A Rio Grande freight howls through the curves as dynamic brakes hold back the train on the three percent grade of Tennessee Pass at Mitchell, Colorado, on July 20, 1990. SD40T-2 Tunnel Motor No. 5... (more)

Rounding the broad curve leaving Maxwell, Utah, is Union Pacific’s LJP45 “dirt train” on a pretty May 4, 2004. On this day, three Rio Grande “Tunnel Motor” SD40T-2s bracket a yellow SD60... (more)

It really does snow in the desert, as this scene on Union Pacific’s Green River Subdivision in Utah illustrates. A short UP LJP45 local, also known as the “dirt train,” is about to pass over... (more)

Union Pacific’s LJP45 “dirt train” approaches Mounds, Utah, on the Sunnyside Branch on a sunny May 5, 2004. By this date, only five “unpatched” Rio Grande SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors survive o... (more)

Where silence now reigns
At a place today where all you hear is wind off lofty peaks and coyote yelps, was once a place where trains fought grades up a 10,221-foot mountain pass. On Jul... (more)

Minutes after sunrise, SP's Roper to Grand Junction freight emerges from the Jordan Narrows on July 6, 1991.

Rio Grande's lumber drag 126 roars east through Spanish Fork Canyon at the Diamond Fork crossing on May 21, 1989.

On Christmas Eve '87, a tardy Rio Grande train No. 100 ascends a snowy and windy Mapleton Bench just east of Springville.

A Rio Grande tunnel motor leads an eastbound through Newcastle on No. 2 Track.

High country blizzard
During a windy and frigid springtime snowstorm, a Rio Grande coal train approaches the Moffat Tunnel at East Portal, Colorado.

In failing light, after an afternoon storm, 105-car #708 southbound coal enters the single track at Palmer Lake behind 5349, 5389, 5390, 5377 and 5411 in March 1982.

Slowly making its way alongside the 23rd Street overpass, the 105 cars of #708 southbound coal edges its way towards Denver Union Terminal behind 5349 5389 5390 5377 and 5411 in March 1982. The tr... (more)

Paydirt! Unpatched Rio Grande SD40T-2 5349 leads the "Dirt Train" through Carbondale on its way towards Helper.

Rio Grande tunnel motors do a bit of switching at Price.