South Boulder Creek is frozen in the January cold, but the head-end crew of this eastbound is reasonably comfortable thanks to an EMD redesign that has made cab and hood on its new GP30 model snug and airtight. The last of a Grande order for 28 of the second-generation units, this engine will serve the road for three decades before moving a few dozen miles north to Omnitrax, Loveland-based operator of the former Great Western sugar road. Meantime, on the day of January, this mixed freight is little more than an hour out of Denver’s North Yard, where hot cups of vending-machine coffee await.
