View allAll Photos Tagged phase5
A pretty substantial snow storm has set in along the Front Range. A total of 5-6 inches (12-15 cm) is forecast to fall, with right around 3 inches (7 cm) having fallen so far. The westbound Zephyr is indifferent to the snow, however, as it approaches the Blue Mountain grade crossing, moving along at track speed.
©2024 ColoradoRailfan.com
But oh boy is it late.
Amtrak's Southwest Chief descends Ash Hill, as it enters the outskirts of Ludlow with 13 on the point a fresher yet still dirty 176 trailing. This train caused quite the hold up on the Needles Subdivision running almost thirteen hours late into Barstow, due to a weather hold in New Mexico. With it being grossly out of it's time slot the DS had to jog this train around a fairly dense afternoon group of eastbounds and westbounds. The train crossed over at West Amboy to get around a pair of stack trains and ran up the chute, before crossing back at the top of Ash Hill where one eastbound was waiting with another right behind me.
The California Zephyr is always a scenic and amazing ride. However, the last week of September is one of the absolute best times of year to ride the Zephyr if you can. The train is just east of Granby, heading into Fraser Canyon ahead. Fall colors are at the peak, with the Fraser River lazily twisting around in the terrain.
©2025 ColoradoRailfan.com
The morning Zephyr is actually running a few minutes early as it makes its way around the open hoppers serving as a wind break on Big Ten Curve. These hoppers have been here for over fifty years, and will likely remaining for decades...if not centuries...to come.
Incidentally, the Zephyr departed Denver Union Station on time, but did not have to realign any switches on the way out of town. That allowed them to get out of the city and to the foothills very quickly.
©2024 ColoradoRailfan.com
Dusk approaches.
After seeing out near Ludlow and deciding to follow it back after a so-so morning out on the Needles Subdivision, this painfully late Southwest Chief descends Cajon Pass in the late afternoon. This shot in it of it's self was the clincher, as my initial thought was to nab it near Pine Lodge on Stein's Hill. However heavy traffic on Interstate 15, as well as additional traffic on the Highway 138 made a more timely move down to Blue Cut the safer choice. The shadows were already very long and creeping further onto the tracks, when the gates started their sequence and horn soon followed and with a few moments to spare the Chief appeared in my viewfinder for the second time, in one day.
The Zephyr is running about four hours late on this July day. Three hours were lost in the mid-west due to severe thunderstorms and flood warnings. In Denver, BNSF 4762 was added to the point as AMTK 174 was suffering from some mechanical issues. Here, the very colorful consist is approaching the grade crossing at Blue Mountain Road.
©2024 ColoradoRailfan.com
Just west of Blue Mountain Drive and the hotbox detector at MP 22.6, the westbound Zephyr is having no issues moving along at track speed in the continually-falling snow. Without question, passengers aboard the Zephyr are going to have a better experience on the trip west today compared to folks driving in the high country on I-70!
©2024 ColoradoRailfan.com
A quintet of P42DCs, including Phase 7 AMTK 174 and Phase 1 AMTK 161, are on the point of what looks like an extra long California Zephyr. In fact, the last five cars of the train are the Superliners that were used on the Winter Park Express Ski Train this winter season.
Amtrak's San Antonio-bound Texas Eagle drifts through Chicagoland's winter storm after its stop at Joliet on the UP Joliet Sub. November 2025
A substantially longer (and more colorful) than normal westbound Zephyr climbs up the grade to the east portal of Tunnel 1. Two of the five P42DCs and five of the Superliners (on the end of the train) were picked up in Denver. Equipment used on the Winter Park Express Ski Train in the 2023-2024 winter season. With the season complete, the equipment heads west to Emeryville to be put back in standard service. A fellow railfan sits atop Tunnel 1 in a red shirt, capturing the unique scene.
Amtrak's Southeast Cheif 4 flies past one of the many soybean fields in the Norborne area. A few rows of soybeans had already began to dry out as harvest season was approaching. A gibbons moon in the sky is also visible near the very top of the frame.
...
NS Kansas City District
Egypt Township, Missouri, USA
September 13, 2025
Canon EOS 77D
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
End of summer lake day...
Photo by: ChrisC Photography
Atlanta Area Portrait & Automotive Photographer
End of summer lake day...
