Santa Fe’s Q train out of Big Lift (Denver) utilizing Colorado’s Joint Line is about to cross the small trestle at mile 698.6 between Tomah and Larkspur, Colorado, on July 10, 1989. Santa Fe EMD F45 No. 5989 leads the train, and is painted in the “Kodachrome” scheme for a proposed merger that never happened between Southern Pacific and Santa Fe. Some say that the ill-fated SPSF stood for “Shouldn’t Paint So Fast” since many locomotives, mostly Santa Fe, were repainted before the merger was approved.
