Photo ID: 114288 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 15 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific An ET44AC and an SD70ACe bring up the the rear of a Union Pacific coal train that is waiting for its turn to load at the Black Thunder Mine. Union Pacific has 170 ET44ACs on the roster, so it is cool to see one show up every so often. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114287 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 14 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF An overview of the main Black Thunder Mine facility here in the Powder River Basin. You can see the incredible mining effort, and the valleys that have been created, to get to the low sulfur "black diamonds". Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114286 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 16 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A Union Pacific coal empty is waiting for its turn to start loading as a BNSF train (with an MRL SD70ACe in the consist) is in the process of loading. Black Thunder can load a 125-car train in about two hours. With a 30 minute break (give or take) between, the mine could probably load around 10 trains in a 24 hour period. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114285 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 20 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF One BNSF train is making its way around the Black Thunder Mine load out, in the process of loading. A second train is already staged behind, ready to follow the first in and start its own loading process. Trains load in a counter-clockwise movement around the balloon track here. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114284 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 17 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF You can see three different coal trains here at the Black Thunder Mind load out. You can see the massive mine to the right. The load out can completely load a 125 car train in about two hours. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114283 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 19 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF I like this shot as you can clearly see the multiple tracks that lead from the triple track main to the Black Thunder Mine load out. The single track to the right leads to the Black Thunder East Mine load out. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114282 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 13 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF BNSF 6067 has come to a stop on one of the two leads off the triple track mains to Black Thunder Mine. The crew is waiting for a route to pull all the way in. In the background is the Black Thunder West load out, and the conveyor belt that supplies it with coal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114281 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 12 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF Black Thunder Mine is one of the largest load outs in the Powder River Basin, and there are five tracks for staging just off the triple track at Reno Junction. Two empties are waiting to be taken to the mind, and two loads came out and are waiting to be recrewed and depart. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114280 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 15 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF At Reno Junction, BNSF 6067 is leaving the triple track and is headed toward the Black Thunder Mine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114232 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 14 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A loaded BNSF coal train is on one of the tracks that lead to Black Thunder Mine. The train was positioned here by coal mine contractors that operate the trains through the load out. Note the orange cones indicating where the train should be spotted. A BNSF crew will show up to take the train back out onto the main. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114227 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 16 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF Thunder Basin Coal Company, a subsidiary of Arch Coal, operates the four Black Thunder mines in the Powder River Basin. South Black Thunder Mine is probably the mine that loads the fewest train (out of the four). There is only one long track that runs 9.8 miles around the load out balloon track. Here, UP 9578 has completed loading and is waiting for a crew. An inbound BNSF empty waits to head to the load out in the distance. South Black Thunder loads a little slower than other mines, taking roughly 3.5 hours to fully load a train. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103815 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 2149 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF About a half mile away from the tracks at Crossover 49.2 there stands a "distant" signal (note the "D" plate). The lead to the South Black Thunder Mine is unsignaled, which is exactly why this distant signal exists. Distant signals are used to inform train crews in unsignaled territory that they are approaching a signal. While the signal does not give in occupancy information (it will remain yellow after the train passes), the yellow signals tells the crew they have a red at the entrance to the Main. If the crew had a more favorable signal at the main, the distant signal would have been more favorable as well. Distant signals do not typically display a red as they do not grant authority for a movement. They are for information purposes only. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103814 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 1682 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF The lead to the South Black Thunder Mine crosses through a pipe tunnel so the tracks can pass underneath Mackey Road. Here, a BNSF coal load is headed for the mainline at Crossover 49.2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103813 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 1667 (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 1693 (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.