Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Old Postings

If you are looking for my non-railroad topics, you can find them on my new blog.

The Denver Zephyr

The Denver Zephyr was the Burlington’s top Chicago to Denver train. It was the main competition to the C&NW / UP City of Denver. It’s overall schedule was almost identical in 1950 as shown below. It traveled the route at an average speed of 63 mph.
StationLeaveTotal MilesMilesMinutesAvg Speed
Chicago5:00 PM
Galesburg, IL7:07 PM16216212777
Burlington, IA7:51 PM206444460
Ottumwa, IA8:56 PM280746568
Creston, IA10:42 PM39311310664
Council Bluffs, IA12:08 AM492998669
Omaha, NE12:30 AM49642211
Lincoln, NE1:45 AM551557544
Hastings, NE3:23 AM648979859
Holdrege, NE4:12 AM702544966
McCook, NE5:32 AM779778256
Akron, CO6:40 AM92214312867
Fort Morgan, CO7:13 AM956343362
Denver, CO8:30 AM1034787761
Today, Amtrak’s California Zephyr is the only train to run between Chicago and Denver. Its schedule is shown below. It is a bit slower but not all that much – at least when it is on time. It travels the route at an average speed of 56 mph. Not all Amtrak stops are included. They stop at more places than the Denver Zephyr did. They also eliminated a couple of stops.
StationLeaveTotal MilesMilesMinutesAvg Speed
Chicago1:50 PM
Galesburg, IL4:28 PM16216215862
Burlington, IA5:15 PM206444756
Ottumwa, IA6:43 PM280748850
Creston, IA8:31 PM39311310863
Omaha, NE10:19 PM49610310857
Lincoln, NE12:18 AM5515511928
Hastings, NE1:57 AM648979959
Holdrege, NE2:44 AM702544769
McCook, NE3:53 AM779776967
Fort Morgan, CO5:15 AM95617713877
Denver, CO7:30 AM10347813535

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

C&NW Passenger Trains

Unfortunately, I think, a lot of the most interesting railroads have been merged out of existence into a handful of mega railroads. For instance, the current Union Pacific Railroad consists of the old original Union Pacific plus Chicago and North Western, Missouri Pacific, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, Western Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Denver and Rio Grande Western. These railroads include numerous other railroads as well.
My original and current favorite is the Chicago and North Western. It’s because I grew up near the C&NW mainline in the Chicago area and it has a rich history of passenger trains. I also worked for them for a couple of years in the early 1980’s.
The C&NW has a long history that goes back more than 150 years. When it was absorbed into Union Pacific in 1995, it was one of the oldest companies in the United States. How many companies can you think of that still exist that are over 150 years old an still operate with the same name as 150 years ago?
The C&NW line that went west out to Omaha, Nebraska was the host of many famous passenger trains that originated in Chicago including the “City” trains that were operated in conjunction with Union Pacific: City of Los Angeles, City of San Francisco, City of Portland, City of Denver. There were also trains like the Pacific Limited (Chicago to LA), San Francisco Challenger, San Francisco Overland Limited, Los Angeles Challenger, Los Angeles Overland Limited, The Columbine (to Denver), The Portland Rose, The Forty Niner (to San Francisco). They also had trains that went north and northwest to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Trains like The 400, The Viking, The Victory, and the North Western Limited. These were the "big" and famous trains on the C&NW. There were lots of other trains that had names and many that had only numbers.
Not a single one of these trains made it to the Amtrak era. And, I never saw a single one of the big named trains other than in pictures.
So I have a model of one of them using Walthers’ passenger cars and Proto 2000 E6, E7 and E8 locomotives.
In February of 1950, the westbound City of Denver, train 111, had the schedule shown below. The train was turned over to Union Pacific in Omaha. The train had an overall average speed of 64 mph for the 1048 mile run from Chicago to Denver. This was one of the faster Chicago to Denver trains in 1950.
StationLeave Total MilesMilesMinutesAvg Speed
Chicago5:00 PM
Sterling, IL6:37 PM1101109768
Clinton, IA7:04 PM138282762
Cedar Rapids, IA8:15 PM219817168
Marshalltown, IA9:18 PM289706367
Ames, IA9:51 PM327383369
Boone, IA10:10 PM340131941
Council Bluffs, IA12:17 AM48514512769
Omaha, NE12:30 AM48831314
Columbus, NE1:55 AM570828558
Grand Island, NE2:50 AM632625568
Kearney, NE3:28 AM674423866
North Platte, NE4:47 AM769957972
Julesburg, CO5:00 AM851827367
Sterling, CO5:55 AM908575562
La Salle, CO7:20 AM1001938566
Denver, CO8:30 AM1048477040

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Railfanning August 27, 2006

Spent a good part of today railfanning the Moffat subdivision of the Union Pacific. Here is a picture of Amtrak’s California Zephyr running at least 2 hours late. This photo was taken at Crescent, one of the sidings that the trains encounter on their way up to the Moffat Tunnel. The equipment on this train has seen better days. Some corrosion and flaking paint. I hope they are in better condition inside.



There were some nice freights up there too such as this coal train also at Crescent.




