Personal Projects, Photography, and Pointless Pontifications
A Quick Trip to Helper
Helper is, of course, home to the last of the D&RGW locomotives.
DRGW 5371, an SD40T-2, is the only remaining Grande unit that has not
been patched nor painted for UP. A few days before I made my way out
for the D&S’s second annual Winter Photo Special in Durango, CO, I
got word that I should swing through Helper, UT, on the way – 5371 had
escaped patching, and there might be a work extra up from Helper to the
summit on Friday, 17-Feb-2006. It only narrowly escaped a patch in
early February, and any opportunity to see it still running as 5371 was
worth the extra miles out of the way.
So, I left a day early (which conveniently got me across the
mountains before a snowstorm) and stayed Wednesday night in Grand
Junction. Thursday, I planned to take my time working west and spend a
few hours trying to find the old narrow gauge RGW right of way between
Mack and Whitehouse. While I did do that, I also caught up with a
westbound manifest – presumably MNYRO – at Mack. I figured I have very
poor luck catching trains actually running on the Utah desert section of
the Grande, so I should skip the century-gone roadbed and follow it
instead. I cheated a bit – I did drive 6 from Mack westward and got a
general feel of it from the highway, but I didn’t spend a whole lot of
time poking around on the side roads. Arriving at the other end of the
realignment near Cisco, I found UP 4039 and train just coming up out of
the Ruby Canyon stretch. So I continued chasing and photographing it at
a couple spots, particularly near Sagers and Mounds (because they made
the cut for the report). Once it arrived at Helper, I decided to go
check in to the motel instead, as the sun was rapidly sinking in the
sky, and the canyons on this side of the pass would almost certainly be
dark.
Fortunately, the scanner pointed out my stupidity. The manifest was
getting manned helpers to push it over the hill, meaning I was missing
the opportunity to see 5371 (and whatever else was in the set) actually
pushing. I arrived at the north end of Helper just as the train was
leaving. Despite the dark canyons and bright skies, I made a go of it
up the hill and managed a few decent shots of the helpers. The helpers
cut off between Kyune and Colton, returning light. I followed the train
for a few more miles, to just past Colton, and grabbed a few pretty
good frames of the train on its own near the top.
Friday started out with a gaggle of fans who had gotten the same news
I had, and were waiting to see if there would be any work run up the
hill. Turns out, first the crew needed to switch a bunch of cars and
then run over to Price to deliver three tank cars. A few hours later,
back at Helper, they cut 5371 loose and headed up the hill with the work
train. With a gaggle of fans trailing behind on parallel US 6, the
next few hours were spent chasing 5371 up to the top and back. There’s
not much to say about it, but it was a great way to get photos of 5371
on the hill.
Once 5371 was back at Helper, a bit after 1300h, it was time to get
going. I needed to make Montrose yet that night, and then work south
along the old RGS in the morning on the way into Durango, so I took off.
I did get my chance, however, to poke around the old narrow gauge just
beyond Cisco a bit more thoroughly, and I managed to catch a westbound
coal train at Brendel.
What follows is not the most spectacular photography ever, but it very well might be my last look at Rio Grande power in its original paint on home rails.
Thursday, Feb 16, 2006
With harsh backlighting for the shot, the first train of the day is at Mack, CO – a westbound manifest, probably MNYRO (North Yard – Roper). Power is UP 4039, UP 5122, and UP 5063.
Surprisingly enough, I beat the thing to Cisco, UT. I went via old US 6 through the desert, so I figured the manifest would be long gone. As I crossed the east crossing at Cisco, the bells started to ring
The next shot was between Sagers and Thompson, where the line makes a broad, sweeping S curve through the desert.
A bit wider – I couldn’t decide if I liked 3 or 4 better, so they both went in
This is Thompson Springs, UT, where the old Ballard & Thompson used to run about five miles north to a coal mine. The track going right is part of a wye that presumably connected to the branch north.
Another interesting item at Thompson is D&RGW AX-3215, a maintenance of way flat
MNYRO was making good time, and I barely missed a shot at Green River. However, I needed to stop for gas and lunch, and that put me a bit further back. So, when I finally got ahead again, I managed to set up this shot at East Mounds.
Just a detail I’ve never noticed before – this tag on the side of the mainline rail at Mounds seems to give information about a field weld done in Dec-2004
I went on into Price to check into the motel for the night. However, shortly thereafter, some chatter on the scanner alerted me that I should head to Helper. There I found these three manned helpers attached to the rear of MNYRO, getting ready to shove over the hill.
Passing through the north end of Helper, it’s obvious that it’s late in the day, and that much of the canyon above will be dark. Still, the last Grande unit to not be repainted actually being used in helper service? Can’t pass that up.
