A trio of MACs leads coal empties north through Palmer Lake. Hard to believe this region was coated with a foot and a half of snow only three days earlier! Check out Tigger leading the way in th... (more)

More coal rolls south on the Joint Line as BNSF 6069 leads the way at the north end of the Air Force Academy.

BNSF 6004 keeps the main and splits the signals at the north end of the 7200-foot Academy siding as it continues its way south with a load of coal.

After struggling to crest the Palmer Divide, BNSF 6004 is finally on the downhill side as it slips through Palmer Lake. This train was going so slowly toward the crest that the conductor on the c... (more)

BNSF 6004 leads a southbound coal train up the grade in Larkspur as it barely creeps along at maybe 5 MPH.

Southbound coal power pops around the bend with a stained ACe in the lead, seen here just south of the Academy siding.

The modern-era BNSF...3 Swoosh'd ES44DCs power a manifest south through Monument. The days of catching SD40-2s, SD60Ms, SD75s, or Oakways leading any type of train anymore just seem like a distan... (more)

EMD DPUs on northbound coal empties skirt the cliffs just south of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

A trio of H2 Dash 9s leads a long manifest south through a non-urbanized part of Colorado Springs.

After setting off the defect detector for hot axles about an hour an a half earlier and clogging the Joint Line, BNSF 9185 and BNSF 9190 are underway again with southbound coal as they try and mak... (more)

After waiting for two northbounds to clear, a pair of elephant ACes descends off the Monument siding with another load of coal.

UP 1989 and Pikes Peak, two of Colorado's five front range icons (the other three of course being the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, John Elway, and Interstate 25 congestion), bask in the morning... (more)

UP 1989 is in town for the 2009 Rio Grande Modeling and Historical Society convention that's taking place in Colorado Springs this week. As one employee said as he walked by during my drool-fest,... (more)

A pair of ACes leads empty hoppers north and downgrade out of Palmer Lake. While I've caught twin ACes acting as DPUs plenty of times, this is the first time in 9 months of trying that I was able... (more)

I caught this train going down the south side of the Palmer Divide with a load of coal on Saturday and here it is two days later going down the north side of the Palmer Divide with freshly emptied... (more)