Photo ID: 108117 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Donkey Creek Jct Gillette, WY 668 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF This BNSF rail train, while on Main 1 of the Orin Sub at the north end of the Powder River Basin, looks to be heading south in to the basin, it actually is not. It was working on the BNSF Black Hills Sub to the west. It is now going to park in Donkey Creek Yard to the east, but is first being wyed (turned around) to face west. You can see the train has an approach signal in the distance. Soon, it will back off the Orin Sub and in to a yard track in the yard. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108116 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Donkey Creek Jct Gillette, WY 678 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF At the far west (geographic north) end of the Powder River Basin, we find a rail train on Main 1. You are only going to find BNSF trains on this part of the Orin Sub as UP's ownership stops about 14 miles to the south at Caballo Jct, location of the northern most mine. The north end of Powder River connects in to BNSF's Black Hills Sub. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108109 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Logan Hill Converse County, WY 638 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific, BNSF A UP coal load in the foreground is just coming over the top of Logan Hill as a BNSF coal load, with one more DPU, picks up a little speed heading down the other side of the hill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108108 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Logan Hill Converse County, WY 655 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific About five miles to the west (geographic north), this BNSF coal load on Main 3 started to overtake the UP coal load on Main 1. Now that about half of the BNSF train has crested the top of Logan Hill, it is starting to pick up even more speed, really leaving the UP train behind. You can see the DPUs on the BNSF load pass the head end of the UP load in the associated video! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108107 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Logan Hill Converse County, WY 619 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF Approaching the top of Logan Hill on Main 3, this BNSF coal load is passing by empty cars that are being stored on Main 4. In the distance, a UP coal load is also taking on the hill on Main 1, working hard to reach the summit. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108106 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Logan Hill Converse County, WY 622 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF, Union Pacific The race is on! Well, not literally. These load coal trains are both heading eastbound (geographically south) up Logan Hill. The BNSF train has four engines (2x2) whereas the UP train only has three engines (2x1), allowing the BNSF train to go a bit faster up the hill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108105 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 60 Campbell County, CO 633 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF This eastbound (geographically southbound) BNSF coal train on Main 3 is just five minutes behind a loaded UP coal train on Main 1. The trains are "racing" east over Logan Hill on their respective ways south out of the Powder River Basin. The dispatcher has informed both trains that they are the only trains heading up Logan Hill on their respective tracks, so they should not have to worry about slowing or coming to a stop on the grade. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108104 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 60 Campbell County, CO 633 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific A somewhat faded ES44AC and an SD70ACe lead an eastbound coal load around a curve at MP 60 on Main 1. The signal bridge is the background is the western end of Main 4. From this point heading east (geographically south), the Orin Sub has four main tracks for the roughly 20 mile journey to Bill. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108103 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 59.4 Campbell County, CO 651 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific A UP empty with a pair of SD70ACes on the point makes its way west on Main 2 at the Antelope Road grade crossing. It seems that SD70ACes have been more common on both BNSF and UP lately, at least on coal trains. The seem to have accounted for about 50% of the power during the two days spent in the Powder River Basin. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108102 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 672 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific Having just received a fresh crew, this UP load is on the Black Thunder Mine Lead, but will cross over to Main 1 just ahead for the trip eastbound (geographically south) out of the Powder River Basin. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108101 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 639 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF, Union Pacific The infrastructure required to keep trains running in the Powder River Basin is impressive to say the least! In this shot, you can clearly see three sets of signals, four tracks all with concrete ties and welded rail, six turnouts, and 12 propane tanks to fuel the switch heaters for the six turnouts in the brutal winters. At the moment, the signal on the Black Thunder Lead shows a diverging clear for a load coming out of the mine, and a clear signal on Main 3 indicates another eastbound is heading this way too. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108100 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 768 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF The West Black Thunder loadout was built a little over ten years ago, and the sheer scale of the loadout is very impressive. A conveyor belt system bring coal from the actual mine, several miles to the east. The conveyor belt rises up and over the triple track main and into the massive concrete tipple. In this shot, a train loads underneath said tipple, while two SD70ACes bring up the tail end of a westbound empty on Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108099 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 706 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF From a slightly elevated perspective, you can see quite a ways south down the Powder River Basin at Reno Jct as a westbound (geographically north) BNSF empty glides through Reno Jct on Main 2. On a rather interesting side note, I happened to shoot this exact same coal train (same power, same cars) a week earlier on the Joint Line in Colorado. At that point, it was loaded and heading south. Over the course of the previously week, it was emptied and returned north. This is that same train returning to the mines to load for another trip south! Here is a picture of it a week earlier. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108098 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 728 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF Although there is only one train in this shot, the picture still helps demonstrate how busy the Orin Sub in the Powder River Basin is. This westbound (geographically northbound) empty is crossing over from Main 3 to Main 2 at Reno Jct. This is because a BNSF load will be heading eastbound on Main 3 before long. Meanwhile, a UP load getting a fresh crew will come out on Main 1 from Black Thunder Mine shortly to head eastbound as well. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108097 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 648 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A pair of BNSF DPUs push this load eastbound (geographically south) on Main 1 underneath one of the main signal bridges located here at Reno Jct. This particular signal bridge has a single signal on it for westbounds on Main 1. There is a turnout just behind these DPUs where the a track breaks away from Main 1 and heads toward the Black Thunder and Black Thunder East loadouts. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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