BNSF Front Range Subdivision

The Front Range Subdivision is a mainline that goes from Denver, CO to Cheyenne, WY and beyond.

History
This line was built in the 1900s by the Colorado and Southern. The line was owned Burlington Northern sometime in the 1970s, after BN and Colorado & Southern merged. Today, it is owned by BNSF.

Commodities Hauled

 * Coal
 * Intermodel
 * Mixed Freight
 * Grain

Route Description
The line starts at around Denver's Union Station, and heads north, passing through and around several highways and commuter rail stations. The line splits from the BNSF Golden Subdivision and UP's Moffat Tunnel Subdivision. The line then heads through Westminster and then to Broomfield, at Milepost 14.0. The line then continues through Louisville, and then to Boulder, passed the Valmont Power Plant. The line then makes a curve to start towards Longmont, passed Niwot's Defect Detector. At Longmont is a switch. To the north is the rest of the Front Range Sub. To the east is GWR's Longmont Sub, and to the west is the BNSF Lyons Branch. Passed Longmont is Loveland and Fort Collins, and then eventually Cheyenne. After Cheyenne, the line continues north until Wendover, where the line ends and connects to other lines.

Railroad Crossings
The Front Range Sub has a mixture of modern and older crossing signals. A lot of mechanical bells remain on the line, being mostly Western Cullen Hayes. This line also has many GS type 1's and many type 2's. A couple of Federal Signal and WRRS mechanical bells remain on the line, as well. In Fort Collins, there is a rare Harmon e-bell! Most crossings are gated, with most of the gateless ones being in Fort Collins.

Lines along route

 * BNSF Brush Subdivision
 * BNSF Pikes Peak Subdivision
 * UP Greeley Subdivision
 * UP Moffat Tunnel Subdivision
 * BNSF Golden Subdivision
 * BNSF Lafayette Branch
 * BNSF Lyons Branch
 * GWR Longmont Subdivision
 * UP Fort Collins Subdivision
 * GWR Fort Collins Subdivision
 * BNSF Valley Subdivision
 * BNSF Canyon Subdivision

Scanner Frequencies

 * 160.69500 (Denver Union Station to Utah Jct)
 * 161.16000 (Utah Jct to Wendover WY)

RTD
In the next couple of decades, RTD is planning to extend their B Line all the way to Longmont, using part of the current BNSF Front Range Subdivision right-of-way. When this happens, all of the crossings between Westminster to Longmont will be replaced with quad signals or overpasses.