California Zephyr chase - Rollinsville to Moffat Tunnel
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- Опубликовано: 10 дек 2014
- Dash cam chase of Amtrak's California Zephyr #5 from Rollinsville, CO., through Tolland and finishing at the Moffat Tunnel. I forgot to clean the window before making this trip, so there are a few annoying spots visible throughout the video. If you can get past that, you may find this video somewhat enjoyable. :-) There is one small edit in the video where my camera stopped recording but only a few seconds were lost.
GoPro 4 Silver using a Polar Pro polarizer filter to reduce interior dashboard reflection.
Fun video. My wife and I have lived in Rollinsville since the 80's, and the road to the Moffat Tunnel is a favorite quick afternoon drive. It's always special when we connect with the Zephyr and wave at the passengers. We consider the Moffat road our backyard, and I can't imagine a finer place to live.
Thanks for the comment, Jeff. I'm definitely a little envious of your "backyard"! 🙂
Wonderful video. Mid-1970s, during my carefree youthful bachelorhood while off-and-on getting a college indoctrination at CU-Boulder, I lived in a 1-room "cabin" literally beside the RR tracks just west of Rville. Best and happiest place I ever lived in my life, that year and a half. Trains roaring by, 100 feet away, their whistles blaring going through town. More than once I hopped a summertime freight and rode it all the way to Grand Junction, and back. Alas, your video shows me my bachelor cabin is no more, now a setting for a big ugly commercial garage.
Thanks for sharing! I would have loved to have lived up there, too. Sadly, I doubt I'll ever make up there again in my life, but I have this video to watch to remind of the few times I got to experience it.
This is one of the best videos I have ever seen, professional or amateur. Seeing the looming peaks of the Continental Divide gradually appear as the train is chased westerly toward the Moffat Tunnel is exciting for anyone who has been in that region of Colorado. This is a particularly breathtaking part of Colorado, never forgotten by those who have been fortunate enough to spend some time there. I revisit this video every six to twelve months and always find it a great treat. Thanks.
Nice touch with the Midnight Express theme 🤘
The best Moffat Tunnel video I have seen so far. All my friends are exited too. I hope next time you will win! ;-)
It would be my guess that only someone intimately familiar with this dirt road would drive it at the speed required to pace this Amtrak train. I love this video because it well depicts the westerly climb toward the peaks of the Continental Divide from the east side of the Front Range. I well recall in 1974 passing through the then unincorporated village of Hideaway Park, later incorporated as Winter Park. Spectacularly beautiful country. Winter Park lies on the other side of the Divide at the west end of the Moffat Tunnel through which the Amtrak train enters its East Portal at the end of this video. The tunnel actually passes under the Great Continental Divide, one of the incredible geological wonders of North America. This wonderful video is also interesting because it was shot on a day of persistent high cloudiness, a condition not commonly found in this region of Colorado. All things said, I really think this is a great video. It took patience and planning to shoot. Thanks for posting this.
Excellent! Run County 16 (East Portal Road/Tolland Road) a couple of time up to the tunnel and then up Rollins Pass. Nice drive.
One of my favorite videos on youtube .Must have watched this couple dozen times.Love this.You need to redo this in another season to see the differences. Thanks for video/
Good to hear, R618! I wish I could make another video of this chase in a different season, but I doubt I'll ever be up there again to do it.
What a great idea. Incredible. Thanks.
Wow. I am exhausted. It's obvious you have driven that road before. Great video !
Yes, a few times before that day (including the day before to photograph a few other trains).
I can't wait to chase this route. Thank you
Good luck! It's quite enjoyable.
This *is* train-chasing music! I can almost smell the reek of the train… those P42s pulling hard, the trace of (glorious) soot…
I enjoyed seeing your video. I worked for the D&RG RR starting in 1970. Worked every mile of the mainline between Denver and Salt Lake City at one time or another on a 5 man Signal gang.
In about the winter of 1971 we were working the signals approaching the tunnel and up to and inside the tunnel. One evening at quitting time we were leaving the tunnel and going back to the gang sleeper cars there was a blizzard that was so bad we couldnt see the road to drive..it was a total white out so we took turns walking a few feet in front of the gang truck to guide the driver out. And Ill tell ya its a long damn walk in a white out blizzard to Rollinsville. It got dark on us not long after we left the tunnel too so that added to the drama! Haha
Take care. Loved your video..not much has changed up there.
