveal. Regardless, the red Scotch-lite stripes and the clean lines make the KCS colors a natural favorite, especially when compared with the old red letters on flat gray scheme they stuck to for years. I've heard it called the Southern Belle paint scheme. It fits.

PS: This related photo would have been a second POTD. Unfortunately, it seems like the horizontal level leans a bit to the right. I really love the shot otherwise, in particular because of its strong composition and ideal "hero" pose. A re-crop could fix this.⚒

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.⚒

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. ⚒

POTD - Thin Air and Thin Rails On the Monarch Branch

In the twilight of the narrow gauge era of the Denver & Rio Grande Western, the Monarch Branch had the rare distinction of being standard-gauged in 1956 and converted to diesel operation.¹ This was the year after the Marshall Pass line was scrapped. Thus, the conversion would end Salida's long years as a 3-rail terminal and as a cornerstone of the far-famed Narrow Gauge Circle. Still, for another 26 years, the Monarch branch would continue in use until 1982 when a shutdown of the steel furnaces at Pueblo obviated the need for limestone from the quarry near the summit of the pass. The Rio Grande officially abandoned the branch in 1984.²

Photo of the Day: John Dziobko
Click image for full size, original image

Button copy and a high-nosed EMD GP-9 would be the first clues that this isn't a recent photograph. In fact, it's early September 1969 on the Denver & Rio Grande Western's Monarch branch above Salida and its junction with the Tennessee Pass Route. Our Photo of the Day shows just how intense mountain railroading on the Rio Grande could be! Tight curves prevented six-axle diesels from working the branch. Grades of 4.5% and a pair of switchbacks, the only switchbacks on the entire system, were hardly enough to keep the brakes on the limestone gondolas from smoking. The easy access of US 50--the "Backbone of America" as Time magazine called it--and its activity into the 1980s made the branch something of a legend for the Rio Grande, especially among railfans. Those who witnessed the railroad's regular herculean struggle against gravity would seldom soon forget it!⚒

Footnotes:
1 Rio Grande: To the Pacific by Robert LaMassena 2nd Ed p176
2 www.drgw.net Monarch branch by Nathan Holmes

POTD - BN Caboose Two Miles High

Photo of the Day: Mike Danneman

It is 1984, and the Climax local has just returned to the two-mile high city of Leadville under threat of rain from a July cloudburst overhead. Winter snows still cling to Mount Elbert above the covered hopper and Mount Massive (at far right), the two highest peaks in Colorado. The summer storm belies the fact that summer, if it comes at all, is far too brief at this altitude to make much of an impact. Nevertheless, as noted photographer Mike Danneman notes, this line survives as the Leadville, Colorado & Southern, a summer tourist railroad in business long after the neighboring Tennessee Pass Route has fallen silent.

The isolated segment of the Burlington Northern system, 150 rail miles from its nearest connection at Pueblo, is still generating revenue many decades after coming into the fold of Colorado & Southern as part of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad. To get there, the DSP&P climbed from Como in South Park over the Continental Divide at Boreas Pass, down through Breckenridge and Frisco before heading up over Fremont Pass (and the Continental Divide, again). Such up and down, north and south wanderings are why they had such turbulent corporate histories and why Colorado narrow gauge railroads are so beloved. ⚒

POTD - A Southern Stranger In the Snowstorm

We are less than a week away from St. Patrick's Day, when folks celebrate the world famous Scot by pretending they're Irish for the day. It's also the last holiday before the first day of spring, and springtime in the Rockies is famous for its weather! March is typically the snowiest month of the year for most locations in Colorado including Denver, when and where today's Photo of the Day was taken.

Photo of the Day: BUFFIE

BNSF crews on March 23, 2016, are finding just how hard it can be to find the points in the snow while cleaning the switches of ice. Failing to do so can result in a derailment and a headache for everyone involved, especially if the derailment is in a yard as busy as the one at the Engine Servicing Facility in Denver. The snow almost covers the unusual herald of Norfolk Southern 8345, a GE-8 diesel electric much more accustomed to sunnier climes like those of South Carolina.

