Photo ID: 103813 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 1447 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF Train in a pipe!? Yep! Up in the Powder River Basin, there are a couple of spots where, instead of spending the money to build a bridge for a road over the track, a pipe has been built around the tracks and then buried in a fill for the road. Such is the case here as an ES44AC peaks out the west "portal" of the pipe tunnel. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103812 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 1481 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF This BNSF coal train just loaded at the South Black Thunder mine. It is now headed down the lead to the mine toward the junction with the PRB. The sun is getting pretty low in the western sky! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103811 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 42.6 (Reno Jct) Campbell County, WY 1495 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific Having just loaded at the Black Thunder West loadout (just off the shot to the left), the loose coal dust on top of the bathtub gondolas is blowing off as the train picks up some speed at Reno Junction. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103810 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 39.6 (Thunder Jct West) Campbell County, WY 1458 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific After loading at the new Black Thunder West Mine, this eastbound (geographic southbound) UP coal load has entered Main 3 at Thunder Junction West. Note that there are clear signals on Mains 1 and 2 in preparation of some westbounds (geographic northbounds) that are further down the line. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103809 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 42.6 (Reno Jct) Campbell County, WY 1481 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific At Reno Junction, this empty has a clear signal to continue on the lead for the five miles out to the Black Thunder Mine. I could spend an entire day just at Reno Junction watching the trains passing by. Black Thunder is definitely one of the major mines along the line. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103808 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 44 Campbell County, WY 1427 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific Some good looking power leads up this westbound (geographic northbound) coal on the Black Thunder Mine lead. At Reno Junction, the train will curve east and run the five miles out to the mine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103807 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 31 Campbell County, WY 1434 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF Unfortunately, BNSF had this single ES44AC DPU facing the wrong way on the tail end of this coal load on Main 2. However, the S-Curve looked too good to not take advantage of and shoot! Some of the mining for Coal Creek Mine is visible in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103799 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Mine Campbell County, WY 1751 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific, BNSF Now that is a dump truck! Imagine what it must be liek to sit behind the wheel of a vehicle that is roughly the size of most houses! This is how the coal reaches the tipple to be loaded onto trains. These dump trucks came by every minute or so, just hauling back and forth. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103798 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Mine Campbell County, WY 1505 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF, Union Pacific How do you get coal from the ground to the tipple? Some mines will use conveyor belts, but even that doesn't always get you there. How about a dump truck that requires a ladder to climb in to? At Coal Creek Mine, a truck filled with coal heads from the mine to the tipple. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103797 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 42.6 (Reno Jct) Campbell County, WY 1812 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF An early-production ES44AC (in Heritage 2 paint) leads an eastbound (geographic southbound) through Reno Junction on Main 1. The relatively new Black Thunder West tipple is in operation loading a train in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103796 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 42.6 (Reno Jct) Campbell County, WY 1547 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF There are three main tracks at Reno Junction (the entrance to Black Thunder Mine and Black Thunder East Mine) and this BNSF empty is on Main 1. In the Powder River Basin, you can see BNSF loads meeting loads or empties meeting empties because BNSF can access the basin from the north or the south. Thus, you may have a empty enter the basin from the south heading for a mine at the north end meet an empty the entered the basin from the north heading for a mine at the south end. UP, on the other hand, can only access the basin from the south. So westbound (geographic northbound) UP trains are always empty and eastbound (geographic southbound) UP trains are always loaded. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103795 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder West Campbell County, WY 1519 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific Now that is one very large building! This is the loadout for the relatively new Black Thunder West mine. When I was last in the Powder River Basin in 2008, this facility was not yet complete. However, it is complete now as a UP empty loads at the tipple. A BNSF train (which has already loaded) sits on an outbound track in the distance, awaiting a crew. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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