I saw several of these coal trains. Most were empties but one was loaded.

Up at the Moffat Tunnel, it was 50 degrees compared to 73 back down in Denver. I walked a little ways up the trail that begins here and ends up at Arapaho Lakes about 7 miles away. I just went around to the backside of the tunnel portal to see what I could see. While I was there, the tunnel’s ventilation fan was operating. It’s quite noisy and runs 20 minutes or so until the tunnel is ventilated. They do this after each train runs through in order to avoid breathing problems for the railroad personnel. The Moffat Tunnel is about 6 miles long and comes out at Winter Park on the other side of the Continental Divide. No train came through the tunnel while I was there.

I drove up the old Rollins Pass road about a half mile. The road is in as bad of shape as ever. Lots of pot holes and rocks. Nice view of the railroad leading to the tunnel though. This road was the railroad itself before the tunnel was completed in 1927. You can read my story of cycling up Rollins pass if you'd like.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Along the Joint Line 1

Here is a set of locomotives that are often seen south of Denver doing switching duties at various industries. It's an interesting set because the three are quite different looking with three different heritages. This photo was taken on August 23, 2006.


The Rio Grande engine is a GP40-2 with 3000 horsepower. It has been renumbered via a patch to Union Pacific 1348. It used to have Rio Grande number 3126 and was built in 1974.

The Cotton Belt engine has also been patched by Union Pacific to number 1526. This engine was originally built as a GP40 in 1967. It had a series of owners and numbers beginning with Louisville and Nashville 3024, then Seaboard 6820, then CSX 6820. Then Cotton Belt got it and numbered it 7291. It was rebuilt in 1991 into what the railroad calls a GP40-2M. It has 3000 horsepower.

The Union Pacific 1924 engine is a GP60 that was built in 1988 as Cotton Belt 9622. It used to look a lot like the Cotton Belt engine in the photo. It spent about a year as Union Pacific 5724 before getting the number shown here. GP60's have 3800 horsepower.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Where Were Those Trains Going?

I remember vividly right after going to bed hearing the sound of trains going through Lombard. Our house was about 4 blocks from the tracks where there were frequent trains. There was always a train going by when I was too far away to see what sort of train it was. They did not often blow their horns through Lombard and the other western suburbs. Lombard was a bedroom community and people were aware of the need to be cautious by these high speed tracks. But especially late at night, you could hear the trains anyway. It was the sound of the diesel locomotives and the sound of the train’s wheels hitting the joints in the still-jointed tracks. I could tell if it was just another commuter train heading out to West Chicago or Geneva or towards Chicago. The sound of the F7’s and E8’s were distinctive and recognizable because of the sound of their acceleration away from the Lombard station. Freight trains were different because they made a steady sound with little or no acceleration. They might have had their terminus as close as Proviso Yard about 10 miles east or they might have gone all the way into Chicago. They also could have gone to any number of far away points west but most often to Omaha where the train would be turned over to the Union Pacific to go even farther west – even as far as California.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Railroad Interest - Part 2

I grew up in Lombard, Illinois. Lombard had three railroads running through it at one time. The only one that still exists today is the Union Pacific line that runs between Chicago and Omaha and points farther west. This was part of the original transcontinental railroad and was known as the Chicago and North Western when I was growing up. It was absorbed into the Union Pacific in 1995.

Lombard also had a single track line usually know as the Great Western or, more formally, the Chicago Great Western. This line ran from Chicago out into Iowa and is now a bike trail through Lombard. It was merged into the Chicago and North Western in 1968 and gradually abandoned over the next decade or so.

There was an interurban railroad that ran through Lombard. The Chicago, Aurora and Elgin. We called it the "Roarin Elgin". This was an electric line that ran between its namesake cities. It ceased operating in 1957 and in the 60’s was converted into a trail called the Illinois Prairie Path. Great for hiking and biking.

All three of these lines were fascinating for me to poke around. I never saw a train on the CA&E but did see some on the CGW after it was merged into the C&NW. Trains on that line were rare. The C&NW, of course, had lots of trains including commuter trains and freight. I used to ride my bicycle up along the C&NW after school to watch a train or two and the first of the evening rush hour commuter trains. I liked the Elizabeth Street crossing because you could see the farthest at this point where the track curved slightly. From here you could see well past Grace Street to the east and a good ways into Glen Ellyn to the west.

The Prairie Path was fun to ride my bicycle on as well since over in the next two suburbs west, Glen Ellyn and Wheaton, it was adjacent to the C&NW tracks. So I could ride over there and see some trains on the C&NW as well.

I used to notice railroad artifacts along these lines. One of the interesting items on the CA&E is the remains of an old station in Glen Ellyn just east of Hill Avenue. As of about 2003, it was still there. It was much more overgrown that it was 20 years earlier. It consists of some brickwork that must have formed an arch over the entry to the station. That’s it. You could also find the remains of station platforms at various places through Lombard.

One of the unusual things about the C&NW line is the lack of lighted signals. Instead, they have signals in the cabs of the locomotives which receive their indications through low voltage current in the track. But it wasn’t always this way. Over in Elmhurst, you can see signal bridges still in place. Years ago, I noticed concrete supports along the right of way just west of Lombard. These had to be for signals that were there at one time, long ago.