I wish I could say I saw this photo first and beat everyone else to the punch in honoring it. Alas, no, it already received the coveted People's Choice Award from RailPictures.Net. Nevertheless, give honor to whom honor is due, and today's photographer, BUFFIE, is certainly worthy, considering he nearly lost a finger pressing the release to capture this stunning photo. Well, maybe he might have risked losing a finger. Frostbite can be very subtle. 😉 Regardless, considering the scene and the Norfolk Southern locomotive, the photo has a once-in-a-lifetime feel to it, and I'm glad he was there to capture the moment. ⚒

POTD - A Plow In Aspen Gold

Photo of the Day: James Belmont

With the weather turning colder again, it's only fitting for the mind to turn to the one thing that made Colorado winters famous--or infamous, to the minds of railroad presidents and their accountants: snow. First in the line of defense of the high mountain passes and deep canyons were the plows, of which the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad's X-67 is one of very few built for them by the Russell Car & Snow Plow Company. Further, she was listed by the Rio Grande as a plow, rather than a plow and spreader. Nevertheless, she looks fantastic sitting in Minturn on a relatively hot spring day in June 1981, awaiting the call to action in a fresh coat of Grande Aspen gold with wide-vision caboose 01509. Since Tennessee Pass has been dormant for 20 years now (grrr!), X-67 has been summering in Glenwood Springs, not a bad way to spend one's time!⚒

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! ⚒

POTD - Snow Train

It may be just a few hours later and we find ourselves in nearly the exact same location as Tuesday's Photo of the Day. The snow is certainly deeper and this BNSF freight has slowed to a crawl. Even deeper snow has halted operations east of the Moffat Tunnel and the train will tie down at West Portal. The evening California Zephyr isn't due for several hours and track owner Union Pacific will need every one of them to clear out the mess ahead of it. The heavy snow makes such heroics seem unlikely.

Photo of the Day: Steve Brown
Click the photo to view a larger, unmarked version

It could be hours later, yet, except the train itself, everything about the location has changed because of daylight. No passengers wait on the platform this early in the day. The light is frustratingly even, obscuring even the important details, like where it is safe to step! So notes our photographer Steve Brown. Everywhere the light is even except inside the platform, which was the main source of light the night before. Yet the snow continues to fall in confetti-like flakes, freshly punctuating the photo with a festive mood. Let's cancel school and go watch some trains today!⚒

POTD - Winter Travel

The ritual of boarding a train from small town America is almost as old as the nation itself. In Fraser, Colorado, passengers wait in the shelter along the platform on a snowy evening in March 2003 to board the nightly Amtrak number 6, commonly known as the eastbound California Zephyr. Their next stop will be hours deeper into the night and 3,386 feet lower when they pull into Denver's Union Station before the thousand mile journey across the plains to Chicago.

Photo of the Day: Steve Brown
(click the photo to view a larger, unmarked original)

For all the difficulties it can cause photographers, nighttime still has a way of focusing the energy and taking away the distractions available in the daylight. Steve Brown makes excellent use of the ambient light to focus attention on the conductor at the head of the line of anxious passengers. A flash, a requisite for night photography in years past, would catch the thousands of flakes concealed in the darkness and throw the light back, ruining the moment. Instead, Mr. Brown lets the light on the wood interior of the platform carry a flavor of warmth to contrast with the icy cold of the drifted snow hampering even the basic task of boarding a train.⚒

POTD - The Little Train to Oblivion

Every once in a while, I'll find a railroad image that, for lack of a better phrase, stops me in my tracks. Today's POTD is one of those.

Photo of the Day: William Diehl

Photographer William Diehl has captured former Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge Mikado on her way west out of Antonito in the fading light of September 29, 2014. The diminutive steamer chuffs off into the distance with her load of freight and a caboose on the approach to Lava tank.