Wow, that's quite a story! I can only imagine how intense that snow was. Thanks for sharing, RB!
Cool. It's as though the PC racing sim "Richard Burn's Rally" meets the old D&RGW, and it'd be hard to go much faster westbound even if you know the road well. A jawbone shaking ride it would be, too, over the seven+mile washboard road surface. As have others here, I've spent many a day on this road (twice over the top too, before Needle's Eye Tunnel collapsed) during the last forty-six years.
I have late sixties super 8 footage of the CZ exiting the tunnel eastbound. Old memories. Thanks for putting it up.
Thanks for the comment, KC. The road wasn't too bad that day, as you can see many of the bumps were "filled in" with ice and snow. 🙂 I had already driven up there once the day before with my rental, so I had a good awareness of where the slippery sections were (plus, I grew up in Michigan driving on snowy roads for over 40 years).
Very Cool video i grew up on the train been through there many many times its good to see the area from another vantage point !
Excellent video! Driving's not bad either.
Well done!
I'll be going through there in less than 3 months on the CZ!!
I hope you enjoyed the ride!
My dad and I did this back in the 1970s (probably 1973). Prob my brother was along for the ride. All was well till towards the end till we hit a bump, and the hood flew open. My dad was that kinda guy…
Amazing how the curves slow you down and the train pulls ahead on the straight tracks. You still managed to keep up. Quite the challenge…
As you can see in the video a couple of times, I was greatly exceeding the speed limit to keep up! 🙂 I think the first sign we see is for 35mph, and then there is a reduced speed sign that eventually has traffic down to 25mph. No way I was going to keep up with the train by obeying those speed limits. Fortunately that day there were no vehicles on the road to slow me down (other than that truck in Rollinsville. I think I yelled out a good "F**K!" when he was turning down the same road. haha).
She is an absolute beauty.❤👋😉😀💚💛💜
Kewl stuff!!!!
Cool video!
Looooove your video.
Nice, when I was there you crossed the tracks right in front of the tunnel to access the hiking trails in the forest...
The trail access is now to the right of the tunnel off of railroad property.
that was kewl
Why did you slow down at the bridge outside Tolland? You had a shot to get to the tunnel before the train!! I haven't been on that road in a good 20 years. In much better condition compared to 20-25 years ago. My Dad and I would go 70 MPH down that road in a big O'l Caddy to catch a train at the tunnel.
I slowed down so I could get the train going over the bridge. I didn't actually mind the way my timing worked out after that, especially at the next crossing after the bridge. Yeah, I COULD have driven a little faster between that crossing and the tunnel, but I didn't want to push it much in case there was traffic or any pedestrians along that stretch (as you can see, the parking lot by the tunnel was quite full with hikers).
Just glimpes of her.
At first, i was like, "Aww, man! I wanted to see someone drive through this tunnel!" And then i looked closer with my blind eyes and realized where that train went.
Yeah, yeah, that's not for cars. My bad.
Jealous! I love to do this kind of thing.
I've been through the the tunnel on the train.
Video is great, but losing the soundtrack would improve!
Just mute your speakers. ;-) The song is called "The Chase," hence it being used for my chase of this train. 🙂
Thanks, Rob. Feel free to share! :-)
That last crossing will get you every time when chasing a train. IT comes to a point where you go do I continue pacing or do I just get ahead of the thing so I can meet it at the tunnel?
I kind of wanted it to work out that way for anyone who might want to see more of the train. I knew there was no way I was going to beat it to the crossing after slowing down before the bridge to catch the train going over. 🙂
You ran the stop sign *LOL*
You're damn right I did! :-P
do u have any video of the train. nice dirt road though
Thanks. I'm an avid dirt road videographer, and the train just happened to be there at the time.
There is a crossing with no gate at approx 10:40-10:50. Looks like a potential disaster.. Put a gate up on that road so we won't have read/hear about a train and car collision because there was no gate as the road crossed the tracks. Get on it
Not necessary. A stop sign is just fine for a road with minimal traffic.
Are you the type of guy who makes your kids wear a helmet every time they step outdoors?
I'm 56. Started chasing trains with Dad at age 3. In 53 years there has never been a crossing with a gate there. Just crossbucks. I don't think there been that many car vs train disasters at that crossing either.