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Hey Doggy, Here's some stuff to take along. I've been out to the Powder River about a dozen times. My in-laws live near by and my father in law is a bigger rail fan than I am (lucky me.) I'll give you my favorites by section. First - three rules for the Powder River area 1) If you are going in winter time, be careful. I've been out there in January, at 70 degrees, wearing T-shirts, only to have a blizzard come roaring in. Be prepared (extra food, blankets, candles, etc in the car.) 2) Anytime you go, take extra water. Its really, really dry out there. Stop at the c-store in Gillette or Douglas or somewhere and load up on double what you think you will need. You'll feel better for doing it. 3) Don't let the size fool you. Campbell County (where Gillette is located) is about the same size as the entire state of Connecticut. Its a big area and to get from Alliance to Douglas, up the coal line through Bill up to Gillette and then back down via Newcastle to Alliance runs about 500 miles. That's a long day if you want to take any photos along the way. 4) Bonus- be prepared to photograph lots of trains standing still. When they get any back up at the mines, things start to get gridlocked out there fast. More than 27 trains on-line from Reno Jct to Orin Jct starts to jam things up pretty hard. For trains inbound to a mine, a lot of times what you see is trains creeping forward one more block toward the mine where they will load. Trains outbound roll better and faster. Also, when the power goes by, don't give up on the train, remember, a lot of them have DPU pushers on the back so you can get the going-away shot there too. That applies to UP and BNSF trains. As far as the line, here goes: Alliance to Gillette: Crawford Hill is interesting but you have to drive about a mile on a signal maintainers road to get there (ie. onto posted RR property.) I don't know how security sensitive BNSF is on this area. BN keeps pushers in Crawford and there is an interchange w/ shortline RR Nebkota Rail. Go to Mapquest.com and type in Crawford, NE. You'll see Belmont just below. Zoom in a bit and you'll see the RR line. The private road runs from Belmont north. The roads between Belmont and Crawford show you a LOT of the hill from public right of way. See Saw Log Rd, Horse Shoe Road and Squaw Creek Road. These get you right up to the lower horse shoe. Going North, there is a nice sweeping curve as the trains head South out of Edgemont, SD. Nice photo Ops there. You get the South end of the South Dakota Black Hills in the background. In Edgemont, the Alliance crews change out. Stop at the depot and you get a parade of trains coming in and out while crews swap over. North of town, the highway passes over the main as you can photograph westbound trains on a nice curve there too. The old branch up to Lead, SD split off right by the bridge. Just north of the bridge is a gravel road that runs west toward the tiny town of Dewey. It parallels the tracks all the way to Newcastle, WY. Its a fair gravel road. Watch for deer. There's a few nice photo spots in the pines along the way. North of Newcastle, the tracks run along Hwy 16 to Moorcroft. Just South of Upton, they cross under the highway - good photo spot here. At Moorcroft, stay on the state road (Hwy 51), don't get on I-90 because you can't get off to get to the tracks. This will take you right into Gillette. You'll drive right by the Wyodak mine and power plant. There are lots of sidings and visible signals all the way from Newcastle to Gillette. Keep your eyes open for headlights. You'll likely see 5-10 trains from Edgemont to Gillette. They seem to "fleet" trains on this line. i.e. you'll see 2-4 eastbounds, then a short lull, then the same number going the other way. I'll reply in a seperate message on the rest of the line.
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