Wayne, Back in 1994, Les Jarrett and I did a video called "America By Rail-The Heartland". It was a cross-country trip on the Capitol Limited from Washington.DC to Chicago, then the Cal Zephyr to Oakland/SF. Les got a cab ride from Denver to Glenwood springs as part of his ride to the west coast. So when he and I went west in my vehicle for 4 weeks, we did some chasing, and I did some chasing alone while Les rode the train again. I dropped him off at Fraser, then I went to the west portal of the Mof Tnl to get a nice shot there at Winter park. He boarded at Fraser so he could get shots from the inside of the train where he rode the cab previously. So my job was to chase it to Salt Lake City all day, then do tourist lines(Heber and Virginia City), while he continued to the coast and shot a couple operations. We later met at Colfax, CA.
Back then the schedule was such that it was not quite possible to ride Denver to Glenwood Springs and back, unless the eastbound was a bit late. The normal meet spot is east of Glenwood at a siding in the canyon.
You might look at Bond as a potential place to swap trains, but as I recall there is basically no services there. The Craig branch starts here, and it might yield a coal train.
There is some non-paved roads to connect with some paved roads that get you into some nice spots in Gore canyon, like Insperation Point, and so forth. You could chase one day, and keep tabs on the eastbound as you follow the WB through the good territory. Then from say Dotseo you could get the eastbound through the same nice scenery. Starting at Mofatt Tunnel you can get that,something around Fraser, Byer Canyon, Something around Granby, and so forth. My chase ended at Price, UTAH at sunset. The Book Cliffs in Utah are cool and its not that far from Arches National Park which has some neat Sandstone formations.
Another thought would be chase a day as I suggested, then maybe ride Denver to Salt Lake City, where you can take the eastbound the following day. Its some of the best scenery Colorado has to offer for SG railroading.
Anyway check current schedules and such. Here is a preview clip of "Last Streamliners Through the Rockies" which is based on vintage film from 1967, 1970, and 1981, with some extra scenes from 1994 add at the end.
FYI scenes pertinent to this post are as follows: All shots mentioned I shot
:15 sec mark....F-units on WB departing Bond, CO 1981(I shot that train from west of Granby to Glenwood Springs)
:45 second mark WB Zephyr exits Moffat Tunnel at Winter park. This side is probably easier to access, but never really tried the east side.
:50 second mark EB Zephyr with RG unit leading shot west of Bond
:57 Seond mark, another 1994 shot in Gore Canyon with the EB in a downpour at Inspiration Point. Shot there the next day of the WB I chased to Utah(that was a long day of chasing by myself)
Anyway hope this helps. Greg
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2019 08:34PM by Greg Scholl.
