17-06-22 PHOTOS: Mormon Morning

Today is Two D of my most recent long haul Amtrak trip and I am walking up after a good night's sleep in the Dry State of Utah.  Back in 2014, I my train was running a few hours late so I scored some great sunny photos with a lot of classic DRG&W infrastructure.  Well this year my train was on time and all of the Rio Grande signals had been replaced by Darth Vaders.  I was also a bit sleepy because Caffeine was unavailable for some reason 🙄

Anyway, due to the time of day and other factors this set is pretty brief.  You can find the full set here.

I actually got to the back of the train at about the same point as before.  A Y ended pocket track siding named GILLULY.  While the searchlight signals were gone, each interlocking featured a MoPac style triangular dwarf stack arrangement for the pocket track.  Additional clear signals indicated a train was approaching on Track #2,

The siding was just short of a switchback complex called the Gilluly Loop.  Here you can see a descending coal train about 100 feet above.

Power was provided by AC4400's #6038 and #6829.

On the rear was a long ES44AC,  #7409.

Wow, I didn't know the west had water!

 The KYUNE siding featured another center pocket track.  Here is a closeup of the dwarf signal and Y switch.

The interlocking limits had been moved on to the east side of a short pair of tunnels, replacing what had been automatic repeater signals.

A short time later a second pair of tunnels cut off a bend in the river.

Check out those red banded cliffs!

Entering the town of helper, the train is greeted(?) by a signal bridge for westbound movements.

The Amtrak and Union Pacific stations at Helper.  Yes, the town was a helper base for the DRG&W railroad. 

 A long string of GE and EMD units were sitting in an otherwise empty Helper yard.  Units included brand new ET44AH #2590 followed by ES44AH #2532 and SD70ACe's #8599 and #8901.

Well I said it would be short and it was!  Tune in next week as we set out across the deserts of eastern Utah and western Colorado.