South out of Grand Junction Colorado, the UP branch line runs to Delta. From there the North Fork Branch runs East up to Somerset to the Coal Mines. We used to have 4 Mines loading Coal. Today there is one mine in production. Loading maybe 5-6 trains a week. From Delta running South is the Montrose Branch. At one time in the past this was the D&RG narrow gauge mainline over Marshall Pass. Today the UP runs a Local Freight once a week down to Montrose. Delivering chicken feed to the Foster Farms Silos in Delta. Lumber and Agricultural chemicals to Olathe and Montrose. On the return trip to Grand Junction, Bulkhead Flatcars are loaded in Delta with large blocks of Marble that come from the Yule Marble Quarry. The track is old and gets very little maintenance. The train is slow, 10 mph. GP-38s and GP-40s
Here is the Montrose Local at the switch to Delta, August, 2013
Here is the Montrose Local in action, April, 2018. Switching cars in Olathe.
There is a beautiful wood trestle crossing the Loutsenhizer Arroyo between Delta and Olathe.
The track gets very little maintenance. There are ties without tie plates, old style light tie plates, and heavy modern tie plates. So the train runs slow, 10 mph. One of the switches in Olathe was tagged as out of service. I talked to the train crew and he said that the track was so bad the switch could not be trusted to hold the weight of the train risking derailment. He said that they have tie replacement scheduled for this year, but I have yet to see any work being done. Here are some pictures of the track near the above trestle.
Here we have all 3 examples next to each other. Rail spiked directly to the tie. Old light weight tie plate, and a newer heavy tie plate. I don't know what weight the rail is, 90 pound ?
Steve
