Traffic is starting to get busy on a late spring afternoon at the top Palmer Lake on Colorado's Joint Line. On BNSF Main 1, a loaded coal train slowly grinds towards "The Sag"; the stop location at Palmer Lake. On UP Main 2, a BNSF Slaton, TX to Denver, CO manifest heads north as it clears the single track section behind it. Shortly after, BNSF's Denver South dispatcher will "bend the switch" at the control point of Palmer Lake, giving a green signal for the loaded coal train to head south towards Pueblo, and onto the next crew change location of La Junta. In the foreground, a lone BNSF ES44AC sits in the stub track of Spruce. This motor is one of three rescue motors positioned between Denver and the top of the hill to help assist trains that encounter a locomotive failure enroute on the 50 mile climb over the Palmer Divide.
