Western Coal Part 2 - Powder River Basin coal train guide

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As you venture out to see coal trains move western coal out of the Powder River Basin, do not, repeat, do not drive onto mine property. The equipment used in mining is massive and the operators cannot see you even if you are driving a bright red truck.

To see the most railroad action in the Powder River Basin, I would recommend the area around Bill. All of the Union Pacific trains change crews at Bill before heading off to the mines for loading or heading south and east to South Morrill, NE. BNSF runs almost all of its Colorado and Texas trains south from the mines to the next crew change point at Guernsey. Depending on the amount of congestion, the tonnage, and destination, other trains headed for Ravenna and points east and south will also go out the south end of the Orin Line. One train that doesn't load on the Orin Line, but generally operates over it, is the unit coal train for the Missouri Basin Power Project Laramie River Station near Wheatland, WY. It generally loads at the Buckskin mine on the branch north of Campbell and then heads down the Orin Line. It gets off the line to Guernsey at Wendover for the short 20 mile trip to the plant.

Powder River Basin map

Click on any small picture in this guide to see a larger picture and get more information about the coal train and the location.

Coal train symbol TT109 at Black Thunder Jct. Coal train symbol NWNAX at Bill, WY
Coal train symbol TT002 at Bill, WY Coal train symbol CDSAC near Lightning Creek
Coal train symbol TT130 near Walker, WY Coal train symbol JROLC at Lusk, WY
At Shawnee Junction, Union Pacific Powder River Basin coal trains cut over to a connection with the former C&NW Cowboy Line, while the Orin Line joins the Casper Sub at Bridger Junction.

Coal train symbol NWNAX west of Morrill, NE Coal train symbol RRBTX at South Morrill, NE

Heavy BNSF coal trains will get a helper at Northport for the climb up to Angora. The grade slacks off there and the regular road power can then get the train into Alliance. Coal trains going south from Northport face two grades: the first up to Dalton and the second from Sidney to Lorenzo.

You can see some clips from our Western Coal Part 2 video program on the video page.

Coal train symbol TT109 at Morrill, NE
Coal train symbol TT125 at Northport, NE Northport, NE wye and coal train symbol TT125

Southern Wyoming Coal

Before the coal boom in the Powder River Basin, most of the coal mined in Wyoming came from the Hanna Basin. This area is 80 miles west of Laramie. There were other mines further west at Black Buttes, Prospect Point, and Kemmerer, but these generally supply local power plants.
Coal train symbol CBBPL at Wamsutter, WY Hanna Basin coal train at Alda, NE

Kansas City

Coal train symbol CSACD at Paola, KS

Both the UP and BNSF funnel a great deal of coal through Kansas City. Some of this is interchanged with the Kansas City Southern, but most continues south or east to other power plants, some as far away as Georgia. For the Union Pacific, this is the primary route for coal moving south to Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Coal train symbol CSACD at Paola, KS Coal train symbol CKCOL at Paola, KS
KCS coal train symbol 91 at Heavener, OK

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