Photo ID: 103801 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 0.4 (Donkey Creek Jct) Gillette, WY 1560 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF It doesn't get much better than this! There are clear, blue skies and it is 85 degrees out at Donkey Creek Junction just east of Gillette, WY. Here, this coal load (with a fresh crew) will turn east on the Black Hills Subdivision and head for Crawford Hill in Nebraska and points beyond. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103802 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 0.4 (Donkey Creek Jct) Gillette, WY 1512 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A look at Donkey Creek Junction at the north end of the Powder River Basin. There are crossovers between the three mains here and then two tracks head east toward the Black Hills Sub and one heads west toward the Big Horn Sub. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103803 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 570 Rozet, WY 1518 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Black Hills (BNSF) BNSF Now this is some nice power! A Warbonnet leading an Oakway SD60 on a loaded rail train. I was particularly happy to see the SD60 as, until recently, these units had been idled due to a decrease in power needs on BNSF. In fact, the last time I shot one before this day was in October 2008, nearly three years earlier! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103804 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 586.4 (East Donkey Creek) Gillette, WY 1572 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Black Hills (BNSF) EMD Leasing, BNSF East Donkey Creek is an impressive junction where two tracks from the Orin Sub (Power River Basin) come up from the south and meet with three tracks on the Black Hills Sub. This rail train is proceeding west toward Gillette. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103805 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 581 Rozet, WY 1437 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Black Hills (BNSF) BNSF A westbound coal empty is stopped at Adon Road east of Donkey Creek Yard awaiting for permission from the dispatcher to continue west. A train in the yard had to actually back out onto the main before heading west, and this empty had to wait here for the train to clear up. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103806 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 0.4 (Donkey Creek Jct) Gillette, WY 1532 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF At Donkey Creek Junction, this BNSF southbound is headed around the east leg of the wye toward the Power River Basin. Due to the way the timetable is setup, this train is about to change from a westbound (heading geographically west on the Black Hills Sub) to an eastbound (heading geographically south on the Orin Sub)! 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 1491 (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: 103808 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 44 Campbell County, WY 1488 (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: 103809 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 42.6 (Reno Jct) Campbell County, WY 1542 (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: 103810 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 39.6 (Thunder Jct West) Campbell County, WY 1517 (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: 103811 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 42.6 (Reno Jct) Campbell County, WY 1558 (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: 103812 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 1535 (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: 103813 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 1507 (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: 103814 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 1517 (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: 103815 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 1849 (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.

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