Photo ID: 105577 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 88 Converse County, WY 1799 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) GE Leasing, BNSF Notice a rather large hump on the radio housing of this last unit? That would be due to the fact that this is an ET44AC. This is GE's Tier 4 emissions compliant unit. They have already started delivery to BNSF as of this picture, but they are still undergoing some testing in coal service. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105576 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 89 Converse County, WY 1711 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) GE Leasing, BNSF A pair of ET44ACs, currently being used for testing on coal trains, pull a empty north (timetable west) in the Powder River Basin. The train is headed for the North Antelope Rochelle Mine where it will be loaded and return south (timetable east). Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105575 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 89 Converse County, WY 2093 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) GE Leasing, BNSF These units on this westbound coal train caught me completely by surprise! These are ET44ACs, GE's new Tier 4 emissions compliant units. I shot them a week earlier coming in to Denver on a Z-Train. I had heard that they were going to be used for testing in coal service. Guess this proves it! Two units pull a coal empty north (timetable west) on Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105574 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 88 Converse County, WY 1961 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF About three miles south of Bill, this eastbound (geographically south) coal load has returned to triple track mainline. It is passing a staging yard and a car repair facility while running on Main 3. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105573 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed South of Bill Converse County, WY 1525 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF In addition to a staging yard for BNSF, there is a car repair facility located a few miles south of Bill, WY in the Powder River Basin. Considering how many coal cars run across the line in a 24 hour period (if you include trips to and from the mine, that number a good estimate is 18,400 cars per 24 hours!), it makes sense to have a facility onsite that can handle repairs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105572 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 88.6 Converse County, WY 1463 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A coal empty headed north (timetable west) enters in to a staging yard located a few miles south of Bill, WY. Here, the empty will wait until the mine it is ultimately headed to is ready to take it. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105571 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 79 Campbell County, WY 1873 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF East meets west! A eastbound coal load (headed geographically south) meets a westbound coal empty (headed geographically north) just north of Bill. The empty has a clear intermediate signal on Main 3 in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105570 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 79 Converse County, WY 1406 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A couple miles north of Bill (timetable west) finds a westbound BNSF coal empty headed for Logan Hill on Main 3. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105569 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Logan Hill (MP 69) Converse County, WY 1956 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF This BNSF coal train was loaded earlier in the day at the Black Thunder Mine East loadout. It is now climbing the west slope (geographically north) of Logan Hill on Main 4. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105568 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Logan Hill (MP 69) Converse County, WY 1544 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific, BNSF A BNSF coal load climbs up Logan Hill on Main 4 as a UP empty descends downgrade on Main 2. This UP coal train will be working extra hard on the return trip to get the loaded coal train over the hill with only three units! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105567 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Logan Hill (MP 69) Converse County, WY 2002 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific, BNSF The line through the Powder River Basin was originally built by Burlington Northern between 1972 and 1979. By 1985, the single track line was handling 19 million tons of coal per year. Chicago Northwest and Union Pacific together bought 50% of the interest in the line. This resulted in both BN and CNW trains accessing the coal mines. In 1994, the single track was resulting in bottlenecks over the line and over the next three years, a second main was added to the entire line. By the year 2000, a third track was added to some of the line to accommodate continuing increases in coal demand. In 2005, the basin handled 325 million tons of coal. The line sees as many as 80 loaded coal trains (meaning 160 total trains) in a 24 hour period! In 2006, UP and BNSF invested another $100 million to add a fourth main track to 20 miles (over Logan Hill) of the line. The line is now has the capacity to support 400 million tons of coal annually! The fourth track project was completed in 2008. Here, an eastbound (geographically south) BNSF coal load climbing Logan hill on Main 4 meets a westbound (geographically north) UP coal empty descending down Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105561 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Converse Jct Converse County, WY 1477 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific, BNSF A UP coal train heads south (timetable east) on Main 1 toward a clear signal at Converse Junction. A pair of coal empties sit on the inbound tracks, ready to load at the Antelope Mine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105559 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, WY 1438 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF The interlocking of Reno Junction is a long one. In fact, the distance between the eastern-most signals and the western-most signals is roughly 1.8 miles! Here, a coal load is pulling up the grade on Main 1 toward a clear signal at the east (geographically south) end of the Reno Junction interlocking. The tracks to the right of the train are Main 2 and Main 3, respectively. The track to the left is the Black Thunder Mine Lead. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105558 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, WY 1487 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A lot of traffic runs through Reno Junction! In addition to the triple track mainline, two tracks branch off from the track to the east (geographically south) and one to the west (geographically north). These tracks all lead to the Black Thunder and Black Thunder East mine loadouts. This particular load is coming from Black Thunder East. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105557 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, WY 2017 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF An eastbound coal load is just departing the Black Thunder East mine. There are four Black Thunder mines in the Powder River Basin: Black Thunder West, Black Thunder, Black Thunder East, and South Black Thunder. The massive structure in the background is the loadout for Black Thunder West. In the distance, you can see a pair of trains waiting to load. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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