To fully appreciate this photo, click the photo (or this link) to view it full screen. I don't mean to exaggerate, but it appears flawless! I can practically smell the sage. Ok, that's a slight exaggeration. What isn't an exaggeration is the quality of the photo and the sense of a small train in a big, wide-open country! The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is known for their high alpine trestles and views of Toltec Gorge, but even the broad open country it passes through as it climbs from the San Luis Valley floor can be a beauty all its own!

Thanks to William Diehl of Big Diehl Photography for sharing his work with us! Let's hope we will see more of his work in the near future.⚒

POTD - Autumn Aspens Aflame Over La Veta Pass

The cooler weather of last week calls to mind that autumn is approaching and with it, the fall colors returning to the high country. Now, aspens aflame may seem synonymous with a number of Colorado's railroads, but for some reason, I don't readily recall the San Luis & Rio Grande, or as it's known to most folks, the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad as a primary venue for autumn viewing.

Could this soon change? The RGSR is booking tickets for its Fall Colors Explorer. Their first class tickets are still available for $130 aboard a standard gauge, diesel service departing Alamosa and Fort Garland for La Veta Pass. While not the typical steam trip, it looks like those willing to part with the tidy sum will enjoy food, wine, and a memorable experience on board to go with their photos.

Photo of the Day: Michael F. Allen

Michael F. Allen took the above frame at La Veta Pass of SLRG 18 hauling a photo freight westward in the midst of some dazzling and brilliant aspen. While the framing and timing of the photo is just right, the tall, open gons and the tall, standard gauge engine make it stand out from so many narrow gauge steamers. The green jacket to the boiler looks sharp and defined, giving contrast to the the former LS&I 18. Had it been the standard black, it just wouldn't pop like it does. Truly worthy of Photo of the Day!⚒

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! ◊

POTD - Denver Union Station Lit Up By Broncos Spirit, Civic Pride

I will admit that a certain team in orange & blue are dear to me. That's a bit of a given for a boy growing up in the 70s and 80s in Denver's western suburbs. It has absolutely nothing to do with today's choice of photo of the day. Really!

Photo of the Day: Joel Hinkhouse

It does have something to do with the AFC Championship in Denver at 1 PM, and the sweet spot where civic pride and railroads meet. In Denver's case, that intersects at 17th and Wynkoop Streets, where Denver Union Station has been lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree. It's a showcase to be sure with the passenger shed roof framing the beaux arts design of the station. Night shots are always tricky, but photographer Joel Hinkhouse seems to have found the balance, especially his managing to catch a reflection off an Amtrak CZ roof, making POTD 2 for 2 in that department.

Only one thing left to say: Go Broncos!◊

POTD - Amtrak's California Zephyr Descends Ruby Canyon Along the Colorado River

Photo of the Day: Peter Lewis

Ruby Canyon is one of those hidden Colorado jewels that few people get the chance to see, unless you're riding Amtrak's California Zephyr between Grand Junction and Green River, Utah. The 25 mile long canyon is aptly named; even without the "golden hour" the walls fit the description in every season. No wonder the train leaves Denver so early! Nonetheless, the trip is often too long to be reached in daylight on those short winter days.

Peter Lewis makes his second appearance on Photo of the Day with this entry that has already garnered some attention. Gaining RailPictures.net's trifecta of awards (Screeners Choice, Photo of the Week and People's Choice) is no easy task! I especially enjoy the mirage-like effect of the sky blue reflected off the roofs of the Silverliners! But what seals this choice for Photo of the Day, however, is Mr. Lewis' own notes on the photograph. He says:

Amtrak's westbound California Zephyr negotiates the confines of Ruby Canyon as it nears the Utah border on a captivating August afternoon in the breathtaking American west. When I walked up to the edge and took in the scene for the first time, I was simply in awe. This experience and those like it are one of the biggest reasons I enjoy this hobby. The remoteness and natural beauty of this area is simply incredible, especially for an easterner like me. ^{[emphasis added]}

Keep up the great work, Mr. Lewis, and I get the feeling that you'll be making plenty of trips like this one!◊