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John Shine
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Union Pacific 5724 on Craig Shuttle
Union Pacific 5724 on Craig Shuttle

A going away shot of the Craig Shuttle as it heads Westbound on the Craig Branch, just West of the town of Craig heading towards the very remote running alongside the Yampa River and then down to the Axial coal mine to load and return back.
About in the middle of the picture, you can see cars that are stored in Empire siding and also at that location there used to be a spur track that ran to the Empire coal loadout. All of the structures at Empire have been demolished and the land reclaimed so it is now almost impossible to tell that anything ever existed there at all.
The Shuttle runs just between the Ute Power Plant and the Axial Mine and return Monday thru Friday and fortunately it is now a daylight run with the crew on duty at 7 AM where as it was a night run for years and nearly impossible to shoot.
The train is currently running with only 54 cars but will expand to 105 cars next month.
It runs in a 2x1 fashion Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 1x2 Tuesday and Thursday.
I will try my best to explain why.
The crew shows up at the Ute Power Plant and then has to do a nearly 6 mile shove down to the mainline/Craig Branch at Ute Jct. where they have to shove past the switch and then reverse directions to head West. The Axial Mine is on a loop so after the train is loaded and shows up Eastbound back at Craig, the train has to pull past the switch at Ute Jct. and then shove the 6 miles back up into the plant to spot the train. So on Monday, the train backs out of the plant with the single engine on the rear, after changing directions at Ute Jct. the 2 engines now lead West to the Mine, go around the loop and when it returns to Ute Jct. it heads past the switch and then shoves the train back into the power plant with the single engine on the West end. The next day, the crew will get on the single engine end, shove down to the mainline, change directions and the single engine will lead down to the mine and return and the whole process begins again with the train shoving back into the power plant.
Probably clear as mud:}
With the Power Plant scheduled to close and the Coal Mine as well, I hope to shoot this short time operation more in the near future!

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Taken on: April 10, 2024
Groups appears in:   • Quality and Exceptional Railway Photographs    • Moffat Tunnel Subdivision    more » • Beautiful Colorado Railroad Photography    « less
Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi, f/9.0, 1/1000 sec, 47mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Aperture: f/9.0
Exposure Time: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length: 47mm
ISO: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Action (High speed)
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
Software: Adobe Photoshop 23.5 (Windows)
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Union Pacific 5724 on Craig Shuttle

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