It was a fantastic (if a little early) fall weekend up in the high country, and I used the opportunity to go photographing. Sunday’s efforts were dedicated to shooting the Moffat Line. Here are my shots from the day.
I was roughly pacing an eastbound coal empty on my way up Hwy 72. The light wasn’t working for me to do too much with him, but I was able to get up to East Portal before he showed up, and I shot this image of him at the old wye up there:
I had noted an Eastbound at Tabernash on the ATCS display when I still had cell coverage. So I headed up to the tunnel and waited. And waited. And watched the sun disappear (D’oh!) and waited some more. While waiting for the Eastbound, the Westbound CZ showed up and went into the hole at East Portal. I was rather amused with the number of the baggage car, especially given the CZ’s numeric designation. Here’s 1234 on 5!
AARG!!! The aspen are turning and I’m stuck in the midwest.
Nice shots, Chris. I like the wye one the best (looks like some troublemakers were messing with the switch), with the fourth one (clear for #5) second-best.
Wow, does that area look different from the last time I was there!
Do you happen to know if the road through Needle Tunnel is open during the summer? I seem to remember driving (many moons ago) from Boulder to Granby(?) over a road I think was called Corona Pass road. I even have old photos from Rollins Pass and of an old small trestle.
You can get part way up the road, but I know that some of it is hiking/biking only because of bridge weight restrictions. I’ve been part way up it, but not too far. All I see on the road is 4WD stuff, and my 2WD Taurus doesn’t have a lot of clearance. I always worry about getting to someplace that goes beyond the abilities of my car without having a turnaround handy. I really need to get a Jeep one of these days…
Wondering because the switch is not lined for either leg of the wye…note the point gap and the switch handle sticking up, that handle should be flush with the ground on one or the other side.
For us, “fall” is about 2 months away, it should last about a week, and then it will be “not summer”.
So your shots of that foliage is appreciated, most likely the only “fall colors” I will see this year!
Top of the wye switch is a Pettibone/CTM “hub safety” switchstand. No sense in locking it, just put the handle down. (variable switch, can be run thru)… No railroader worth his salt would leave it that way…
Also, that looks like a right-hand turnout springing from a basic left-hand curve - not a true “wye”, “Y”, or equilateral turnout - though without being there and seeing it in person, some of that may be a minor distortion caused by the perspective and/ or lens (since Chris wasn’t standing directly in the middle of the track in the foreground, though it does appear that he was in line with the centerline of the turnout).
According to Tracking Ghost Railroads in Colorado, revised map, p 158, the wye is a remnant of the old D&SL line over Rollins Pass that was bypassed by the Moffat Tunnel. In the picture, your back is to the pass, and the left leg of the wye is the former main to Denver.
That switch of the wye is at about these Lat./ Long. coords.: N 39 54’ 17" W 105 38’ 4"
In the “Topo” view of ACME Mapper 2.0, the “Old Railroad Grade” of the D&SL mentioned by MidlandMike above is shown and labeled at about these coords.: N 39 55’ 6" W 105 35’ 54"
The wye is the area where the old grade still has a short length of rail, which is what I was referring to. It’s where the old and new grades diverged.
Paul’s second location coordinate is for a section of the old D&SL grade further up the pass where the dirt road bypasses a short section of the grade to avoid a short tunnel. Otherwise the road over the pass is pretty much on the old grade.
Chris, you comment between the portal pictures brings another meaning to the phrase “rail fan” doesn’t it?
Gorgeous shots, reinforcing my comment that you don’t have to be a great photographer in the Rockies, but if you are, it’s like being a kid in a candy shop.
Thanks for a break from a dismal late-summer-don’t-look-for-fall-color time of the year down here.
Thanks for the kind words, discussion about the wye and the history of that area and the picture from the past, Jim. I always enjoy it when I can learn a lot more about the subjects of my images I post after I post the pictures here!
