Photo ID: 114338 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Portal (5,750 ft) Gilpin County, CO 39 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF An AC4400CW and two ES44ACs lead a westbound manifest pass by a pond at East Portal. You can see the east leg of the wye that is at East Portal breaking away from the siding alongside the head end. The wye follows the original grade that use to make a 180º curve and start the steep climb up Rollins Pass. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114337 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Portal (5,750 ft) Gilpin County, CO 44 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF At East Portal, BNSF's Denver-Provo is on the main as many trees are reaching their peak here at 9,000 feet. The train has the pretty standard trio of units on the head end, and there are a lot of tank cars in the train's consist. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114335 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Cliff (6,900 ft) Gilpin County, CO 39 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF BNSF 5616 is pulling into the siding at Cliff, approaching a red signal at the west end. It is getting in the clear so the morning Zephyr can overtake the train. The Zephyr will pass by on the main track. DS-378 is doing his best to keep Amtrak moving, giving it the highest priority he can. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114334 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS032 (West Crescent) Boulder County, CO 29 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF The westbound Zephyr took the siding at Crescent. The westbound Denver-Provo manifest went into emergency and stopped just shy of the west switch. The conductor is walking back to the head end after inspecting the train (and finding nothing). The train will soon continue west and take the siding at Cliff to allow the Zephyr to overtake it. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114333 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, September 20, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS032 (West Crescent) Boulder County, CO 39 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) BNSF This westbound BNSF manifest (two DPUs seen on the rear here) went into emergency and has come to a stop. Unfortunately, the head end of the train is right in the middle of Tunnel 22. That has made it a little more difficult as the head end cannot communicate with DS-378. The conductor walked the train and found no problems. She the used the radio in the DPU to update DS-378. After the long walk to the head end, the train is going to continue west. 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 78 (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: 114287 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 75 (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 78 (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. Photo ID: 114285 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 82 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF One BNSF train is making its way around the Black Thunder Mine load out, in the process of loading. A second train is already staged behind, ready to follow the first in and start its own loading process. Trains load in a counter-clockwise movement around the balloon track here. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114284 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 79 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF You can see three different coal trains here at the Black Thunder Mind load out. You can see the massive mine to the right. The load out can completely load a 125 car train in about two hours. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114283 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 82 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF I like this shot as you can clearly see the multiple tracks that lead from the triple track main to the Black Thunder Mine load out. The single track to the right leads to the Black Thunder East Mine load out. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114282 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 79 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF BNSF 6067 has come to a stop on one of the two leads off the triple track mains to Black Thunder Mine. The crew is waiting for a route to pull all the way in. In the background is the Black Thunder West load out, and the conveyor belt that supplies it with coal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114281 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 74 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF Black Thunder Mine is one of the largest load outs in the Powder River Basin, and there are five tracks for staging just off the triple track at Reno Junction. Two empties are waiting to be taken to the mind, and two loads came out and are waiting to be recrewed and depart. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114280 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder Mine Campbell County, WY 77 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF At Reno Junction, BNSF 6067 is leaving the triple track and is headed toward the Black Thunder Mine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 114279 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, August 16, 2026 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Black Thunder West Mine Campbell County, WY 68 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF The Black Thunder West Mine is the newest load out in the Powder River Basin. It was completed in 2008 and its balloon track is 8.1 miles around. Trains load in a clockwise circuit around the load out. This load out is right along the triple track mainline, as you can see on the right. The empty coal hoppers are in storage in the only siding along the entire subdivision. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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