UP 5368 leads a loaded coal train with two leaders, 3 mid-train DPUs and a pusher through "Big Ten Curve." The Big Ten Curve is a marvel in mountain railroad surveying. Built in 1902 by the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway (later the DRGW and now the UP Moffat Tunnel Sub), the Big Ten is an innovative S-shaped curve that arcs along the base of the foothills where the Great Plains transition to the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. It is named for its sharp, ten-degree radius curvature. |