Photo by: ChrisC Photography
Atlanta Area Portrait & Automotive Photographer
Seeing the California Zephyr on this morning makes me think of the 1980s when the California Zephyr, Pioneer, and Desert Wind were all combined as a single train between Denver and Salt Lake City! On this morning, however, only the first seven Superliners actually have passengers in them. The five cars at the end are all empty as they were picked up in Denver. These are the Superliners that were used on the Winter Express Ski Train this winter. The season just ended last Sunday.
©2024 ColoradoRailfan.com
End of summer lake day...
Photo by: ChrisC Photography
Atlanta Area Portrait & Automotive Photographer
End of summer lake day...
Photo by: ChrisC Photography
Atlanta Area Portrait & Automotive Photographer
End of summer lake day...
Photo by: ChrisC Photography
Atlanta Area Portrait & Automotive Photographer
The new AMTRAK "Charger" engines, while sleek, have a design flaw which gives the engines serious problems in the cold weather. Namely: they won't even start sometimes! So, enter the B32-8WH engine known as AMTK 517, one of only 20 ever made, and only for AMTRAK. They put it in front of the Charger, and ran it on the Illinois Zephyr tonight. Usually, this engine gets relegated to yard switching duty in Chicago, but tonight, short of power, this was all they had. And so, this once "Pepsi can"-painted engine is now in its Phase 5 paint scheme, and is heading past the grain elevator at Somonauk, IL.
Thanks to Matt Spika for the heads up on this train!
Amtrak's Southwest Cheif rockets toward the decrepit Lexington Road Bridge in downtown Henrietta on a sunny June morning.
...
BNSF Marceline Subdivision
Henrietta, Missouri, USA
June 16, 2025
Canon EOS 60D
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS
The incredibly common sight of two General Electric P42DCs leading the Coast Starlight now begins to meet the future in 2023 as most of the trainsets on the route now seem to have at least one Charger in them. It seems strange to think of a set of P42DCs as endangered, but here we are, with at least a little more time to listen to those chugging FDL engines. Photo taken April 29, 2023 along Lookout Point Lake in Oregon.
PRLX GP38-3s # 2298, 2297, and 2295 are seen on CSX M403 in North Bergen Yard. The classic Amtrak Phase 5 scheme sandwiches the new Phase 7 scheme on 2297, as they head south bound for Amtrak. The red roof and nose from the Phase 7 scheme bears resemblance to a cap, much like the ones Amtrak Red Cap Service employees wear.
Oil on canvas. 18"x24".
Image formerly on Phase5 Publishing. It's derived from a short story I wrote called, "The Observatory Gardens".
Citroën-Forum Voorjaarsmeeting 2018
-----------------------------------------------
B+W Cir-Pol
Tonemapped
The Phase IV P42DC painted for the Amtrak 40th Anniversary stopped in Kansas City tonight on the Chief. This was the first one of the AMTK Heritage Units I've bagged, but it's my favorite by default. Why? The first Amtrak trip I ever took was from Poplar Bluff, MO to San Antonio, TX and back aboard the Texas Eagle, Train #21 and Train #22 on July 2-July 4, 2001, just over 10 years ago, led by AMTK 82, wearing this scheme.
Locomotives: AMTK 184, AMTK 115
7-25-11
Kansas City, MO
You get the idea now, this is phase five and is designed to teach the different ways to stitch cords. Cords are used a lot in Japanese embroidery and in other types of Japanese art so we'll be seeing a lot of these. I just love these colours.
And from top to bottom we have; green, double central, flat silk; orange, imitation wicker, twisted silk; yellow, single central, twisted silk; blue, wicker effect, flat silk; green, single central, flat silk; orange, imitation wicker, flat silk; orange and gold, rain effect, gold foundation, twisted silk; pink, double central, flat silk
My quick range day setup.
Hazard 4 Plan B sling pack.
SKD Tactical Pig Alpha Touch Gloves
Lancer Systems L15T
Aero Precision Inc. Upper
Centurion Arms 11" CMR
Fortis Manufacturing SHIFT Short
Ferfrans Muzzle Brake
Magpul Industries Corp. MBUS PRO
Phase 5 Tactical Hex 2
Sig Sauer SB15
Rainier Arms Raptor
Tactical Link Z360
B5 Systems Grip
Timney Triggers 667
KNS Precision Inc. anti roll pins
Aimpoint, Inc. Micro
Ares Armor Tactical Training NiB BCG
Ares Armor Gavel Ambi Selector
Haley Strategic Partners Thorntail Mount
INFORCE WMLx
IG @truthcanbebought
www.facebook.com/ryansburkettphotography
deviantart.com/truthcanbebought