Photo ID: 103804 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 586.4 (East Donkey Creek) Gillette, WY 1753 (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: 103803 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 570 Rozet, WY 1677 (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: 103802 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 0.4 (Donkey Creek Jct) Gillette, WY 1704 (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: 103801 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 0.4 (Donkey Creek Jct) Gillette, WY 1752 (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: 103800 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 1 Gillette, WY 1786 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF We are at the far north end of the Orin Subdivision (where all three tracks are own exclusively by BNSF and UP trains don't tread) and a westbound (geographic northbound) coal load approaches Donkey Creek Junction on Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103799 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Mine Campbell County, WY 2114 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific, BNSF Now that is a dump truck! Imagine what it must be liek to sit behind the wheel of a vehicle that is roughly the size of most houses! This is how the coal reaches the tipple to be loaded onto trains. These dump trucks came by every minute or so, just hauling back and forth. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103798 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek Mine Campbell County, WY 1734 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF, Union Pacific How do you get coal from the ground to the tipple? Some mines will use conveyor belts, but even that doesn't always get you there. How about a dump truck that requires a ladder to climb in to? At Coal Creek Mine, a truck filled with coal heads from the mine to the tipple. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103797 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 42.6 (Reno Jct) Campbell County, WY 2068 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF An early-production ES44AC (in Heritage 2 paint) leads an eastbound (geographic southbound) through Reno Junction on Main 1. The relatively new Black Thunder West tipple is in operation loading a train in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103796 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 42.6 (Reno Jct) Campbell County, WY 1781 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF There are three main tracks at Reno Junction (the entrance to Black Thunder Mine and Black Thunder East Mine) and this BNSF empty is on Main 1. In the Powder River Basin, you can see BNSF loads meeting loads or empties meeting empties because BNSF can access the basin from the north or the south. Thus, you may have a empty enter the basin from the south heading for a mine at the north end meet an empty the entered the basin from the north heading for a mine at the south end. UP, on the other hand, can only access the basin from the south. So westbound (geographic northbound) UP trains are always empty and eastbound (geographic southbound) UP trains are always loaded. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103793 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 62.5 (East Nacco) Converse County, WY 1735 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF The last DPU unit on an eastbound (geographic southbound) BNSF coal load passes by on Main 3 as the tipple at the Antelope mine stands tall in the distance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103792 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 62.2 (Nacco Wye Jct) Converse County, WY 1759 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF At Nacco Wye Junction, an eastbound (geographic southbound) BNSF coal load with 132 bathtub gondolas has clear signals on Main 3. Nacco Wye Junction is the entrance (and exit) into the North Antelope Rochelle mine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103789 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 75 Bill, WY 1792 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) Union Pacific, BNSF This shot pretty well sums up the Powder River Basin! A coal load on Main 1 proceeds eastbound (geographic southbound) toward Bill as an empty charges westbound (geographic northbound) on Main 2 toward the North Antelope Mine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103787 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 75 Bill, WY 2487 (3 Comments Posted) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF It is impressive watching the dispatcher organize all the trains in the Powder River Basin. During my visit, it seemed that westbound (geographic northbound) empties ran on Main 2 (second track from the right) while loads split up the other three tracks. Here, a BNSF load approaches on Main 4 and you can see a UP load approaching three miles in the distance on Main 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103780 Date Shot Photo By Monday, July 18, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Westminster Fill Westminster, CO 2374 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) Kansas City Southern, BNSF There has been massive flooding in the Omaha, NE area this summer. Consequently, BNSF has rerouted a lot of traffic through Colorado. As a part of the reroutes, several coal empties have run north on the Front Range Sub. Here, one waits for the dispatcher to allow the train to proceed into Broomfield for a meet. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103779 Date Shot Photo By Monday, July 18, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Westminster Fill Westminster, CO 1998 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Front Range (BNSF) BNSF A northbound rerouted coal empty sits on the the fill in Westminster. As it turns out, this trio of SD70ACes are actually the DPU units on the tail end of this train on a pleasant July afternoon. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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