Photo ID: 114304 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crossover 110.6 to Crossover 95.5 Converse County, WY 32 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific The last shot I would take on the Orin Sub on this particular trip to the Powder River Basin. A westbound (geographic northbound) empty that is headed for the mines on Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114303 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crossover 110.6 to Crossover 95.5 Converse County, WY 35 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific This westbound UP coal empty had been running on Main 1, but it had to briefly stop at Crossover 110.6, visible in the distance. It met an eastbound load, and the Orin Sub dispatcher crossed it over from Main 1 to Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114302 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crossover 110.6 to Crossover 95.5 Converse County, WY 33 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) UCEX I do not typically take a lot of pictures of cars, but these UCEX cars, with the yellow stripe, were kind of interesting and i thought one was worth a shot. They are hoppers, but they also have a rotary coupler, so they can be unloaded via rotation or just through the dump at the bottom. They are owned by Union Electric Company and are likely headed for a power plant in Missouri. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114301 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crossover 110.6 to Crossover 95.5 Converse County, WY 35 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific A track regulator sits in a house track off of Main 3 as UP 6254 leads a coal load east on Main 2. The train is about to pass under Flat Top Road, just about 15 miles from the south end of the sub. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114300 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crossover 110.6 to Crossover 95.5 Converse County, WY 33 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific While Logan Hill is the steepest part of the Orin Sub (1% ruling grade), there are some other hills that coal trains do have to conquer. After making it over one such hill, this eastbound UP coal load is starting to pick up some speed. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114299 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crossover 95.5 Converse County, WY 33 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific Just south of Crossover 95.5, this eastbound UP coal load crosses over Highland Loop Road on Main 2 under partly cloudy skies. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114298 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Crossover 95.5 Converse County, WY 29 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific BNSF's Orin Sub dispatcher, located in Fort Worth, TX, crossed over from Main 1 to Main 2 at Crossover 91.0. It is now passing through Crossover 95.5 on it way east (geographically south) out of the Powder River Basin. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114293 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Bill Converse County, WY 28 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific Under partly cloudy skies, a loaded eastbound coal train is rolling along on Main 1 on the west edge of Bill. The train will not need a crew change at Bill, and will continue the remaining 40-ish miles out of the Orin Sub. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114292 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Bill Converse County, WY 28 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific Here at the crossover at West Bill, an eastbound UP coal load is passing through on Main 1. It is here at West Bill that Main 4 starts for the 20 mile trip over Logan Hill. You can see hoppers tied down on Main 4 in the distance, in storage. The fourth track (left side, in the foreground) is the lead to the UP holding yard at Bill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114291 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Bill to Crossover 74.0 Converse County, WY 36 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific UP 6254 passes underneath WY-59 on its way east (geographically south) on Main 1. The crew on this train was at the Travelodge in Bill, WY last night. Today, they were taken to the mine and got on this train. As a result, the train will pass right by Bill and continue out of the Basin. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114290 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Bill to Crossover 74.0 Converse County, WY 29 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific As an eastbound UP coal load approaches on Main 1, descending from Logan Hill, let's talk a bit about coal production in the Powder River Basin. UP and BNSF invested $100 million between 2006 and 2008 to add a fourth main track over Logan Hill. 2008 holds the record for high point of coal production, with roughly 496 million short tons of coal taken out of the basin. That translated to somewhere around 100 trains per 24 hours. With the reduction in demand for coal, output has steadily been decreasing. In 2024, roughly 191 million short tons were taken out. That comes out to about 36 trains per 24 hours. It is no wonder that Main 4 is now being used for storage of cars! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114289 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Antelope Mine Converse County, WY 32 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF From around 1996 until 2005 or so, BNSF's SD70MACs reigned on coal train. Over the next decade, as ES44ACs and SD70ACes started to come on the scene, the SD70MAC presence started decreasing. Today, SD70MACs have almost completely disappeared. Most are in long term storage, and many have met the torch and been scrapped. Over the course of the two days I spent in the Powder River Basin, BNSF 8908 here was the only SD70MAC that I saw. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114288 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 28 (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 27 (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 33 (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.

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