Railfanning Wyoming and Montana - 3B, Powder River Basin

Hi, This post will cover the afternoon of our first day in the Powder River basin.

The afternoon began along Hilight Rd with a southbound Union Pacific coal train (above and two below). Note that UP rights in the Powder River Basin end at the northernmost mine.

While waiting at Lawver Rd., the overpass in the background of the first photo, this piece of work equipment, which I think is a ballast cleaner, came past.

Moving north about a mile to Hoadley Rd. at Coal Creek Junction we encountered what appeared to be a track geometry train (above and below).

Shortly a UP coal train went south (above and below).

We were able to catch the train again off Hilight Rd (above and below).

Then it was back to Hoadley Rd. for still another southbound UP coal loads (above and below). Note the windmill to the left in the photo below.

We beat the train to the Lawver Rd, over pass (above and below).

The rest of the day was spent along Hilight Rd. First up a north bound coal train met a south bound coal train.

The north bound continued north (above and below).

We got it again about a 1/2 mile south of Lawver Rd. Thus ended day one.

Thanks for looking.

Railfanning Wyoming and Montana - 3A, Powder River Basin

Hi, We spent two very productive days in the Powder River Basin. Therefore, I will be dividing the the blog posts into four parts. This one covers the morning of the first day.

We drove over to the BNSF yard just east of Donkey Creek Junction. Nothing seemed to be happening so we returned to Donkey Creek Jcn. where we spotted coal empties about to head south into the coal fields. We caught the train at the point where Brunsen Rd. crosses the track south of Donkey Creek Junction (above and below).

Bishop Road, south of Caballo Mine provided our next photo location (above and two below).

Next we moved to Cordero Rojo Junction where T-7 Road crosses the track. A loaded coal train sat waiting for a road crew to take it north to Donkey Creek Junction (above and two below).

Cordero Rojo Mine is in the background.

Soon an empty coal train headed north for loading.

A Union Pacific empty coal train followed the BNSF train north past the waiting coal loads.

Crossing T-7 Rd. to the north side of the bridge resulted in photos of the DPUs (above and below).

Thanks for looking.

Railfanning Wyoming and Montana - 2B

Hi, After lunch on May 8th we continued east.

                                      
At West Dunmore, MT westbound coal loads sat in the siding. We photographed the road locomotives and

the DPUs at East Dunmore.

A covered hopper train sat on the main line at Crow Agency, MT; shown here with the DPU.

The first moving train we saw was this coal train at Wyola, MT.

One of its DPUs was a Ferro Mex SD70ACe.

Still another coal train was photographed at Aberdeen, MT;

again with DPUs (above and below).

The final location of the day was at Parkman, WY (above and below).

Thanks for looking.

Railfanning Wyoming and Montana - 2A

Hi, Our plan for Wednesday, May 8th was to head southeast to Gillette, WY where we would spend two days in the Powder River Basin. But first we decided to go west to Livingston, MT and Bozeman Pass as that was a good place to find MRL SD70ACes in helper service. Also, it would give me an opportunity to look more closely at the MRL between Laurel and Livingston, MT, a part of the railroad I had seen once before but never photographed. As the day was very productive this post will cover only the morning, west of Laurel, MT.

While driving west on I90 we spotted a westbound coal train in a siding for a meet. A few miles further on we passed an eastbound tank train. Doubling back toward Laurel we caught the tank train at Reed Point, MT.

After photographing the tank train we resumed our trip west and were able to photograph the DPU of the coal train just east of Livingston.

After refueling we headed over to the depot where the coal train was indeed waiting for its helper. When the coal train left Livingston we followed. Out first and second photos were taken at the bottom of Bozeman Pass just west of Livingston (above and below).

Part way up the hill we caught the helpers at Orea Road.

At East Muir an eastbound (empty?) grain train was waiting

for a meet with the coal train.

There was plenty of time to get into position to photograph the helpers shoving past the sitting grain train (above and below).

A quick move to the west end of the siding, at Muir, resulted in these shots of the train pulling into the tunnel around the corner (above and below).

After the helpers cut off the coal train they came back around the corner and began their descent to Livingston.

Just west of Livingston, off highway 10W, a westbound MRL train waited for a meet with the returning helper set ( above and two below).

Thanks for looking.