Moffitt Tunnel

Folks, I'm going skiing at Winter Park this spring, and I understand Moffitt Tunnel is very close to the slopes. First off, how close can one get to the tunnel, and second, is this UP's main route through the area. I see on my map that they have another parallel line nearby to the south. How many trains run approx on each of these? Thanks!

"they have another parallel line nearby to the south."

You mean the line westward from Pueblo? That's not thru, at the moment at least. By the way, it's Moffat.

Apparently the lighting was bad,when I first looked; I looked again and failed to find the phantom parallel line to the south. I knew the Royal Gorge route was stubbed, but I'm still interested in knowing about access to the tunnel and how mch traffic is on the line (and how much of it is NOT coal) Thanks, Dave

dhaugh wrote:Folks, I'm going skiing at Winter Park this spring, and I understand Moffitt Tunnel is very close to the slopes. First off, how close can one get to the tunnel, and second, is this UP's main route through the area. I see on my map that they have another parallel line nearby to the south. How many trains run approx on each of these? Thanks!

On the old DRGW now Union Pacific Moffet Line between Dotsero and Denver passing thru the Moffit Tunnel. I believe Amtrak's California Zepher travels this line.

Look on the Union Pacific's website under the maps section, the system map shows the current active lines are shown. There are unit coal trains that travel this line.

Union Pacific has closed the Tennessee Pass line (Dotsero to Pueblo) many years ago. That was an active line for the trains, for whatever reason, couldn't travel the Moffett Line.

The joint line is still active. The joint line runs between Denver and Pueblo thru Colorado Springs. BNSF and UP both run trains on this line.

So, basically there's just coal and Amtrak going through Moffat? Didn't Rio Grande run some manifests through Tennessee Pass when that was open, so might those go through Moffat now? I suppose we're talking about no more than a dozen trains a day or so?

dhaugh wrote:So, basically there's just coal and Amtrak going through Moffat? Didn't Rio Grande run some manifests through Tennessee Pass when that was open, so might those go through Moffat now? I suppose we're talking about no more than a dozen trains a day or so?

The coal trains come off a branch line between Craig and Bond. Now that the Tennessee Pass line is close, that traffic now runs the Moffit Line. You may not see to many COFC trains because of the tunnel height. Most of the COFC trains normally run on the southern lines i.e. Beamont Hill out of West Colton, CA on the UP and Raton Pass on the BNSF.

I'm not sure how many trains run the Moffity Line on a per day bases. One place to ask would be at http://www.railroadradio.com. The Joint Line is the closest they have to the Moffit Line. UP and BNSF have mainline traffic running out of Denver, Moffat Line to the west, Joint Line to the south and other lines to the north and east. BNSF also have mainline traffic to the east and south of Pueblo (southern end of the Joint Line).

Dont forget about the Ski Train that makes trips between Denver Union Station and Winter Park Resort! I rode the train last summer and it was a blast! It stops to let people off just past the west porthole of the tunnel and you get a three hour layover so you have plenty of time to take in all the sights of Winter Park and do some hiking and train watching too.

The BNSF train on Moffat is M Denver to Stocken. Plus ZDENSLC uses it once and a while.