Photos

Welcome to the Photos Page. Here you can click on photos and see their full media files, read descriptions of train photos, and look back on old photos that have previously been uploaded on my YouTube channel and Instagram!

Norfolk Southern C40-⁠8W no. 8447 was the trailing unit on an eastbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe double stack train, leaving Amarillo, Texas, in 2007. Still in Conrail paint, no. 8447 was built for Conrail by General Electric in November 1994, originally numbered 752. It was renumbered CR 6278, then NS 8447 by February 2001. It was sold to leasing company Progress Rail Services in February 2020.

Colorado Front Range railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe was pinched for motive power to haul coal trains and mixed freights in 2008. As a result, a plethora of leased locomotives and motive power from other railroads pounded over the mountainous Palmer Divide on Colorado’s Denver-⁠Pueblo Joint Line. On August 2, 2008, leased SD60 no. 9078, from Electro-⁠Motive Diesel (EMD), pulled a double stack container train southbound under the Cimarron Street bridge in Colorado Springs.

The private charter passenger car Caritas, a sleeper lounge dining observation car, was built in 1948 for service on the St. Louis-⁠San Francisco streamliner The Texas Special. In 1965 it was sold to Canadian National for their streamliner train The Super-⁠Continental. It was rebuilt as private car Caritas by November 1984. On April 23, 1996, the Caritas ran on the back of the regularly scheduled Amtrak Pioneer, from Portland, Oregon, to Denver, Colorado, where it connected with the eastbound California Zephyr to Chicago, Illinois. Here, the Pioneer and Caritas zip through Laramie, Wyoming, on Union Pacific’s Overland Route (Laramie Subdivision), eastbound to Cheyenne (Borie), before turning south on UP’s Denver Pacific line (Greeley Subdivision) to Denver. The last trip of the since discontinued Pioneer took place on May 10, 1997.
Union Pacific track geometry vehicle EC-⁠4 served the company by unintrusively inspecting the railroad using the latest technology (for 2008 in this case). A variety of measuring systems and sensors collect data to create a profile of the track, including its position, curvature, smoothness, whether the two rails are level, and the alignment of the track. The purpose is to evaluate track wear and to test for defects to help prevent derailments, increase track longevity and maintain a healthy rail infrastructure. Union Pacific EC-⁠4 is one of two Austrian-⁠built track evaluation cars, this one built in 1999. A similar EC-⁠5 was built in November 2005. Both feature military-grade navigation and cover a combined 70,000-⁠80,000 track miles per year, enough to evaluate the railroad’s mainlines about twice a year.
The once proud and historic Chicago & North Western Railroad was absorbed into the massive Union Pacific rail network in April 1995. The finer details of the merger were completed the following June. Out on the railroad right-⁠of-⁠way, C&NW locomotives could be seen leading trains anywhere on Union Pacific’s Overland Route, especially east of North Platte, Nebraska. In December 1995, C&NW C44-⁠9W no. 8677 waited in the siding with a coal train, on home rails, near Marshalltown, Iowa. This General Electric locomotive looked sharp, having been built just a year prior to the merger, in April 1994. It would eventually be renumbered and repainted Union Pacific no. 9781.

Leased SD60 no. 9078 from EMD (General Motors Electro-⁠Motive Division, later Electro-⁠Motive Diesel) leads an eastbound intermodal train through Boone, Colorado, on the Pueblo Subdivision during the summer of 2008. Burlington Northern Santa Fe leased several locomotives to provide extra motive power during surges in rail traffic. The EMD-⁠built SD60, built in the mid-⁠1980s, was the first microprocessor-controlled diesel locomotive, a substantial predecessor to the SD70M, SD70MAC and SD70ACe.

Chicago commuter railroad Metra F40PH, no. 125, leads a northbound Milwaukee North commuter train of bi-level Gallery Cars in 1997. Here in Grayslake, Illinois, the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (The Milwaukee Road) crossed Wisconsin Central’s former Soo Line at grade. Metra operated its North Central Service over this Wisconsin Central line, later to become part of the massive Canadian National Railway system.

Union Pacific AC44CCTE no. 5932, a variant of the popular AC4400CW built by General Electric, leads an eastbound unit coal train through Gothenburg, Nebraska, in 2008. On the westbound track, gondola cars of a freight train hustle into to setting sun.

