moffat tunnel trainwatching

[Anonymous]

I'm making a trip to the States inc Colorado in Sept and have planned a couple of days near Denver - what volume of traffic should I expect thru' the moffat, and what are the busiest times of day?

[CopCarSS]

Hi hughjc,

Every time I head up along the Moffat Line, I'm never sure what I'm going to get. I would guess the number of trains around the 20-25 range. I'm not sure what the busiest time of day is. It always seems slow to me, but then again, I grew up along the racetrack in Chicago (Aurora is my hometown).

What I can tell you is that morning light is best on the east side, and that that's where you'll probably want to be if you're there in September, since that's where the Aspen are.

Give me an e-mail when you're out here, and I can show you a couple other spots along the way (Blue Mtn. Rd., and Crescent are two of my fav's, but there's some cool stuff all along the line).

By the way, where are you headed over from?

Chris
Denver, CO

[Anonymous]

THanks Chris - that's useful stuff - I don't want to come all the way from Edinburgh and miss the action!

[schmaltz]

how do you watch a train in a tunnel?

[mudchicken]

Hugh:

You will see no more than a train an hour around the tunnel and most of those are coal trains with the exception of Amthrax and EB-WB BNSF Haulage Trains. Takes 45 minutes to an hour to vent the tunnel. If you are around Denver and you want to see trains with some frequency, go to the choke points at Utah Junction or 20th Street Interlocking around Central Denver....and visit the Colorado RR Museum at Golden [tup][tup][tup]

(ps - Tree, Carl & Mookie - Will he visit Guido Chang's at Winter Park?)

[daveklepper]

You can also drive to Winter Park on the west side of the tunnel where the road is close to the tracks and the scenery great and their are places to pull off and park. This is best in the afternoon, when you can photograph the west tunnel portal. It is quite a drive from Denver, about double the time that looking the roadmap would suggest.