Springtime in the Rockies Amtrak train No. 5, the California Zephyr, climbs up the 2 percent grade between Tunnels 8 and 10 west of Plainview, Colorado, on the morning of June 8, 2013. Above the second-to-the-last car is the west portal of Tunnel 8, with lead locomotive No. 129 about to plunge into Tunnel 10. The train is passing the site of old Tunnel 9 that became so unstable that it was bypassed by a shoo-fly and eventually daylighted, with the grade moved to its original survey as seen here. The great plains stretch out in the background below Boulder, and the Rocky Mountains are fresh with the green of springtime during this beautiful time of year.
