D&RGW CSDU unit coal train - a photo on Flickriver

            Eastbound exiting Moffat Tunnel, CO.

This unit coal train served Colorado Springs' two coal-fired power plants, Drake (downtown) and Nixon (south of Fountain). It loaded on the Moffat branch near Craig, traveling loaded through Steamboat Springs and Bond, thence eastward through the Moffat Tunnel to Denver, and finishing its trip via the Joint Line along the front range. After unloading, it would return empty over the same route, to do it all over again.

 It used Ortner 5-bay steel rapid-discharge hopper cars, with a load capacity of nearly 110 tons each.  Initially it ran as a 73-car train, but this was increased to 105 cars in the 1980s, through purchase of a number of second-hand cars.  Before the equipment was traded off, there were 115 cars total (down from 125), with 10 being kept as spares. 

The cars carried CSUX [Colorado Springs Department of Utilities] reporting marks. Originally, the cars were lettered with a large CSDPU, with a lightning bolt at each end. Around 1986 the "P" was deemed problematic by the legal department.  Cars were touched up to eliminate it. This caused the lettering to be centered better on the car sides.

These cars were replaced with a new set of equipment in April 2000. The new cars lack the distinctive CSDU lightning-stripe lettering; they are plain aluminum 5-bay cars with a green end

Taken in: United States / Colorado / Gilpin (show map)

Taken on: April 22, 1995

Tags:

Scanned slide

Kodachrome 64

CSDU

D&RGW

4-22-1995

Moffat Tunnel CO

Denver and Rio Grande Western « less

Sets appears in: • Denver & Rio Grande Western Rwy • Colorado trains

Groups appears in: • Long Live the D&RGW RR • Coal Drags! more » • Colorado Trains • Western US Rails « less

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