#246 EXITS EAST PORTAL OF TENNESSEE PASS
Here is 246 East a Texas Coal Train Exiting Tennessee Pass at the East Portal. 3 AC4400CW'S Lead this 110 car coal train spliced by 4 midtrain AC'S and 2 pushers on the rear end, for a total of 39600 Horsepower. All those horses are needed to make the 3% west side of Tennessee Pass. The 4 Midtrain helpers will be cut off here at East Tennessee Pass and the 2 rear end pushers will be cut off at Kobe. This was a beautiful August Day at 10500 Feet, but the previous night the thermometer had dropped down to 39 Degrees.
#350 EAST NEAR MITCHELL, COLORADO
A heavy Eastbound Coal Train with 8 AC'S led by Southern Pacific #350 in the spring of 1996. I Believe the designation on this train was 1ARSGC. #350 is down to less than 10 miles per hour; just west of Mitchell and they still have 2 miles of 3% Ahead of them before they reach the west portal of Tennessee Pass. This train had 3 ACS on the head end, four midtrain helpers and one rear end pusher. It is April and there is still a lot of snow at over 10000 feet on the pass.
EUGENE LUMBER WAGON AT THE WEST PORTAL OF TENNESSEE PASS
Early on a August morning in 1996 the Eugene to Chicago Lumber train(1EUCHQ) sits at the west portal to Tennessee Pass. This train had spent the previous night in Minturn, as there were not rested crews to take it on to Pueblo. 1EUCHQ Was the second train out of Minturn on a Saturday morning, but now the crew is waiting for the railgang to fix a rail at the east switch of Tennessee Pass. Two SD40-2T's(Tunnel Motors) and a GP60 led this SP Freight along with a Conrail DASH 8-40 GE and a CP Rail SD40-2, of course there were the customary 4 Southern Pacific AC Mid train helpers on this train(this was standard practice on almost every eastbound).
click here to return to the main page
