Photo ID: 108101 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 818 (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 1166 (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 924 (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 954 (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 843 (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. Photo ID: 108096 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 866 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A loaded BNSF coal train heads east (geographically south) on Main 3 through Reno Jct on clear signals. Meanwhile, another BNSF coal train slowly creeps underneath the West Black Thunder Mine tipple. A third BNSF coal train waits for a recrew north of the tipple in the distance, and a UP empty head west on Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108095 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 858 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF, Union Pacific Reno Jct is a fantastic place to spend a few hours as a railfan. You have signals in both directions from the Co-450 road overpass to help let you know when trains are lined through, and can see for nearly a mile to the south and about four miles to the north. It is not uncommon for trains to meet through here, such as in this shot. A UP empty on Main 2 meets a BNSF empty on Main 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108093 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Reno Jct Campbell County, CO 827 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF After making the trip 85 miles north from the south end of the Orin Sub, this BNSF coal empty is leaving the main tracks and entering the five mile spur out to East Black Thunder Mine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108092 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Converse Jct Converse County, WY 828 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A pair of DPUs bring up the tail end of a westbound coal empty on Main 2 just west of Converse Jct. The loadout for the Antelope Mine is visible near the top-left corner of the frame, busy loading a train right at the moment this shot was taken. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108091 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Converse Jct Converse County, WY 864 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A westbound coal empty charges north at track speed (50 MPH) on Main 2 as it passes through Converse Jct and by the Antelope mine. A string of stored hoppers sits silently on Main 4, two tracks to the right of the empty on Main 2. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108090 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Antelope Mine Converse County, WY 918 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots BNSF This is an aerial view of one of 11 coal loadouts found in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. This particular loadout is the Antelope loadout, the southern most loadout in the Powder River Basin. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108089 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Antelope Mine Converse County, WY 898 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots BNSF One of three trains starts to make its away around the balloon track, ready to proceed underneath the tipple at the Antelope Mine and load up. Two other empties will have to wait a bit longer for their turn to load. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108088 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Antelope Mine Converse County, WY 858 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF The five staging tracks at Antelope Mine are currently all filled up with trains. Three trains are empty and waiting to be loaded. One train has already loaded and is waiting for a crew to take it east. One line of cars - the second from the right - is a string of empty hoppers currently being stored as there is no demand for them right now. The empty set with the sole SD70ACe for power is currently move away from the camera at 2 MPH, getting ready to load. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108087 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, May 30, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Antelope Mine Converse County, WY 836 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF BNSF 9063, the rear DPU on a coal empty, is slowly moving away from the camera at 2 MPH as this particular empty prepares to go under the tipple to load up with coal. It is one of three empties waiting for its turn to load. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108085 Date Shot Photo By Friday, May 29, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 88.7 Converse County, WY 871 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Orin (BNSF) BNSF A few miles south of Bill, this loaded BNSF nacelle train has clear signals on Main 1. The train will leave the Powder River Basin about 40 miles ahead, entering BNSF's Canyon Sub so it can continue to its destination. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

Previous Page     Next Page