Old Rio Grande triple hoppers still line the inside of Big 10 Curve west of Rocky, Colorado, as seen on June 9, 2014. Twenty-four of these hoppers are filled with dirt and rocks and are welded to a disconnected track, and serve as a windbreak at the edge of the exposed mesa that the famous curve encircles. It was installed here circa 1972 to prevent cars from getting blown off the tracks due to the extremely high winds that occasionally barrel off the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. More than once, a derailment was caused by such phenomena, especially involving empty trailers on flatcars in Rio Grande days. Union Pacific still issues slow orders for trains on high wind days. The trees and bushes that share space with the hoppers today, have all sprouted and grown—because of the windbreak!
