Midwesterners on the Moffat After I moved from Wisconsin to Colorado in 1997, this is the first train I photographed! An eastbound Union Pacific freight drops downgrade encircling the mouth of Coal Creek canyon while crossing Blue Mountain Drive grade crossing just west of Clay, Colorado, on August 29, 1997. It seems that I could not shake my Midwestern roots with Chicago & North Western SD50 No. 7033 leading the train, that also included three Wisconsin Central SD45s as power. To keep it more “on line,” the power consist also included a Rio Grande GP40, a Southern Pacific AC4400CW, and a Rio Grande Tunnel Motor. Not an Armour yellow unit anywhere, although it is only a year after the merger.