The C&NW track through Lombard is where I found some date nails. These were nails with the number 57 on top representing 1957. The pole line on the south side of the tracks was put up by Western Union. The poles had date nails in them as well - 42 for 1942.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

My Interest in Railroads - Part 1

I have long been interested in many aspects of railroads and railroading. What is it that I like about them and why? The origins of my interest in railroads goes back to when I was a kid. It must have been about 1964 or so when I was about 7 years old when I got a Lionel trainset for Christmas. It ran in a figure 8 with a single steam locomotive and a set of freight cars. I still have one of the cars – a Sunoco tank car. I don’t know the origin of this trainset but I believe the set was used since the cars were not particularly pristine or even fully functional. I liked it anyway.

A few years later, I found a report that my brother had done for school about railroads. I found this fascinating because everything my older brother did was fascinating by definition. I had to do a lot of things that he did and I was interested in many of the things that he was interested in because, well, he was cool – simple as that. He was (and still is) 12 years older than me. To prepare this report, he acquired numerous booklets and other information directly from the railroads. So, I had to do that as well. I wrote to the railroads, and there were lots of them back then, and asked them for whatever information they could send me. They sent some of the same booklets published by the Association of American Railroads as well as timetables, photographs, and posters - all for free. I still have a lot of this material that dates back to the late 60's.

These are some of the things that sparked my interest in railroads.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Mischief Along the Railroad

My interest in railroads began sometime in the 60’s. Where that interest comes from will be the subject of another posting. Sometime in about 1970 when I was 13, there were three of us (Randy, Leif and I) who rode our bikes up to the Chicago and North Western triple track mainline in Lombard, Illinois – about 5 or 6 blocks from where we lived. It was late in the day during the week so there were numerous lengthy commuter trains bringing workers home from Chicago to the suburbs. This did not deter us from walking right down the tracks while leaving our bikes at the station.

After walking about a quarter of a mile, one of us found a fusee - a railroad flare - lying on the ballast along one of the three tracks. Why it was there, we didn’t know. What it was for, we didn’t know. It had never been used.

Well, it hadn't been used until we lit the thing. Now, these things burn very hot and we found an empty soda can nearby and found that it could burn a hole in it quite easily. It was entertaining for a while but we left it behind to finish burning while we continued walking on down the tracks.

A little while later, here comes a man walking down the tracks towards us. When he gets close to us, he whips out his badge and identifies himself as a policeman with the C&NW police department. He said that he drove all the way from Chicago to find out what we were up to. He explained to us what fusees were for – emergencies that require trains to stop when sighted. He took our names down and gave us some well deserved scolding about the dangers of hanging out on railroad tracks – especially ones where trains go as fast as they sometimes did in Lombard. He also cautioned us about putting stuff on the tracks saying that even a penny can cause problems. He then told us that if we wanted to watch trains, which is what we were really interested in doing, that we should do it from the station platform or off railroad property. He realized that we were just kids who did not realize the meaning of the fusee and let us go on own way. He did tell us that he didn’t want to see our names come across his desk again.

Not feeling particularly guilty about all of this, we went back to the station and waited for another train or two. The train that went all the way to Clinton, Iowa on the center track came through a lot slower than usual that evening.

Then we went home and that is when we found out that the railroad cop had called our parents.

In 1980, when I actually went to work for the same railroad, the subject did not come up.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Acequia, Colorado

An acequia is a community operated waterway used in the American Southwest for irrigation. Acequias are usually historically engineered canals that carry snow runoff or river water to distant fields.

There is a location along the nearby railroad joint line that is called Acequia. It is just southwest of Highlands Ranch, Colorado. At one time on both railroad lines, there were sidings at this location. I have heard railroad personnel refer to this location occasionally as Acequia. Here is the location on a topographic map. Acequia is clarly marked and you can see both railroad lines on the map. If you zoom in enough, you can see that both railroads had sidings. The western track, currently owned by Union Pacific, was originally built by the Denver and Rio Grande Western. The eastern track, currently owned by Burlington Northern and Santa Fe, was originally built by a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Also on the map, you can see that near Acequia, the Highline Canal runs between the two tracks and then turns to the west and the one track goes over the canal. Railroads often named places after some geographical feature. In this case the canal. The canal was built through here about 1880. The Rio Grande track was built in 1871. The other track, built by a subsidiary of the Santa Fe Railway was built in 1887.

I rode my bike to near this location this evening. It's a ride of about 5 miles from home if I go the long way. I followed the Highline Canal trail all the way to a place where the canal trail is no longer rideable because of the presence of evil weeds that contain a plethora of "goat heads" (which I will write about in another posting). About 1/4 mile south of where I stopped is the actual location of Acequia. Then a little ways farther south, the canal turns under the track as stated above and then it heads through a tunnel under a ridge and under Plum Creek. That’s why the trail is really broken at this point. See this satellite photo.

One of the cool things about the ride tonight was the presence of three large full-racked elk that were hanging around. They were quite wary of me being there and moved off into the nearby woods as I rode by. I was never closer than about 150 yards.