Is this a busy line? How many daily trains? Is it a safe line or endangered of being downgraded? Did Rio Grande run more trains on this line...or things were about the same?
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If you were Union Pacific and you wanted to move freight from Denver to Ogden, would you rather send it over two mountain passes and through several deep canyons via the ex-DRGW, or run it up toward Cheyenne and send it over the Overland Route with its multiple main tracks and easier grades?
BNSF gained trackage rights over the Grande between Denver and Ogden when the UP/SP merger occurred, and, for the time being, that is possibly an obstacle to UP taking any action to downgrade the track.
I can understand the issue with grades....but grades didn't bother railroads back in the day...yet now with modern power they are better equipped to handle grades...yet they chose to avoid.
Couldn't UP use both routes to reduce congestion. Maybe run the low priority freights on the D&RGW. So no stack trains through Moffat tunnel?
So certainly no reason to have Tennessee Pass? Why did they not close it even earlier on?
Originally Posted by Mike W.:
I can understand the issue with grades....but grades didn't bother railroads back in the day...yet now with modern power they are better equipped to handle grades...yet they chose to avoid.
Couldn't UP use both routes to reduce congestion. Maybe run the low priority freights on the D&RGW. So no stack trains through Moffat tunnel?
So certainly no reason to have Tennessee Pass? Why did they not close it even earlier on?
Just my opinion but, why in the world do you keep asking rhetorical questions, i.e. those questions that can only be answered by those railroad executives at that time?
Well I figure some on here have better area knowledge than I do. There are plenty on here who are full of knowledge on routing/abandoments/ and other operational aspects of many railroads...I have never been disappointed yet in the responses or the interesting info provided in response to my questions. Some have info from first hand experience or from sources I would not have at my disposal. If someone isn't interested in a post they don't have to read it or take part.
The purpose of the rail forum is to discuss present day and historical operations of railroads.
The ex-Moffat route is busier than ever. I live less than a block away. There are full and empty coal trains, freight trains on the UP with many BNSF trains running between the UP trains, and Amtrak's California Zephyr. As far a being downgraded, no way.
The UP just finished some track work and track speeds have increased at least 15-20 MPH. Stack trains won't clear some tunnels so those are run up north on the UP main line. Stack trains don't really have any business running through Denver, as the many stack trains are run through to the east coast and the UP main through Cheyenne is a faster bridge route.
Thanks for the info. Definitely a scenic route for sure. I wonder if the high profile resort areas (all arrived after RR) are full of nimby's.
I also live roughly a block off Leyden and 2nd this. Furthermore they have spent a huge amount of money restoring the line after the devastating September 2013 flooding.
Amtrak is as usual fashionably late - I hear the horns often all day and all night
Amtrak is as usual fashionably late - I hear the horns often all day and all night
Originally Posted by Chuck Sartor:
The ex-Moffat route is busier than ever. I live less than a block away. There are full and empty coal trains, freight trains on the UP with many BNSF trains running between the UP trains, and Amtrak's California Zephyr. As far a being downgraded, no way.
The UP just finished some track work and track speeds have increased at least 15-20 MPH. Stack trains won't clear some tunnels so those are run up north on the UP main line. Stack trains don't really have any business running through Denver, as the many stack trains are run through to the east coast and the UP main through Cheyenne is a faster bridge route.
Several years ago I ended up in a conversation with a brakeman from a UP freight waiting in a siding for the Frontier Days train to pass. We got to talking about railroad things in the Denver area and he said that the Moffat line could only realistically handle 28 trains a day due to meets and accommodating Amtrak's priority status.
The line is busy enough, although it seems not to be any time I'm out looking for trains. I think I have bad mojo.
It does host a lot of BNSF trains, sometimes so that I feel like I see more BNSF than UP trains.
A year or two back I heard some rumors about the idea of reopening Tennessee Pass essentially for westbound empty coal trains only as a way to increase traffic capacity on the Moffat line. That clearly hasn't come to fruition yet and I really have no idea if the rumor had any truth to it in the first place. But it would be a nice idea. I moved to Denver just late enough to miss the end of service on Tennessee Pass.
Jim
Yes, I would bet some operation of Tennessee Pass will occur down the road. Seems to me that anything more then 28 trains a day on the Moffat Line would be like trying to stuff an elephant through a keyhole!
We are planning a railfan trip to North Platte etc... I am assuming that if we head west from there and try to catch some trains at say Hershey Nebraska...there wont be any shortage of action?