Illinois Central SD40A no. 6007 and former Burlington Northern SD40-2 no. 6111 (ex-BN 6720) lead a freight train south from Chicago through University Park, Illinois. The sun is setting on this December 1995 evening at the last stop on Metra’s former IC electrified suburban commuter service (track in the foreground with overhead wire). This is the final era of the historic Illinois Central Railroad before its absorption into the massive Canadian National rail empire in 1999.

CEFX AC4400CW no. 1020, a CIT Equipment Finance lease unit, operated as one of two helper units on the rear of a southbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe coal train. At sunrise during the early 2000s, the coal train had just passed under the Cimarron Street bridge in Colorado Springs. Soon it would clear Las Animas and South Sierra Madre Street grade crossings.

Battle-worn Southern Pacific SD45T-2 no. 6850 is representative of the uniqueness and style of SP’s motive power fleet. Only the SP and Denver & Rio Grande Western owned Tunnel Motors, and only SP owned the SD45 model version. Here, on a clear day out West, no. 6850 charges across the desert to deliver a mixed freight of goods to market.

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Blue Unit circus train traversed the nation, providing a home and transportation for act performers and support personnel, who were the life blood of the circus. In 2008, the freight half crossed Las Animas Street, just south of downtown Colorado Springs, before connecting up with the passenger half, parked near Uintah Street. Next stop, Las Vegas, Nevada, north up the Colorado Joint Line and eventually west on the Union Pacific Overland Route.

The Midland hiking trail paralleled U.S. Hwy 24, the Midland Freeway, west out of Manitou Springs, Colorado. The hiking trail is one of many remnants of the once proud Midland Terminal Railway, a successor to the original Colorado Midland Railway. The Colorado Midland was one of the many great mountain railroads which met the challenge of overcoming the Rocky Mountains, including the crossing of the Continental Divide at Hagerman Tunnel.

Amtrak’s westbound train number 3, the Southwest Chief, storms past a 1920s-era semaphore signal, installed by the once proud Santa Fe Railway. Such historic train control equipment remained on the former Santa Fe Raton and Glorieta Subdivisions, traversed by Amtrak since May 1, 1971. The last car on this train number 3 is a Pacific Surfliner coach heading for California.

Switch engine 70-Tonner no. 71 was built by General Electric for the San Luis Central Railroad Company in January 1955. The unit has loyally served the railroad ever since, hauling freight between Monte Vista and Center, Colorado, in the south central part of the state.

General Motors Electro-Motive Division SD60 no. 9040 is the trailing unit of a northbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train, which was pulling into the siding, just south of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. No. 9040 is a “power by the hour” lease unit in BNSF’s motive power pool. BNSF only pays for the time that the unit is in use, not when it’s sitting on railroad property idle.

Early 20th century semaphore signals were still in use protecting train movements on the Raton Subdivision of the old Santa Fe Railway. The semaphore signals date back to the 1920s, during the steam era of Santa Fe’s famous Chief and other trains. Amtrak’s eastbound train no. 4, the Southwest Chief, blasted past a pair of semaphores guarding the passing siding in Wagon Mound, NM, in April 2021.

Chicago’s commuter railroad Metra operated push-pull bi-level trains over Burlington Northern’s triple track raceway through La Grange, Illinois. Metra F40PHM-2 no. 194 pushes an eastbound commuter train as a northbound Belt Railway of Chicago freight train passes down below.

The last steam locomotive to operate regularly over the former Denver & Rio Grande Western La Veta Pass Route was San Luis & Rio Grande no. 18. On several occasions it pulled Photo Freight trains for railfans over this very scenic and famous railroad mountain pass. No. 18, a 2-8-0 Consolidation-class engine, is returning to Alamosa, Colorado, with a caboose and a cut of cars during the early 2000s.

On September 10th, 2021, the eastbound Rocky Mountaineer was holding the mainline as it passed the siding signals in Winter Park, Colorado. Leading the charge was Union Pacific SD70M no. 4413, built in July 2001 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD). The luxury passenger train tour was entitled, “Rockies to the Red Rocks,” and operated between Denver, Colorado, and Moab, Utah. This was its inaugural season on the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Moffat Tunnel Route.

