The Unofficial Moffat Route Tour!!!

HemiAdda2d Sep 28, 2004

  1. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    How much time left, for further adventures, before moving?

    Are there any pictures, perhaps on line, showing that ice handler in days when it was still used?

    Boxcab E50
     
  2. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I don't think that before mid-March when we leave there'll be another big trip like this.... :(
    As for the ice handler, I couldn't find a single photo!
     
  3. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Back to the tour! After a quick drive from Pactolus to Crescent to get modeling reference shots, I started hiking to the west end of the siding to grab some shots I needed. While I bagged a few dozen shots of rock formations, cuts and fills, Tunnel 19, and other details that will find their way onto my layout, I herad a whistle at Gross Dam Rd. So I boogied up the hill to a decent shot,a nd set up for the WB that was chugging steadily upward. I tried to get a shot without glare, but alas, the sun was at the wrong angle. Had I had advance notice, and some more time, I'd have hiked to the top of the tall cut adjacent to me.
    The leader has apparently done some battle in Nebraska with the monster snow they have been nailed with:

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    After hiking back to the crossing, I bagged a hot of the AAR number plate affixed to the crossing signals:

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    Both crossing lights had this plate.

    After not too much longer, I heard another WB coming, this time I ran to the cut near the crossing, and bagged the WB as it stormed westward:

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    An arsty-fartsy shot of the hoppers obediently following to the Continental Divide:

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  4. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    The last WB of the day was an intriguing one. The usual UP ACeez leading, but a solid train of Mopac hoppers. Solid! Unreal! As this one really caught us off-guard, so I utilized the welded-rail crossing signal bumper posts to frame the shot a little:

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    All of the MP hoppers had a most curious stencil:

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    The DPU shoves on the rear around the 150° curve:

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    With nothing more coming, daylight fading fast, and empty stomachs, we headed back to Denver. Tomorrow would test all the endurance and balance we have; a brutal hike awaited us at first light....
     
  5. Train Kid

    Train Kid TrainBoard Member

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    Outstanding pictures.

    Thanks for posting them...love the ones in the snow!
     
  6. bravogjt

    bravogjt TrainBoard Member

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    That's it Hemi...

    You need to write a book titled "Railfanning The Moffat Route" - A Photographers Guide to Bagging Beautiful Shots

    Ben
     
  7. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Alaska GP49 and I should co-author a book someday.. Thanks for the kind compliments!
     
  8. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    New views, new angles on South Draw coming up! Stay tuned!
     
  9. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Coverage continues!

    Monday morning dawned bright over the plains, as we paid the $6 fee to use Eldorado Springs St Park, and geared up for a tough hike up Rattlesnake Guch Trail. We seemed the be the only occupants of the park, and had the place literally to ourselves.
    Last time we hiked the trail in 2007, there was over 4' of snow on the ground,and progress up the steep trail was slow and exhausting. Take a step forward, fall in up to your knees (if you were lucky), or all the way to your belt! It was a rough hike to Tunnel 10's east side that time. Learning our lesson, we borrowed snowshoes and collapsible hiking poles this time! We carried them initially, as the lower reaches of the trail were heavily trafficked. With a third of the snow from last time, progress was much faster. Still carrying the snowshoes, we reached the Crags Hotel ruins, where the faint trail to Tunnel 10's west side starts. By trail, you can take that word in the slightest sense possible, as this was nothign more than a slightly-worn game trail for animals. With a foot or more of snow on it, it was difficult to follow, slick, treacherous, and difficult to find good footing on the boulder fields. The hiking poles came into their own here. As the trail grew longer, the going got much tougher, and the trail disappeared. At one point, we could see the ROW fill, and Mike and I split up. I went high, he went low. I climbed diagonally along the steep rocks to find the trail we lost (and never found). Eventually, I found a nice outcropping to get my bearings, and plan my next moves. I stood atop these rocks and rested a moment. While I caught my breath (keep in mind, Great Falls, MT is 3300 feet elevation, and where I was then was 7000'+) I heard a faint whistle in the distance. Figuring on an eastbound whistling at Crescent, I found a better perch, and readied for a shot. The canyon here is in complete shadow until late Spring, so I framed my shot with the sunny areas removed.
    After removing my gloves,a nd waiting a few minutes, I heard another whistle, much closer this time. Perhaps the train whistled at Cliff first, and now is at Crescent. After nearly freezing my finger to the shutter button, the EB slowly eased into view:

