In 1993 I cycled over the Tennessee pass and had one of these trains for company as you you could hear it from miles away. Passing Beaver dams and the blue sky with the smell of pine. This really takes me back. Thanks for posting.
13:40 Welcome to Gillman, Colorado, where keeping "junior" in the back yard is more than a good idea. It's also a good idea to make sure the back yard is still where you left it yesterday.
There are times when you KNOW Union Pacific just wants to reopen Tennessee Pass. The September 2013 floods were one of those times because the Moffat Sub was washed out for several days! But I also see the constant lines of trains along Santa Fe Drive south of downtown Denver, plus the traffic between Denver and Colorado Springs. Just gotta wonder how much time they could save, and track space could be freed, if that line were reopened. Where was that crossing in the very beginning of the video around 1:42? I also can't help but notice that any gated crossing along this line features the "A-gate." Anytime I drive Highway 24, a bit of sadness comes over me because it's a perfectly good line that just sits completely unused. If anything, UP should just sell the line to a private company so they can turn it into an excursion line..or at least a traveler/commuter line to get to Glenwood Springs!
+phillyslasher nope 14,000 feet above sea level with long tunnels will deprive locomotives of oxygen and will actually cause flames to shoot up through their stacks and potentially cause fires. Not to mention the steep and long grades would require a lot of helpers and present a ton of wear and tear on the line. That's why the UP doesn't want to do it. The manpower and costs that would be brought on would be too much for UP's liking. They pride themselves on efficiency. Which is why Espee isn't around anymore.
+Alpha King It doesn't go quite to 14,000 feet. I think the line tops out just shy of 12,000. But the lack of oxygen and flames shooting out wasn't a problem before (at least not that I know of especially with wildfires) so I don't see how it'll be a problem now. Even then they still used lots of helper and pusher engines to get those long coal trains up and over the pass. It would still alleviate a lot of traffic on the Moffat and the Joint Line. Imagine how much extra wear and tear is happening along those lines! But, I guess you're right on the UP efficiency thing. Afterall, they do abandon a LOT of their lines!
msk578 they had to. Antitrust and the fact duplicate lines would've been a major problem although they could've used them during the girdlock period after the merger but that was more a revelation of the piss poor SP physical plant condition than anything else. Actually he does have a video that shows an SP train with flames shooting out the stack.
The Crossing (video around 1:42) is at Minturn CO. As far as reopening the line NEVER gonna happen. The Royal Gorge train is privately owned, CFI in Pueblo barely operating now that all its bridge contracts are filled and the Hayden, Craig coal mines are closing. As for flooding issues at Moffat (which was classified as a 500 year event) they rerouted most everything to the north through Wyoming into north Salt Lake and south to Mapelton.
The train at time stamp 19:35 had 8 power units in it (i figured around 48,000 HP) was I correct in my figures? Thanks for a very outstanding video. Beautiful country also. going to have to look up and see where Tennessee Pass is located. (Mississippi)
Colorado, tracks are abandoned, ran from Dotsero, east end of Glenwood Canyon to Pueblo CO. steel mill. Most likely the coal was mined in the Hayden, Craig CO. area
At 7;29 total competence, changed the points then checked that blade had fully closed, thats kind of guy would be great to work with just knows his job
My hubs Tim Lary would be that guy John Ruskin if he'd been working for SP that trick! He was known for being thorough as he was also the lead Hostler more than just helper or switchman! I noticed that guy working as well! I've watched Tim working before myself a time or two! That could've been Tim working if we'd moved to Colorado Springs like he'd thought about transferring back then when it came up and he was working the UP Extraboard right about the merger! I wouldn't have minded one bit either as I love Colorado--- especially Canon City and in and around the Colorado Springs area! Walsenburg is another place I love Nick Valdez has filmed video before with his ride with Ed Dickens with 844! His footage here is breathtaking just watching switching operations in and around the Royal Gorge! Back on June 6, 2017 me and Leandras Jones, Mary Stahl, Karen Beelendorf and Karl Rethwisch all rode the Royal Gorge Scenic Railway through the Royal Gorge on their lunch train excursion that morning! If you have not yet done that ride John Ruskin, I highly recommend it! I even got to hang out with the lady engineer after our excusion and take pictures in the cab and around the train with her! The conductor filmed us while my friends were busy inside the depot Museum I had already explored with Tim before!
Tennessee pass rules the smoke is from the high altitude And soot burnout from idling in minturn not the locomotives being pushed hard the traction motors on the other hand must have been replaced more often on units that were used on Tennessee pass
I want BNSF to get this line. Or for UP to start operating on it again. I was born in 2003 and my grandparents live in Canon City, so I’ve been around the line a lot but I’ve never seen freight trains running all the way over the pass.
Yea that would be cool but I doubt that union pacific will reactivate old southern pacific routs. But i think you can explore the old mine that's there
@@Bobby347. UP will not be the one to reopen it if anyone does I would guess a shortline takes over Craig Branch and Tennessee Pass. That will probably be the railroad that builds to the Uintah Basin.
The Union Pacific purchased the Southern Pacific (Rio Grande) in 1996. The Denver & Rio Graande Western purchased the Southern Pacific in 1989 and changed the name to Southern Pacific..
@@yawotton Here is what wikipedia wrote: Rio Grande Industries did not merge the Southern Pacific Transportation Company and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad together, but transferred direct ownership of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad to the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, allowing the combined Rio Grande Industries railroad system to use the Southern Pacific name due to its brand recognition in the railroad industry and with customers of both the Southern Pacific Transportation Company and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.
Wow......how pleasant it is to watch a train with rail cars that have not been marred by spray paint vandals. Wonder how many of those vandalizing cretins are ever caught in the act and actually given (meaningful) punishment...…. nah.....what a silly thought.