In Denver, Colorado, the local bus transit agency inaugurated its first electrified light rail line on October 7, 1994. Regional Transportation District (RTD) light rail vehicles served a circulator downtown streetcar loop. Then they trundled south along Santa Fe Drive to Mineral Avenue in the inner ring suburb of Littleton. In March 1995, shiny new electric streetcars, such as the light rail vehicle pictured, graced this brand new rail mass transit system. LRV no. 104 just completed the downtown circulator with the Denver skyline in the background.

Union Pacific no. 1989 is a specially painted SD70ACe heritage unit, a paint scheme inspired by the once proud Denver & Rio Grande Western, a Union Pacific predecessor railroad.

Rocky Mountaineer SD70M 5107 and 5105 lead its namesake train over the Colorado River, westbound, near Burns, Colorado, in August 2021. These former Union Pacific engines look a little junky compared to the luxury passenger train that they are hauling. The Rocky Mountaineer was made famous in Canada. This is its first year operating on Union Pacific’s Central Corridor, including the Moffat Tunnel Route.

The trailing unit of this southbound Burlington Northern freight train is General American Transportation (GATX) SD40-2 no. 7374. The engines just cleared the Baptist Road grade crossing, just south of Monument, Colorado, in 1995. Leasing companies such as GATX provided extra locomotives to railroads during moments of surging rail traffic. The agreement was called “Power by the Hour,” to which a railroad only paid for a leased locomotive on its property while it was in service.

Union Pacific SD90/43MAC no. 8220 leads a westbound grain train near Roscoe, Nebraska, in 2008. General Motors Electro-Motive Division promised to develop a 6000 horsepower “H” engine during the 1990s. The SD90MAC was to be that engine. Alas, few genuine H-engines were made. Most SD90MAC units were equipped with 4300 horsepower motors. Eventually, the Union Pacific would begin storing their 90MACs and putting many of them up for sale. Norfolk Southern purchased several for its SD70ACU rebuild program.

This restored Milwaukee Road Super Dome is joined by former Union Pacific Pullman car Pacific Union and restored sleeping car Cimarron River (not pictured) on the rear of Amtrak’s eastbound train 6, the California Zephyr. On July 24, 2021, a nearly six hour late Zephyr rushes across the South Canyon Road grade crossing, soon to arrive in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, to pick up more passengers. Finely restored passenger cars from the 1940s and ’50s are a rare spectacle in this era of modern railroading. Sad that the passengers in the dome car had to see the mountainous scenery on the storied Moffat Tunnel Route at night.

Chicago South Shore & South Bend freight diesel, GP38-2 no. 2003, leaves the rail yard in Michigan City, Indiana, to begin a day of assembling and hauling local freight trains. SouthShore Freight was a separate entity from the commuter interurban railroad operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. This was primarily a bridge route freight railroad, connecting to Eastern and Western Class One railroads at either end of its rail system.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe SD40-2 no. 6994 leads a manifest freight southbound through Palmer Lake, Colorado, on March 29, 2008. Having reached the top of the Palmer Divide, the train is about to descend the mountainous Joint Line as it heads to Pueblo. Railroads like BNSF continue to use their EMD SD40-2 units because they are such great workhorses.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe C44-9W no. 5228 leads a southbound freight past the grain elevators in Broomfield, Colorado, in May 2021. The Front Range Subdivision is the former Colorado & Southern line through Boulder and Loveland that runs closest to the mountains on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.

Until its merger with Burlington Northern, the Santa Fe Railway operated a local switching train between Denver and Pueblo on the famous mountainous Colorado Joint Line. A northbound Santa Fe local freight stopped near Fountain, Colorado, to pick up cars destined for Denver. Loose car railroading, as it is called, has been a part of the fabric of railroading since the invention of steel wheels on steel rails.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe ES44DC, no. 7744, built in May 2005, leads Norfolk Southern C40-9W no. 8961 southbound across Pinon Road, north of Pueblo, Colorado, in 2007. NS diesels occasionally appeared on BNSF freight trains during this era of modern railroading.