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    After it cleared, I climbed down to track level. Mike climbed up the steep fill to track level, and bagged this guy from atop T10, IIRC. Mike, we wanna see your shots, too!

    Here's the hole in the wall that is T10's west portal:

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    Tunnel 11 EP:

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    And T11 WP; note the wing of the concrete portal hanging out above the eroded hillside:

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  10. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    We nearly hiked into T12 when we heard a faint whine of dynamic brakes.....
    After quickly selecting a ground-level shot, an EB BNSF Stockton-Denver manifest eases thru T12EP:

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    The superelevation seems exaggerated here:

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    4-of-a-kind at Tunnel 12:

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    An evil number: http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/629/DOWX_79666_T12_EP.jpg

    And the DPU:

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  11. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    More coverage coming soon!
     
  12. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    After the BNSF cleared, we hiked west.
    Tunnel 12's west portal, in the bright sunlight of early afternoon:

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    Milepost 28 is right outside T12's west portal. Adjacent to it, is this dragging equipment detector:

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  13. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Tunnel 13's east portal is shrouded in deep shadows:

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    As is the west portal:

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    The snow melts away quickly in the sunlight, but remains frozen in the cold shadows of this canyon.

    Tunnel 14's east portal is also in deep shadow:

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    The west portal receives afternoon light (but we were there in the morning!):

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  14. Stourbridge Lion

    Stourbridge Lion TrainBoard Supporter

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    Please Do!!!!!!!

    :tb-cool: :tb-cool: :tb-cool: :tb-cool:​
     
  15. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Tunnel 15's east portal:

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    And looking thru Tunnel 14/Tunnel 15 westbound:

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    There's trains coming, honest!
     
  16. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Westbound empties thunder upgrade out of Tunnel 14 behind (of all things) a typical coal-service AC4400CW, an SD70M, and a Dash 8-40CW!

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    Artsy-fartsy shot of backlit exhaust boiling from Tunnel 15's bore as the train continues west:

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    Exiting Tunnel 16:

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  17. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Rounding the serpentine kink at Old Tunnel 17:

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    And after the train cleared, a South Draw horseshoe curve shot:

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  18. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    After that train cleared, I boogied back down the hill, thru Tunnel 14, and set up for a westbound at Tunnel 13. I remember through a phone call to our source of info, that another WB was coming upgrade. There's no direct sunlight in this area, and hiking further west into the Draw wasn't a good option, as we had to be back to the truck by about noon, so we could get some things done before I flew out again.

    After a little wait, a westbound was heard thundering up the 2%. I readied myself for the "thru the Tunnel 13" shot. I like the headlight glint on the rails:

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    As the head end thundered out of Tunnel 13:

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    Mike tried the following shot a while ago, and I have been itchin' to try it. So after the tail end cleared the tunnel, I hiked back into T13, and set up for a shot across South Draw. Anyone have a lightweight chainsaw?

    [​IMG]

    After waiting at Tunnel 12 for a train that wasn't coming, we headed back to the trail. The going was just as tough, although it was downgrade, it was still treacherous. In spots where the sunlight melted the snow, the resultant slush and ice were slippery in the extreme.

    Our last shot on the mountain was at Crags Hotel ruins:


    [​IMG]
     
  19. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    That thru the tunnel shot of the approaching westbound would be better cropped tighter, but I didn't zoom it in. So here's a (grainy) cropped version of the shot above:

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  20. bravogjt

    bravogjt TrainBoard Member

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    Neat! I like the grainy cropped look.

    Ben
     

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