Favorite Railfanning Spots

I live in Colorado near Denver and there are a few good railfanning spots that I especially like. The first is in the Palmer Lake area and the other is in Coal Creek Canyon at Crescent.

Palmer Lake is where the north-south BNSF-UP Joint Line goes from two separate tracks into a single track. This happens just north of the lake in Palmer Lake. It’s a good place for several reasons. There is good parking right there at this park location. You can walk completely around the lake and up and down the tracks in a park trail without trespassing on the railroad right of way. Along this path are numerous good photo vantage points. Second. This location is the top of the hill that goes from Denver all the way south to this location. Southbound coal trains are moving really slow at this point are quite loud as they strain to overcome the hill. BNSF trains often stop about a mile north in “the sag” to cool off before making the final climb. It’s also neat to hear the loud train horns echoing off the nearby foothills.

The other location is in Crescent. This location is on Union Pacific’s (ex Rio Grande) track that heads west of Denver into the tunnel district. Crescent is at a road crossing between tunnels 18 and 19 and is another neat place to photograph some trains from a higher vantage point.

A third place is much closer to home in Highlands Ranch. The same Joint Line I mentioned above has its two tracks close together just about a mile away. There is a nice bike trail practically along the tracks along the Highline Canal and on top of Chatfield Dam from which you can see trains. I have seen many while on my bike rides over there but haven’t done much photography from there.