The 1960s-era EMD GP30 continues to operate in freight service, and occasionally mainline service, sixty years later. Of course, the locomotives have been rebuilt, in some cases several times, so that they may continue to haul freight. Burlington Northern Santa Fe keeps their GP30 fleet upgraded and operating in the 21st Century, reclassified as GP39M and GP39-3, among other rebuilds. Here former Santa Fe GP30 no. 1229, built in June 1962, still sports its Santa Fe yellow-bonnet paint scheme, renumbered as BNSF 2429. It was running in third position as it aided a southbound BNSF freight train through Bragdon, Colorado, during the early 2000s.

Three brand new Southern Pacific AC4400CW diesels, built by General Electric, lead a coal train westbound near Cotopaxi, Colorado, along the Arkansas River, during the summer of 1996. The train has already been through the Royal Gorge and is heading for the Continental Divide tunnel at the top of Tennessee Pass. This is the famous Tennessee Pass Route of the old Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, since closed by SP merger partner Union Pacific.

The classic Rio Grande Ski Train, from Denver to Winter Park, Colorado, traversed the mountainous Moffat Tunnel Route, through the Continental Divide, during the winter of 2008. On the point, crossing Coal Creek Viaduct in the snow, is former Amtrak F40PH no. 242, built by EMD in October 1977. Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Union Pacific, and Amtrak’s California Zephyr also traversed this former Denver & Rio Grande Western line.

A westbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train just crossed the East 136th Avenue grade crossing near Brighton, Colorado, in route to Denver. On the point was BNSF GP39-3 no. 2585, originally built as Santa Fe GP30 no. 1282 in June 1963. The Santa Fe renumbered it in 1970 to no. 3282, then rebuilt and renumbered it to ATSF 2782 in January 1984. In May 1999, no. 2782 was relettered and renumbered BNSF no. 2433, then finally rebuilt and renumbered BNSF GP39-3 no. 2585 in May 2016. Here, on June 3, 2021, it pulled the Hudson Turn on the Brush Subdivision of the old Chicago, Burlington & Quincy mainline, which connected Denver to Chicago, Illinois.
Amtrak’s eastbound California Zephyr was running late and required the assistance of a Southern Pacific SD45 on the point. Operated as train number 6, the Superliner train was following the Colorado River through Glenwood Canyon near the town of No Name during the 1990s.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe C44-9W no. 4933 leads a northbound train of tank cars across County Line Road in Palmer Lake, Colorado, at the crest of the mountainous Palmer Divide, in February 2008. A chilly sunrise morning finds the searchlight signals on borrowed time in this frost covered landscape.

Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 (Big Boy-class) no. 4014, was scheduled to operate westbound out of Sharon Springs, Kansas, to Limon, Colorado, on November 23, 2019. Sharon Springs was located on the lightly used Kansas Pacific line, between Denver, Colorado, and Kansas City, Missouri. Number 4014 was built in November 1941, retired about twenty years later in December 1961, then rebuilt for special service on the UP by May 2019.