Passing through a little light in front of the generating station near Castle Gate, UT
And bringing up the rear are our three helpers – DRGW 5371, UP 3741 (ex-MP 4806), and UP 2776 (ex-SP 8700, an SP SD40M-2 MK rebuild that started life as CNW 901)
Just a better look at the last unpatched (or unpainted) D&RGW tunnel motor, along with the bridge near Castle Gate that still says Rio Grande, even if it is obscured by a conduit
Light is extremely scarce this time of day at the bottom of the canyon. Here’s the head end again, rounding the bottom of the eastern Castle Gate formation
UP 4039 bursts out into a small pocket of light near Lynn. By the time the helpers arrive, though, the light will have retreated.
The rear end, pushing away just below the Lynn tunnels
Another small pocket of light occurs at the Kyune tunnels, giving us this shot of them disappearing into the portal
Rounding a corner just above the west end of Kyune. The helper set will cut off within the next mile or so and return light to Helper.
MNYRO, now on its own again without the helpers, continues the climb between Kyune and Colton
The last look at the manifest I’ve been following all day – westbound in the last rays of light at Colton
Friday, Feb 17, 2006
Friday morning at Helper dawns with a few clouds and some bitter cold. The local power sits to the west of the enginehouse, awaiting the morning work.
LJP45 (the old Dirt Train job) won’t be going to Sunnyside today, but just needs to dig out three tankers and deliver them to Price
While the local crew works, Amtrak’s eastbound California Zephyr, train 6, shows up about an hour late
With 6 out of the way, the local crew heads out to Price with three loads of calcium chloride. This brine solution is most likely destined to be used either for ice melting on roads or for dust control.
A bit further down the line, at Maxwell
This is where the cars go – on a short stub track to the west of the main in Price
Having pulled three empties and dropped three loads, the power steps back out onto the real siding to head back to Helper
Here’s the real target of the trip, of course – the last D&RGW tunnel motor, 5371, trailing in the consist
Some time later, 5371 and crew depart west from Helper with a work extra. Given a little heads up that this might happen, a good number of fans have come to see this move. Here, 5371 smokes it up as it accelerates out of Utah Railway Junction.
A little different shot from essentially the same location
5371 passes the south side of the eastern Castle Gate. The western half of the Castle Gate was destroyed by the Utah highway department when they built modern US 6.
Here’s the other side of the huge, square rock, with 5371
Somewhere around Lynn, I found this shot through the brush of 5371 making its way up-hill.
And again, as the unit splits a set of old, D&RGW-style hooded signals
While the light isn’t great, I’m not going to get to shoot this too many more times. 5371 emerges from one of the Nolan Tunnels between Lynn and Kyune
5371 looks a bit small amongst all of the scenery on the gooseneck in the tracks above the Nolan Tunnels
You try getting a proper autoexposure setting with direct light and all this white stuff on the ground!
Photo 38
Above the Nolan Tunnel gooseneck, the highway comes back around to follow the line again. Within a mile or so, the T-2 will enter one of the Kyune Tunnels.
At Kyune, we get a good overhead look at the 5371 from the road bridge
Moving on west, along the frozen Price River
Another one of the deck girder bridges, this one between Kyune and Colton. Alas, this one doesn’t have Rio Grande on it.
Out of Colton with lots of cold, reflective stuff on the ground and a nasty backlighting
Just a shot of the unit running between Colton and the summit
The dispatcher runs 5371 to the west end of the summit and crosses it over in preparation for an oncoming IPPX train.
Within a few minutes, the IPPX arrives. 5371 then does a little work at the top and prepares to head back down the hill.
Two of the other fans out that Friday record 5371’s passage at Soldier Summit
A view from high above, as 5371 works along the Price River between Kyune and Colton
Right at the west end of the Kyune plant (and the end of the center siding)
Just above the Kyune Tunnels, 5371 passes along the river with what looks to be an old pipeline bridge in the foreground
Just above Helper, there’s another deck girder bridge with Rio Grande still painted on it
Back in Helper, 5371 is MU’d with the other two units in the local consist and tied down for the day.
Gotta love those tunnel motor cooling sections… Jim Belmont actually noticed you could see the old Grande coal hopper in the distance through the grill.
On my way back across the desert, I encountered this coal train at Brendel, lead by UP 6747
All photographs in this trip report were taken with a Canon EOS 20D using either a Canon 28-105mm USM or a Canon 75-300mm f4-5.3 IS/USM.
This work is copyright 2022 by Nathan D. Holmes, but all text and images are licensed and reusable under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. Basically you’re welcome to use any of this as long as it’s not for commercial purposes, you credit me as the source, and you share any derivative works under the same license. I’d encourage others to consider similar licenses for their works.
