With Denver’s skyline and the front range of the Rockies in the background, DD35A 79 is accelerating at East 88th Avenue on April 16, 1966, on its way to Wyoming and points west. The train, Kansas City-Los Angeles KCLAX, is still something of an experiment by UP, an attempt to avoid the congestion of the mainline through Nebraska by taking the hill-and-dale Kansas Pacific to Denver before swinging north. Results are mixed. A labor-intensive effort to fuel, service and re-crew the train at a siding just north of Denver will eventually cancel whatever time is gained by the new routing.