The observation car of an early 20th Century New York Central passenger train passes a train of refrigerator cars on an O-scale model railroad.
Union Pacific SD70M no. 4479 leads a ballast train northbound, through Monument Valley Park, near downtown Colorado Springs. Cheyenne Mountain is in the background. It is the summer of 2007, and no. 4479 is less than two years away from being scrapped. Built in October 2001, it was wrecked beyond repair near Oakwood, Texas, on April 23, 2009.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s local Hudson Turn crossed an irrigation bridge, just east of Commerce City, Colorado, on March 28, 2021. The bridge is located between Potomac Street to the west and the Sable Boulevard bridge (Colo. Hwy. 2) to the east. The eastbound of mostly tank cars was on the BNSF Brush Subdivision of the former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy mainline between Denver and Chicago, Illinois. On the point was BNSF GP39-3 no. 2665. It was built for the Santa Fe Railway by General Motors Electro-Motive Division as GP35 no. 1386 in June 1965. Renumbered ATSF no. 3386 in 1970, it was rebuilt and renumbered ATSF no. 2886 in August 1984. Renumbered BNSF no. 2586 in June 1999, this aged GP35 was rebuilt again to become BNSF GP39-3 no. 2665 in December 2009. Trailing unit GP39E no. 2903 was originally built as Great Northern GP35 no. 3031 in April 1965. It was rebuilt and renumbered from Burlington Northern no. 2514, to BN GP39E no. 2903 in June 1990. It became BNSF no. 2903 in May 2001.
St. Louis Southwestern GP40M-2 no. 7279, from a subsidiary of Southern Pacific, leads the return trip of the Winter Park Ski Train back to Denver, Colorado, along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. SSW no. 7279 was built as Western Pacific GP40 no. 3533 in August 1971, then later rebuilt. The sun has just set on this chilly evening, as the eastbound Ski Train approaches the grade crossing at Blue Mountain Road, during the mid-1990s. Southern Pacific was the king of mountain railroading during this era, operating the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Moffat Tunnel Route.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus train was one of the more unusual unit trains to traverse the mountainous Denver-Pueblo Joint Line on Colorado’s Front Range. The freight half of the train just left Kelker siding northbound, near the Royer Street crossing, in Colorado Springs. Pikes Peak is in the background. Soon it will join the passenger half, waiting on the siding near Glen Avenue and Mesa Road, to head north for Union Pacific’s Overland Route.
Union Pacific restored Big Boy-class 4-8-8-4 no. 4014, the railroad’s largest class of steam locomotive, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the joining of the first transcontinental railroad. In May 2019, no. 4014 was operating westbound through Bosler, Wyoming, en route to the festivities in Ogden, Utah.
Denver & Rio Grande Western SD45 no. 5339 meanders with the Colorado River westbound, as it traverses Glenwood Canyon, past the Amtrak station in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. No. 5339 was built by EMD in March 1968, operated during the Southern Pacific era, then retired in September 1996. It was sold and renumbered Dakota & Iowa Railroad (DAIR) no. 2701, in August 1998.

The Grandluxe Express, formerly the American European Express and the American Orient Express, was finally discontinued during the recession of 2007. Here, one of the final runs of the Grandluxe Express charges westbound through South Canyon, having just traversed the scenic Glenwood Canyon, along the Colorado River.

Amtrak’s “California Zephyr,” train no. 5, hustled westbound toward the County Road 57 grade crossing, just west of Granby, Colorado, in 2015. On the rear were three private passenger cars, which belonged to the San Luis & Rio Grande, a tourist railroad in Alamosa, Colorado. In order of succession, they were Pullman sleeper “Baton Rouge,” Domeliner “Sky View,” and Pullman sleeper “Colorado Pine.”

Former Denver & Rio Grande Western Mikado-class 2-8-2 K-36, no. 482, is leaving Silverton, Colorado, past the restored passenger station. The 3-foot narrow gauge steam excursion train has begun its return trip to Durango on the old Silverton branch. The scenic train ride follows the Animas River through the San Juan National Forest.
Classic diesels of the mid-20th Century are represented here, in Leesport, Pennsylvania, on the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern railroad. High speed streamlined passenger trains were often pulled by EMD E8 locomotives, as represented by Pennsylvania Railroad no. 5706, built in September 1952. Freight trains were often pulled by road diesels, much like Alco-built C630, here lettered for Reading Company no. 5308, built in September 1967.

Much can change in railroading over the course of 20 years. In 1987, a quartet of Santa Fe SD40-2 units would have been in charge of a westbound double stack train, leaving Amarillo, Texas, on the Transcon (see inset). In May 2007, Burlington Northern Santa Fe C44-9W 5261 and two sisters power out of Amarillo westbound, providing the same service.

