UP's "West Local" throttles up as it approaches the east end of Barbara's Gulch. Ten years ago, the local served three customers west of Leyden and there were days where four geeps were needed due to the length of the train. These days, there is only a single customer left west of Leyden and a half dozen hoppers (or less) is fairly common. In this shot, the train is passing by the location of one of the former customers (Mesa Oil). Mesa Oil moved to Denver and is now served by the Denver Rock Island. Also worth noting, UP 1359 is no stranger to these rails. It started life as DRGW 3118! When UP removed the MARS light from the nose, they actually contoured the nose rather than just putting a (flat) plate over it.
