 PLOT: When the train becomes a runaway it is still 300 miles from  Denver, described as downhill all the way so that it cannot stop  without brakes. Since mountainous terrain does not allow a  continuous steady downgrade, the train would have to descend at  least two or three miles to keep it coasting over that distance,  making the starting point higher than any point in Utah. In fact,  since it would be traveling toward the Continental Divide, it should  be going generally uphill for most of the first 250 miles.