Cimarron Valley Railroad GP30 no. 20 heads west across South Missouri Street in Ulysses, Kansas. Number 20 was built Denver & Rio Grande Western no. 3020 in February 1963. It was renumbered CVR no. 3020 in February 1996, at the time when CVR acquired its former Santa Fe Railway lines from Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The number change to 20 took place sometime before June 2010.
Southern Pacific SD45 9141 sits with the company of a classic SP tunnel motor, having just disconnected from a maintenance of way train, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The units are just south of the West Bijou Street bridge, just west of the city’s downtown business district. Background left is Cheyenne Mountain, the home of NORAD, one of many military installations in Colorado Springs.
Southern Pacific GP40 no. 3138 was in charge of a northbound general freight train, as it charged through Chenoa, Illinois, on the Southern Pacific Chicago-St. Louis line, an SP subsidiary. This was the Alton Route, at one time owned by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe C44-9W, no. 5101, leads a general freight train southbound, on the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Joint Line, through Widefield, Colorado, just south of Colorado Springs. Behind no. 5101 is Iowa, Chicago & Eastern SD40-2 6428, operating as “foreign power” on the BNSF/Union Pacific Joint Line. No. 6428 was built as Union Pacific no. 3660 in January 1980. The unit has since been repainted and renumbered for the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad, as no. 3461, by May 2018.
Burlington Northern GP50 3144 was built by EMD in September 1985. It was one of many classes of General Motors Electro-Motive Division-built locomotives owned by BN. No. 3144 just left Littleton, southbound on Colorado’s Denver-Pueblo Joint Line, during the early 1990s. Here it is on the former Denver & Rio Grande Western line, pulling a general freight train past one of the may searchlight signals on the line.
Cumbres & Toltec 2-8-2 Mikado-class, narrow gauge steam locomotive K-36, no. 484, powered the regularly scheduled 10:30am departure from Chama, New Mexico, in 1994. At the summit of Cumbres Pass, no. 484 met helper no. 497, a 2-8-2 K-37, waiting to return to Chama. No. 497 was part of a double-headed “Photo Freight” special excursion train, which left Chama earlier in the day. After disconnecting from the special, the K-37 was turned to run light back down the pass. Restored no. 484 was originally built for the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1925. No. 497 was originally built as a standard gauge locomotive for the Rio Grande in 1908. It was converted to narrow gauge operation in 1930. When the Rio Grande sold it’s narrow gauge operations, no. 497 was relettered for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, in March 1981. It was relettered for the Cumbres & Toltec in 1991, when it transferred over to the San Juan Extension from the Silverton Branch.
Some of the last operating banjo grade crossing signals, still in operation on the Union Pacific Railroad, were protecting the right-of-way in Hugo, Colorado. They were on borrowed time during the 1990s, protecting automobile traffic on 3rd and 4th avenues from oncoming trains, on the Kansas City-Denver Kansas Pacific line. After retirement, two were placed on either side of the restored former UP train station, which itself had been moved away from the mainline to 7th Avenue and 4th Street. This picture is of the 4th Street crossing, as the signal waves its warning of an approaching westbound train, pulled by UP’s restored E9 streamliner passenger diesels. The October 1994 passenger train was a railfan excursion, which operated from Denver, east to Cheyenne Wells, Colorado, and return.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe SD40-2 no. 6892, built as Santa Fe Railway no. 5164 in October 1980, still wore its blue and yellow warbonnet paint scheme, as it rounded the curve approaching the lake in Palmer Lake, Colorado, on the Denver-Pueblo Joint Line. Renumbered BNSF no. 6892 in August 1998, it was rebuilt with remote control capabilities, and renumbered 1732 in October 2010. This and other SD40-2 diesel locomotives were lasting workhorses, which long surpassed their U33C and C30-7 contemporaries.
Rail Diesel Cars, built by the Budd Company after World War II, were self-propelled passenger cars which contained small diesel engines for propulsion. These cars were useful for providing regional passenger service, cheaply, to areas where patronage was light. Tourist railroads, such as the North Shore Scenic in Duluth, Minnesota, would later acquire many of these cars, as representative of an important era in rail mass transit during the mid-20th century in North America.

An SPSF (Southern Pacific Santa Fe) SD45-2, shot in 1986, is overtaken by a BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) SD70MAC, coming around on the mainline in 2006. The SPSF merger was still-born and never materialized, in contrast to the much more successful BNSF merger of the mid 1990s. These are video images taken from the exact same spot, but 20 years apart chronologically. The location is the South Sierra Madre Street crossing in Colorado Springs.

