Railfanning Denver

[tsinoms]

Hey all!

Tomorrow, Halloween, I will be landing in beautiful Denver, CO and will be there until Tuesday morning. I have a rental and want to go railfanning out there since last time I only got to do maybe a day or so of checking things out.

I know the Joint Line and Moffat Sub is the bulk of the action but I would love to know about any other things to see out there! I am not big on steam and I know there is a museum not far from there but I am more looking at shortline or mainline action. Also if there's any information on the golden local that would be appreciated.

Any suggestions? Especially would like a place I can sit and catch some trains roll for a few hours.

Thanks in advance!

[Erroneous Monk]

Though you already mentioned it, my vote will always be for the Moffat. While the line sees few trains today, it more than makes up for it in scenery. Specifically if you can find your way to Tolland, you should. Between views of the Continental Divide, Moffat Tunnel, and the beautiful valley vista, I could spend days in a lawn chair just taking in the peaceful serenity. And when a train comes, they put on a good show too. The rest of the line is almost equally impressive with multiple horseshoe curves and steep grades leading down into Denver. At 30 MPH, the chase is easy too. Only downside is the lack of any internet for much of the route. Tolland is completely isolated from the outside world, including sewage

[CSXBOY]

When I visited Denver in 2015 with my family, we did alot of driving south on I 25 as we went to Pikes Peak and Royal Gorge. I remember seeing some tracks and a good amount of trains along the highway. After some research, it was known as the Colorado Joint Line owned by BNSF and Union Pacific. I was only 13 and we were already going to North Platte Nebraska that year. I think the Joint line sees around 30 trains a day. But just like Marias Pass, the MRL, and just about anywhere out west the scenery is top notch and the trains are on their toes it seems like. Lots of coal and some intermodal are seen on that route. Going back to Colorado is high on my list for sure especially the Joint line. If your thing is chasing trains in awesome scenery the Moffat Tunnel Sub would be your best bet. It only sees 6-8 trains a day. You can pay attention to the big ten curve rail cam which is just west of Denver and if you see a westbound chase west! If you wanna really get serious, head north to Cheyenne Wyoming and west to Sherman Hill. About 40-50 UP trains a day and the scenery is just as good.

Hope this helps

[tsinoms]

When I visited Denver in 2015 with my family, we did alot of driving south on I 25 as we went to Pikes Peak and Royal Gorge. I remember seeing some tracks and a good amount of trains along the highway. After some research, it was known as the Colorado Joint Line owned by BNSF and Union Pacific. I was only 13 and we were already going to North Platte Nebraska that year. I think the Joint line sees around 30 trains a day. But just like Marias Pass, the MRL, and just about anywhere out west the scenery is top notch and the trains are on their toes it seems like. Lots of coal and some intermodal are seen on that route. Going back to Colorado is high on my list for sure especially the Joint line. If your thing is chasing trains in awesome scenery the Moffat Tunnel Sub would be your best bet. It only sees 6-8 trains a day. You can pay attention to the big ten curve rail cam which is just west of Denver and if you see a westbound chase west! If you wanna really get serious, head north to Cheyenne Wyoming and west to Sherman Hill. About 40-50 UP trains a day and the scenery is just as good.

Hope this helps

So it's funny you mentioned Cheyenne as I did in fact head up there! I would love to go back sometime when there is more time in the day to railfan. I chose that over touching the Joint Line as the thing i wanted to do south wasn't open on Monday and I had seen snow up in Arvada on the cam.
I also ended up checking out some of the Brush Sub as well and was not disappointed either. Will have to branch out a bit more when I go next time as there was so much to do in such a short time.