A new frog is lifted in place using a Union Pacific crane manufactured by Little Giant at Mounds, Utah, on May 11, 2006. A large group of maintenance-of-way personnel gathered to replace a worn ou... (more)

A new frog is being installed on the west switch at Mounds, Utah, on May 11, 2006. Here, a member of the track department out of Helper uses a rail saw to cut rails of the new frog based on precis... (more)

Just before sunrise on October 8, 2004, Union Pacific’s LJP45 local heads for the Sunnyside Branch at West Mounds, Utah. Rio Grande SD40T-2 “Tunnel Motor” No. 5371 erupts with smoke as it sw... (more)

A rising sun brightly silhouettes Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2 No. 5371 as the local switches Mounds, Utah, on October 8, 2004. A stark nose profile of a variant of one of General Motors’ best selling... (more)

Union Pacific’s LJP45 “dirt train” approaches Mounds, Utah, on the Sunnyside Branch on a sunny May 5, 2004. By this date, only five “unpatched” Rio Grande SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors survive o... (more)

With late season thunderstorms rumbling over the Bookcliffs in the background, Union Pacific’s LJP45 “dirt train” local approaches Mounds, Utah, late on the afternoon of November 21, 2003. R... (more)

Union Pacific's three times a week Dirt Train Local, LUH45-8, is seen here leaving the Sunnyside Sub. and entering the main line Green River Sub at Mounds, Utah. The train is 12 empty cars, many w... (more)

By mid-2002, there were still 47 former Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2 “Tunnel Motors” roaming the Union Pacific system, but only seven were not patched (renumbered) or painted yellow. At this time, f... (more)

After switching Mounds, Utah, at sunrise, the “dirt train” heads toward East Carbon past low morning light and “John Ford movie-like” desert buttes. Leading the train are three Rio Grande ... (more)

Union Pacific’s dirt train heads west out of Mounds, Utah, over a small bridge on the Green River Subdivision. Besides EMD SD40T-2 “Tunnel Motor” No. 5390 on the point, UP SD40-2 Nos. 3736 a... (more)

A fish-eye view out the cab window of SD40T-2 Tunnel Motor No. 5371 near Mounds, Utah, while westbound with the dirt train over the Sunnyside Branch on October 25, 2007. This was last “real” R... (more)

After a large gang of Union Pacific maintenance-of-way workers replaced the frog at the west switch of Mounds, Utah, on the morning of May 11, 2006, a welder finishes up one of the joints with a g... (more)

Sunrise through a Tunnel Motor
A brilliant sunrise filters through the lower intake grills of two Rio Grande SD40T-2s at Mounds, Utah, on the morning of October 8, 2004.

The dirt train out Helper, UT, is pounding thru Mounds as they enter the Carbon City Sub for the trip to the Carbon City, UT, to unload. Hard to believe this is 2002 in the UP era. Helper was a st... (more)

DRGW 5377 and three sisters are almost to the junction at Mounds with, what was then a M-S operation, the dirt train. This was fantastic place to catch the remaining Rio Grande power in action. Oh... (more)