Burlington Northern Coal Train 12CK231 OWY 9092 9023 9073 9055 9086 9078 9032 9005 9093 9003 West End of Tonville Siding at Lochbuie Colorado

            Ten Oakways, yes ten of them…OWY 9092 followed by the 9023, 9073, 9055, 9086, 9078, 9032, 9005, 9093, and 9003 lead eastbound Burlington Northern empty coal train 12CK231 passing the Lochbuie Colorado overpass near the west switch of Tonville Siding on a perfect June 23, 1988 morning.

At the time, I was living in Denver and working a night shift. I worked from 7:00 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. and usually left the place exhausted after being up all night. But most mornings after work, (when the weather was good) I would swing by BN’s 31st Street Yard and Rio Grande’s North Yard on my way home just to see if anything interesting was getting ready to depart. I always carried my cameras in the trunk of my car “just in case”.

Well… one morning, probably half asleep, I spotted an eastbound coal empty in the BN yard with a long line of matching power and tired or not, I knew I was not heading home just yet. As I recall, I didn’t have to wait too long before I saw the train starting to move. Okay, so where to go to shoot it? I knew that empty coal trains on BN’s Brush Sub picked up speed pretty fast once out of yard limits. I jumped on the Interstate and motored towards I-76 that pretty much paralleled the railroad heading northeast out of Denver.

Along the way I made the decision to head for the Lochbuie exit near the west siding switch of Tonville Siding. I had photographed many trains there before and knew I would have a clear view to the west, I’d be able to see the eastbound signal and a had a wide shoulder along the road where I could park and keep an eye out for an approaching headlight. Not long after I arrived the eastbound signal at the west end of Tonville Siding flashed to green. That’s a good sign I thought.

But still no headlight in sight so I sat and waited. Now I must mention that this was not the first time I had been out early in the morning trying to take more photos after a long night without sleep. And on a couple of prior occasions, while sitting in the car waiting, I had dozed off and sat there sleeping until awakened by the roar of the approaching train. Once, when a train was not traveling too fast, I was able to get out in time and get the shot. Another time, up at Crescent, CO on Rio Grande’s Moffat Line I was not so lucky. With little warning, I was awakened to see the lead GP40 flash by before I could even get out of the car. Crap!

This time I was determined to not let the same thing happen. I got out of the car and stood on the overpass looking directly down the tracks. Still no headlight but soon after I did hear a distant horn at a grade crossing west of me. Okay, here we go I thought. It was time to check and see if I had all of the settings correct on my trusty Nikon FM-2. 

Was my film advanced? Yes, it was. Check. Next I looked to see what frame my film was on. It’s not on frame 36 or past 36 is it? Many horror stories have been told by those who didn’t look to see if they were at the end of their roll of Kodachrome and when pressing the shutter button, nothing happened. But I was not at the end of the roll. Check. Were my aperture and shutter speed settings correct? Check. Lens in focus? Check.

By now a headlight had appeared in the distance and I was ready. The train with seemingly a wall of blue & white locomotives leading was closing on me quickly and when it filled the viewfinder…click…I got him! In a flash the wall of locomotives and empty coal hoppers rushed past me and were gone. I stood and watched them disappear in the distance. Yes, I could have chased him farther east but I had at least a thirty minute drive home, I needed sleep and by the time I arrived there I’d have barely eight hours left until I had to be heading back to my job for another long night.

Mission accomplished I thought. Ten Oakways leading, can’t beat that. It was a fun morning and I’d gotten my shot. Hope you all enjoy the image as much as I did creating it.

Taken on: June 23, 1988

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Burlington Northern

Burlington Northern Railroad

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Oakway

Oakway SD60

EMD

EMD SD60

Electro-Motive SD60

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Burlington Northern Brush Subdivision

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Burlington Northern Tonville Colorado

BN Tonville Colorado

Tonville Colorado Siding

Lochbuie Colorado

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Sets appears in: • Burlington Northern / Colorado

Groups appears in: • EMD Demo's

Camera: Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 9000 ED (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 9000 ED
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.0 Windows
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