Caboose #12277, old BN green, with lots of graffiti SD40-2 #1567 was paired with #520, and actually pulled back up near us!
At the end of the main yard, approaching downtown, the station and then the UP yard, you actually cross the Platte River A lot more water in it, here, then I would have expected.
We then had to prepare to back into Union Station. The BNSF yards behind us, the UP yards ahead of us to the front right, following the curve of our train, and the station to left and beyond (out of the photo frame) As we stopped for the crew to manually throw the switches, got this great view of downtown, and my first glimpse of Coors Field Across from that view is all this new housing construction. Sandwiched between the two working RR yards, and the freeways (I-70 and I-25), I am not sure quite how nice a neighborhood this would really be. But, you can walk to the ball park!
Adjacent to the station is Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies (boo hiss, I'm a Giants fan) Even got a view inside through this tunnel
And, finally, Union Station. We were about 3 hours late at this point, and they told us not to wander, as we were "going to try to get out in under 30 minutes". Well, was closer to 40, but it still made up about 10 minutes The classic sign, seen through the awnings of the new platforms There is still a lot of construction around the station, supposed to be open this coming weekend. Here's a wider angle view of the full building
Finally got to go outside, and get pictures of the whole train The back end of the train (one car behind us) The folks lined up and waiting (for 3 hours) to board the CZ for points west Our sleeping car in right foreground, with our compartment's window at center-top of photo
Denver is also crew change Our locos were P42s #92 and #18 Looking down the train from the head Folks still getting off as I walked back along the train Tomorrow, Mountains!
There was actually a lot of snowfall and rain, in some parts of the northern Rockies this past winter. When they started working to open Going-To-The-Sun-Road in Glacier National Park this year, they were stunned by the amount of snow needing to be removed, and stymied several times my added late large snowfalls.
Rick, Great photos! At least once a summer or fall, my wife and I take the Zephyr to Denver from Galesburg Illinois. We both are train "nuts"! Lots of the pix are familiar to us, but enjoyed seeing yours. We used to get the Deluxe bedroom, but since we're both kinda old, we get small bedrooms across from each other, so we don't have to climb those terrible ladders. As you commented, I sleep good, but every time the train slows down, I have to sit up and see where we are at, and how late we are! Side comment: We've made 15 trips and only had 1, count 'em, bad meal. Kudos to you and your wife, for using Amtrak. (No, I don't work for them, but I think Amtrak is doing the best they can with what they're given.)
Love the photos! You are paving the way and giving me a preview of what to expect. I am really starting to get excited for our trip in two weeks. I was finally able to finalize everything today, including pushing the departure out a day and getting a SLEEPER!!!! (both of which were preferable) Thankful since I had been trying to book a sleeper for months. Since we are only going to Grand Junction, Amtrak was balking at that since I think they sell a bunch of tickets from Denver west. So even though there were rooms available for all legs of our trip, they had the ones from Denver west blocked until they were sure they weren't going to sell a more lucrative ticket out of Denver. (I guess Chicago to Grand Junction isn't good enough for them! There was a loophole to make it work by double booking and then cancelling at the last second, but I was trying to avoid going there.)
If you are not in any hurry, and looking for a relaxing journey, this is a good way. But, if like my wife, who isn't quite so interested in every mile of scenery.... Doug - enjoy your trip.
Continuing with the journey... Leaving Denver's Union Station, we pulled out past Coors Field and into the area between the BNSF and UP yards, and promptly came to a halt. There was a work crew out on the tracks, that had ignored the radio messages to clear due to the train coming through! We had to sit for 10 minutes, while they got all their stuff and themselves moved. I didn't get a photo of them, but we saw 6 of the crew standing against a fence and just glaring at all of us. This crew, on BNSF 2572, a GP-35, were much friendlier. We got a great view of the cab, and waves
We were sitting in our compartment as we pulled through the UP yards, and they were strangely empty. Saw a couple of locos inside the maintenance buildings, but nothing in the yard to speak of. Was only after we got home that I realized I failed to take any photos of it! As soon as we were out of the yard, we noticed the new Denver Transit rails going in, and then we were into neighborhoods. Nothing remarkable about them or the houses, so neither of us realized how much the terrain was climbing, until I looked out the window outside the cabin. There were still lots of homes in this area, and the lots and homes were getting bigger, even with train tracks running right beside them
As we approached the hills, I realized we could see the tracks winding their way up the hillside And, looking back as we were climbing In this photo, at the far right center, you can just see the downtown area of Denver I was sad that it had gotten so cloudy as the day progressed. It had been much clearer during or approach from the east. But, it never rained on us.