Chicago & North Western GP9, no. 4529, is ready to begin its daily switching chores in Chadron, Nebraska, during the summer of 1983. Originally built as C&NW 1760 in January 1959, with a high nose, it was rebuilt and renumbered in September 1978, including receiving a new chopped short hood. Number 4529 was sold in February 1991, then renumbered US Army no. 4612. Rebuilt C&NW GP7 and GP9 locomotives were often assigned to serve the railroad as yard switchers or to pull local freight trains.
The May 1994 “Golden Spike Steam Special” was in celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the formation of the first North American transcontinental railroad. Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific Railroad, ceremonially drove the golden “last spike” at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10th, 1869. The Union Pacific Railroad built westward, meeting the Central Pacific at this place and time. To celebrate this momentous anniversary, the UP ran its then-largest operating steam locomotive, Challenger-class 4-6-6-4 no. 3985. On May 7, 1994, the steamer and its unique train of historic streamliner passenger cars, left Cheyenne, Wyoming, on the Overland Route, for festivities in Ogden, Utah.
Denver & Rio Grande Western GP40-2 no. 3113 was built for the mountain railroad in December 1972. It would later be renumbered Union Pacific 1365, after the former Rio Grande was folded by extension into the massive UP rail network.
Southern Pacific SD9 no. 4427 was built in April 1955 as SP no. 5416. It was renumbered 3894 in 1965, and then rebuilt and renumbered SP 4427 in June 1977. Before its retirement, no. 4427 pulled a telecom fiberoptic cable train through Colorado Springs, spotted here near Rockrimmon Boulevard. By April 1997, it was acquired by the Dakota Southern Railway Co., but kept its SP number, repainted as DSRC 4427 by 2004.
CSX SD50 8630, built in October 1985, led a westbound freight through Garrett Park, Maryland, still adorning Chessie System’s “cat” paint scheme. This was the former Baltimore & Ohio mainline between Washington DC, and Chicago, Illinois, since owned by CSX.

Union Pacific ES44AC 7698 is looking sharp, leading a westbound freight passed the rock outcroppings near Potter, Nebraska. Built by General Electric in June 2007, it was fresh from the factory as it hustled a manifest freight train over UP’s famous transcontinental Overland Route.

Amtrak E60CH 952 leads an overnight train westbound through Glendale, Maryland, on a chilly winter’s afternoon. Number 952 was built for Amtrak passenger service on the electrified Northeast Corridor in November 1975. It primarily pulled long distance trains at high speed between New Haven, Connecticut, and Washington DC.

Denver & Rio Grande Western GP30 no. 3006 waits to begin its day’s assignments, early in the morning in 1994. This was the local switch engine for the Rio Grande and Southern Pacific railroads for many years in Colorado Springs. Its primary task was to switch freight cars in the local downtown rail yard, and deliver many of those cars to local rail customers in the surrounding metropolitan area. No. 3006 has since been placed on the Colorado Historic Register for the purpose of preservation.

Conrail B36-7 no. 5002 hustled a hot trailer-on-flat-car train westbound, just before crossing the Cuyahoga River lift bridge in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Canadian National number 9432 is a GP40-2LW, built in 1974, and unique to this railroad. It is an early wide cab design which inspired wide or safety cab designs in the United States, beginning in the late 1980s. Canadian Pacific and Canadian National rail lines paralleled each other on opposite banks of the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada

In 1990, pre-merger railroads Burlington Northern, Soo Line, and Chicago & North Western moved heavy freight trains throughout the Midwestern United States. The Soo Line ran the “Victorian Express” passenger train from St. Paul to Winona, Minnesota, and return, in celebration of Victorian Days in Winona.

Ringling Circus Train, 1 Day Chase 2007 from Monument, Colorado, to Hanna, Wyoming

Burlington Northern GP39M 2808 was spotted at the 5th Street grade crossing in Greeley, Colorado

Santa Fe Railway C30-7 8066 in Larkspur, Colorado, going over the Spruce Mountain Road bridge in 1983.

Southern Pacific Santa Fe (SPSF) 3679 near Baptist Road, south of Monument, Colorado, in 1986. The SPSF merger was never approved, so the railroad never actually existed. Since then SPSF has stood for “Shouldn’t Paint So Fast.”

Burlington Northern U33C 5834 leads a coal train north out of the Air Force Academy near Baptist Road, south of Monument, Colorado, in 1983.

LMX B39-8 8558 is a leased locomotive from General Electric Leasing Management. Burlington Northern leased several of these B39-8 diesels from LMX. Number 8558 is leading a BN freight train north across the Gobatti Road crossing in Bragdon, Colorado, in 1998.

Denver & Rio Grande Western 5366 is a “tunnel motor” SD40T-2 diesel locomotive. It is in charge of a southbound coal train going through Kelker, just south of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1983. Tunnel motors were unique to the Rio Grande and Southern Pacific railroads because of their mountainous rail lines3

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