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.◊