After visiting the eastern portal of the Moffatt Tunnel back in July 2020, upon my next visit to Colorado I made plans to visit the western portal which just happens to be located at the site of the Winter Park Resort rail station, western terminus of the famed Denver Ski Train, where some luck and timing allowed me to catch the westbound run of Amtrak's California Zephyr. Later that weekend I had some extra time to visit the new Denver RTD commuter rail stations at 41st-Fox and Denver International Airport. These and other Denver related photos can be seen upon visiting the entire gallery located here ( mirror ).
The Winter Park Resort station has served as the terminus of the Denver Ski Train since the days of the Denver, Rio Grande and Western Railroad. After issues with insurance and the Great Recession caused an extended hiatus between 2008 and 2014, the Ski train officially returned as an annual Amtrak sponsored event in 2017. Demand was such that a fresh platform was constructed at the Winter Park Resort terminus to better support the ridership. Fun fact, this is the highest point on the Amtrak network at 9300 feet.
The reason for the Ski Train's popularity is the proximity to the ski lifts at the Winter Park resort and the limited highway capacity dictated by the mountainous terrain. If the Berthoud Pass or I-70 are blocked or congested the only alternate routes in the winter are a 190 trip via South Park or a whopping 260 mile detour via Fort Collins.
As a plus, the station platform is located directly adjacent to the western portal of the Stephen Moffatt Tunnel. While not as involved as the eastern portal with its crazy fan plant, it is still treated with the same marquee label and dates. At 6.2 miles in length it is not the longest tunnel in North America, but it is pretty important cutting many miles off the previous Tennessee Pass route and delivering water to the City of Denver.
The western portal area is equipped with anti-intruder sensors and a repeater signal for the East End of the Winter Park siding.
The approaching Amtrak Train 5 could be heard from quite a distance back in the tunnel and took a white to emerge despite the 40mph track speed.
The Covid shortened consist was powered by Amtrak P42DC's #69, #133 and surprise 3rd engine #62.
I had some people with me who were able to also capture video from two angles.
For all your Bell System fans, the Winter Park area featured a few artifacts in that regard.
I did pay a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park, however it presented somewhat of a lackluster experience due to the pass roads being closed for winter and a good portion of the park being actively on fire.
Wildlife encounters included Mule Deer and Magpies.
The Denver RTD 41st & Fox commuter rail station sits between the happening neighborhood of Sunnyside (no, the other one) and an industrial area between the old DRG&W yard and I-25.
The pedestrian walkway over the DRG&W rail yards is so long that it needs a mid-point emergency phone.
The station is adjacent to the Fox Junction interlocking which is still equipped with DRG&W searchlight signals.
RTD B Line trains to Westminster and G Line trains to Wheat Ridge both use the station. Most trains consist of a single Silverliner V married pair witha combined frequency of 2-4 TPH at 41st & Fox. Here SL-V #4023 has departed the station on a northbound run as seen from the long pedestrian overpass to Sunnyside.
Trains have a habit of passing at 41st & Fox as seen with the #4025/4026 and #4021/4022 trainsets.
The station at Denver International Airport is the terminus of the RTD A Line and sees a minimum 15 minute headway for most of the day to conveniently connect passengers arriving at DIA with the city centre. Due to the land requirements needed to replace the highly constrained Stapleton, the new airport was constructed 20 miles out in the prairie resulting in about half the A line consisting of a brand new right of way. Although the current station at DIA is a single platform with two tracks, the terminal area is expandable to at least 4 tracks and two platforms.
The A line was running 4-car SL-V trains with the sets laying over next to each other at the DIA terminal. I caught #4017 and #4039 at the southern end of the platform.
Unfortunately the DIA terminal has a major capacity constraint in the form of an extremely long distance between the platform end and the terminal interlocking resulting in protracted departure and arrival times for any train needing to cross over.
SL-V #4036 from the northern end of the DIA terminal platform.
That's all for now. Tune in next time as I go back to Reading Country and the small town of Birdsboro.
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