Day 4, Wed., June 1, 2016
Amarillo, TX - Denver, Colo.

Photos by Dave Ingles

Today we'd run the FW&D-C&S main line north to Denver (companies changed at the TX-NM state line), the route of the "Texas Zephyr" and old mileage for most of us, my prior rides including a Santa Fe football special from Denver to Norman, Okla., and return in 1960, which turned east at Pueblo; a Denver-Kansas City round trip on  "Colorado Eagle" at Christmastime the same year, and a northbound AAPRCO Denver convention special in October 2000 that filled in Amarillo-Pueblo. We pulled out from our parking spot by the Amarillo FW&D Yard Office (former passenger depot0 at 740 a.m., and were under way by 748. I arose, freshened up, went to the Caritas, and made my first photo of the Canadian River bridge, Milepost 375 (from Fort Worth0 at 853. The image shows the terrain and weather, which would later break to partly cloudy.

The first sizable town is Dalhart, MP 418, crossing of UP's ex-RI Golden State Route, and we curved slightly left on our approach.

We passed the old FW&D depot, now in other business use ( see Explorers Depot Album file ) and crossed the UP a 957; thus far, the times given are Central Daylight. The first view looks east on the UP, with its depot/yard office on the left; the diamond is atop a highway underpass. This office is remembered from my 1983 ride with David P. and Margaret Morgan, when we rode freights from K.C. to Tucumcari courtesy of Cotton Belt's K.C. p.r. man Jim Johnson, a card-carrying fan. We were on a rear unit of a hot freight, and during the brief crew change at Dalhart, we were offered a bacon-and-eggs breakfast inside the office. I could barely touch it, the hour being dawn and my tummy not used to hot food at that hour (we'd left our motel in Liberal around 4 .am. as I recall, much too early for normal human beings), but the gesture was nice. Johnson had a car arranged at Tucumcari, and we took 2 days to drive along the route back to K.C., all prep for a DPM story in TRAINS on the "Cotton Rock." I was "official photographer." The tiny current Dalhart office for BNSF is in this file because the old "true depot" is in the other file.

North of town, possibly at GP30 2734, and a partner were working elevator tracks; the image is a grab shot, not truly sharp, sorry. Somewhere in the area, I spotted what appears to be a GE 70-tonner with a homemade cab, tho it could be a Baldwin-Whitcomb. I'm sorry, but the lettering is not sharp. At Guy, we had two stops, 1025-1036 and 1043-1047, I think for track warrants -- at least, my notes and photos show no other train. We passed thru Texline and gained an hour into Mountain Time at 1019 MDT. Generally on this trip, I did not attempt to shoot "critters" or "elevator engines" of any size though we passed many during the week, especially in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota but also in north Texas.

This hamlet on the left at MP 292 (now C&S MPs, descending, measured from Denver) is Des Moines, N. Mex., so we can guess where its settlers came from. It's the largest community on the FW&D in the Land of Enchantment. As you can see, the weather is breaking.

In the Great Dome, passenger Jerry Angier of Portland, Maine (left), chats with IPH Car Ops Manager Jim Fetchero, who is wearing  the official T-shirt given to each passenger and crew person. Chuck Weinstock of Pittsburgh designed the shirt, as he has done on past Explorers, with map assistance by Rick Moser and this writer. My being in the dome, and cloud cover, meant I did not get any good photos as we seesawed thru several S-curves before entering Colorado.

At 1:52, after lunch, we approached the overpass of BNSF's former Santa Fe's La Junta-Albuquerque main line just east of Trinidad. In 1991, to help Colorado DOT with !-25 improvements thru Trinidad C&S built a bypass here and established a new small yard to the north, abandoning a twisting curve down thru town with a sharp curve, resulting in 3 miles fewer and eliminating road crossings and two grades the savings of 3 miles of line. This BNSF line thru Trinidad sees the "Southwest Chief" but little if any freight activity.

We paused from 1:59 to 2:50 at the yard for a bit of servicing and both Amtrak and BNSF crew changes. The letters "TRINIDAD" on the office are from the former Santa Fe depot in town. The view of the two coal trains looks back south into the small yard.

Up at Mayne, MP 180, we twisted through curves and passed a parked rail train at 3:37.

Thru Walsenburg MP 171, at 3:54, I took only slides, of the courthouse and depot, and my next photo was approaching Pueblo. where at Southern Jct., MP 125, at 5:07, we overtook UP 7416 North. UP operations extend south to Walsenburg, the former D&RGW which turned west there to go over La Veta Pass to Alamosa, now IPH's short line San Luis & Rio Grande.

We sort of snuck thru Pueblo, first skirting the old large CF&I steel mill complex on the east side (nothing visible of today's smaller operation) and passing thru the only tunnel of the day, 300 feet long, at 5:!5; crossing the Arkansas River about 4 minutes later; and rolling thru Pueblo Jct. (BNSF from La Junta coming in) at 5:25, then departing north thru the city's east side on the "Joint Line," beginning on the ex-DRGW Colorado Springs Sub. Thus we did not see Pueblo Union Depot or the former joint ATSF-C&S yard.

The weather deteriorated, it was cocktail hour, and I took no photos until passing the former Rio Grande/Rock Island depot, now a good restaurant, in Colorado Springs, at 6:23, presented here, vs. the depot album, because it's from the dome and not a good "roster shot."

North of "the Springs" the sun came out again, and this view in the dome shows Nona Hill and waiter Jack in the aisle about 7:30 as we began truly skirting the Front Range, on the left. After the two seatings of dinner in the diner, were having dessert in the dome, a cake to celebrate Jim Fetchero's birthday. It was going to be a surprise, but unaware of the plans, he leaked the news early to a few people.

I thought I was done with photos for the day, but at twilight as we entered Denver, having passed thru Littleton and Englewood, I couldn't resist some snaps of the RTD light-rail shop at about 8:45, to finish the day, We pulled past the BNSF (ex-CB&Q) shop at 23rd St. in Denver at 8:57 and backed from the 31st St. Yard at 9:02 into track 6 in Union Station, to park for two nights, stopping at 9:14. Tomorrow would be a layover day in Denver.

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