Report on Western Coal Trains
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The Pacific Northwest
There are only a handful of coal trains operating in the Pacific Northwest. The two regular coal trains are for Centralia, WA and Boardman, OR. The Centralia train normally loads at the Spring Creek mine and operates over the GN Hiline around Glacier National Park to Spokane, then down to Vancouver, WA. See the map below. The return trip can either be over Stampede Pass or Stevens Pass. The Boardman train generally loads at the Buckskin mine and operates over the NP (now MRL) line to Sandpoint and is interchanged with the UP at Spokane.
During the mid to late 90s, there would be an occasional unit coal train loaded near Billing with export
coal for Tiawan Power. It went west on the MRL to Spokane, then to Vancouver, WA, then north to Roberts Bank, BC for unloading.
We were fortunate and caught all three of these trains on video. Our Western Coal Part 1 video tape shows the loaded Centralia coal train near Glacier
National Park, the Boardman train near Spoakane, Sandpoint, and Garrison, MT, and the empty Tiawan Power train at Berne, WA.
Montana
Most of the coal mined in Montana moves across the former NP main line to power plants in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The largest customer is Detroit Edison at Superior. Midwest Energy Resources (a Detroit Edison subsidiary) transfer terminal shipped 13.5 million tons of coal to various Detroit Edison plants in 1996.
Our Western Coal Part 1 video tape shows several of these coal trains and a manifest freight in southeastern Montana between Forsyth and Glendive. You can see some video clips from this tape on the video page.
A 22 mile branch line connects the mines in the Decker area of Montana with the
old CB&Q line at Dutch, WY. This line former CB&Q line started in
Lincoln, NE and headed northwest through Alliance, Gillette, and Sheridan to
reach the former NP at Huntley, MT. This line had the only tunnel in Nebraska.
When the weather is nice and the trains are running, a good
place to chase trains is along the BNSF from Hardin, MT to Sheridan, WY.
This single track line sees a couple regular freight trains, the coal trains to
the Pacific Northwest, Billings coal train, and most of the coal trains loaded
in the Decker area. The old highway has little traffic since the freeway was
completed and is generally on the east side of the tracks.
The highway over to Decker does follow the tracks from the Decker mines north for about six miles to near the Spring Creek mine. Best time for photography is in the morning as the road is east of the tracks.
I don't have any pictures between Dutch and Gillette. If you want to stay on paved roads, access is limited on this stretch of the railroad. There also aren't many trains. There are a couple of regular freight trains. A few coal trains loaded in the Decker area run east to Gillette and there are a few coal trains that load in the Gillette area that go west through Sheridan. So you will see loads and empties going in both directions on this segment.
Gillette to Alliance
East of Gillette, the real fun begins. Ten miles east is Campbell Jct. and in another mile is Donkey Creek. North of Campbell Jct. is a branch that serves six mines, though not all of the six mines are currently active. South of Donkey Creek is the Orin Line that serves nine mines. Union Pacific also has access to these nine mines, but it can only run loaded trains south toward Bill. BNSF runs many loaded trains north from these mines to avoid congestion on the south end of the Orin Line. The sidings at Rozet (about two miles east of Donkey Creek) generally have one or more trains waiting for rested crews.
Someday, I am going to get back to Crawford Hill. There are several sets of helpers assigned to the little town of Crawford. Helpers are added to every loaded coal train going toward Alliance. The helpers are generally cut out at the top of the hill at Belmont.
Alliance is a major staging point for BNSF trains into and out of the Powder River Basin. Many engines are assigned to Alliance for maintenance. There are several private contract shops that do maintenance on the hoppers and rotary gondolas just east of Alliance. Switch engines in the yard are constantly at work pulling out bad order cars or empties that are due for routine maintenance. These switch crews also make sure that trains have the proper number of loads or empties before they leave the yard.
Nebraska Sandhills
The Sandhills of Nebraska offer some of the best train chasing in the country, if you don't mind coal train after coal train. The highway is right next to the tracks (on the south side - good lighting) for most of the journey between Alliance and Ravenna. The sand hills start about twelve miles east of Alliance and go for about 120 miles to near Thedford.
There is very little traffic on the highway, so make sure your gas tank is full before leaving Alliance going east or Broken Bow going west.
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