Some days are better than others… With a few hours to kill before our flight, my wife and I headed south of Denver to the Larkspur/Palmer Lake area in the hopes of seeing some trains. (Well, I hoped … my wife was just happy to just be in a mountainous setting after a week in flat Nebraska.) The old Joint Line (BNSF's Pikes Peak Sub and UP's Colorado Springs Sub) typically sees moderate traffic, so I was hopeful. As we stopped for breakfast, we missed a northbound, and after eating we headed south a bit further. I selected a spot in Palmer Lake that had decent sun, and waited. And waited. And waited a bit more. And then I heard an air horn in the distance, hopped out of the car and headed up a nearby hill and, just as BNSF train Q-SPOALT6-16 rounded the lake, an ominous shadow crept toward the train and I realized that Colorado's typical afternoon cloud build-up was already upon us. I was able to fire off two frames before the train exited the sunshine. It figures.
Now, if you know BNSF's symbols, a "Q" train is a Guaranteed Service Intermodal train, and in this photo, the cars visible are not intermodal cars. The latter half of this train was an intermodal, heading from Spokane WA to Alliance TX. But the first half was a merchandise freight that had been combined with the hotter train – Precision Scheduled Railroading at its "finest." But that's fine, as I prefer "loose car" freights anyway. But my only decent photos will not show many of the cars due to the stupid clouds! (But I will gladly accept them in California if they come and provide some much-needed precipitation! Climate change, and the imbecilic morons who deny it and won't pass any meaningful legislation to at least attempt to mitigate it, is such a concern!!!) So here we see the first two locomotives, BNSF ES44C4 7182 and Dash 9-44CW 4307, with BNSF ES44DC 7642 as the rear DPU. And then it was off to the airport … oh joy. One is better than none, though... (Palmer Lake, Colorado – July 19, 2022)
