Day 5, Thursday, June 2, 2016
Denver Layover Day

Photos by Dave Ingles

The "Union Station" sign photo is from the next morning, but is apropos because I spent most of the layover day on this Thursday around the depot. The current Denver Union Station area is unrecognizable from past years, with a lot of new-building construction to the west and south; you may read all about the changes in either TRAINS' new special edition "Colorado Railroads" or a recent "Railfan & Railroad Magazine," and both include particulars and a map about Denver RTD's new electrified commuter trains. Inexplicably, the two depot tracks and platform for Amtrak in DUS, 5 and 6, are between the already-operating Airport commuter line, on tracks nearest the head building, and the outer tracks for the soon-to-debut commuter lines to Arvada and Westminster, Colo., to the west and northwest. This prevents easy change from western suburb trains to the airport line. Our train was parked on Track 6, and when the westbound California Zephyr arrived and backed in on Track 5, I went up to the observation deck to photograph the rear of our trains together; a "fence" prevented north-looking photos. In the second photo, the rear half of the Caritas is shown at the bottom, next to the CZ'a rear cars. (The light-rail lines, incidentally, have been moved west a city block or two worth, but on the 16th St. Mall -- no autos -- a free shuttle bus goes from the light-rail station to the west, past Union Station, and on to "upper downtown" Denver.)

The day turned out to be sunny and hot, reaching 89, and with my limited mobility, I skipped a thought-about afternoon light-rail ride west on the Jefferson County line, partially on former Denver & Intermountain right of way, and just made a late-morning round trip on the new 23-mile line to the airport with friends. After lunch and visiting with friends in the station, I wrote post cards and just chilled out for the afternoon, before we passengers all went to the traditional Explorer's Banquet at a Brazilian steak house 2 blocks south on Wynkoop St. for a long but enjoyable evening. Longtime friend, publisher, and retired Santa Fe man Joe McMillan drove downtown to ride with us. We totaled 8, with Bostonians Bill Crawford and John Ehrlich, Chicagoland brothers Phil and Rick Moser, the Steel City's Chuck Weinstock, and Californian Neil Lang. I was grateful to sit down while some people battled the RTD ticket machine on the observation deck overpass. That's Joe, Chuck, and Bill from left to right. We then went to ground level to board the next train to the airport; during the day, they run a 2-car M.U. set every 15 minutes. In the second shot, Joe beckons us on board as Rick (left) and Phil Moser look on. The last photo, from my RTD seat, shows the relationship to the two Amtrak tracks, the CZ having left and the Caritas visible, as is the observation walkway and elevator shaft to the platform.

The line is on separated right-of-way as it generally follows UP's old "KP" (Kansas Pacific) line to the east, then bridges over it and zig-zags to just below an airport terminal. As we got under way, John Ehrlich compares his ticket with Chuck Weinstock as Neil Lang looks on at left. We all had "day passes" good all day for I think $3 or so.

Leaving Union Station at 9:45, we passed a trainset with a wrap for "Take the A Train," the designation for the airport line. It is also sponsored by the University of Colorado, so there are wraps for "CU." Then we got what turned out to be my only good shot of the head end of our special; the Amtrak engines stayed coupled to our cars, and they are spotted over a track pan to catch any fuel or oil drippings, which is why Caritas was not positioned closer to the bumping post. This restriction also hampers many PVs or extra cars from being added to the Zephyr -- green nonsense, or poor planning, call it what you will.

Before turning east, I snapped some of the local UP yard engine sets. The second shot shows the overhead walkway for the first RTD station, at 38th and Blake.

Bridging over the UP line to Kansas, and nearing the airport terminal.

We arrived at the airport platform at 1021 a.m., stepped south for a token photo, but unlike some others from our Explorers group, did not go into the airport itself but rather boarded the next outbound on the right and departed at 1026. Our car numbers outbound were 4025/4026 and inbound 4028/4027, right up there above UP's Big Boys! That's Neil and Bill walking toward us for their photo.

After our 1105 arrival back at Union Station, we gathered in the Union Station main room, formerly full of wooden benches (unique with fluorescent lights along the top) to visit and decide on lunch. I believe it was Joe McMillan who took this shot of (from left), me. Chuck, Bill, Phil, and Rick. The area is full of chair, table, and sofa seating, has a few coffee shops, the big Terminal Bar on the south (downtown) side where ticket offices used to be, and the adjacent hallways are full of shops and cafes; I bought my postcards of Colorado at the Tattered Cover bookstore's outlet. The upper floors are the ultra-expensive Crawford Hotel (no reduced rate for Bill, alas), with valet parking outside on Wynkoop. All the young affluent "millennials" who live in the newly built condos in the immediate area, converge on this Union Station space after work and in evenings to socialize, and the place calls itself "Denver's living room." Joe warned that you want to be out by 5 p.m. when it can become wall-to-wall. There is plenty of "scenery" walking by most of the time, however. We all considered this "new usage" of Union Station and environs a positive thing for a burgeoning and up-to-date Denver!

From our sofa, I looked  upward to photograph reminders of what this place used to be.

Lunch was a story in itself. First, we were joined by Joe's next-door neighbor (in Arvada) and fellow retired Santa Fe railroader Steve Patterson, who took the light-rail into the city to join us. We tried what turned out to be an over-yuppified cafe whose sandwich menu averaged about $15 a shot, and you had to get in line to pay, then another to order, and then you had to go back to pick up your food! No, thanks; most of us got up and left (Neil and Chuck stayed), and wound up patronizing a take-out burger place whose prices were about as bad but got you a cheeseburger and fries and drink, more of the "all-American" comfort food we are used to, which Joe and Steve are pictured enjoying Then John Arbuckle, who lives in Hutchinson, Kans., and is retired from being an Amtrak station agent,  joined us; he'd driven in from Limon, Colo., that morning, secured his Denver hotel for that night, and would ride with us the next day. He let the Union Station/Crawford valets park his car; he is pictured on the right with Rick Moser.

Steve had to grab a light-rail home to go to the airport to pick up people visiting his wife, so after an hour or more of chatting, our group broke up. I wanted to get at least one action shot of an RTD commuter train, so Chuck walked with Joe to fetch his auto, they picked me up out front of Union Station (where I was visiting with John before he summoned the valets for his car), and we went out to Clayton Ave., toward the west end of paralleling UP's KP line, and at 2:45, soon after we arrived, we shot an inbound with the same set of cars we'd ridden outbound, Upon return to Union Station, Joe dropped Chuck and me off at a Wawatta Street corner just west of the middle of the platforms, and during the walk/elevator rides back to the track, I snapped two shots of a test set of M.U.s that were shuttling on one of the two soon-to-open westerly routes. These shots concluded my photography for the day; I took no camera to the banquet, but Phli Gosney photographed everyone, work which Chuck Weinstock has made available for viewing at http.//weinstock.us/FREx by using the userrname "Caritas" and password "Frisco."

After the banquet, en route back to our train, Tom Sharratt made this night photo of the front of the depot, facing 17th and Wynkoop Streets as it has for decades, which provides a nice conclusion to the day.

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