Raifan Information on the Powder River Basin

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dblstack

Hey Doggy,
How soon are you heading for the Basin? I get out there about annually and have a bit of stuff to share. Maybe w/ my day off tomorrow, I can type some stuff out.
- Stack -

dblstack I'm going to be going out their in July

HAPPY NEW YEAR

[Anonymous]

I was just out there last June. There are all kinds of spots to sit down and watch trains go past you, especialy around and south of the Converse Jct. area. Hwy 59 is right with the line once it goes under it around I think about milepost 35 until it goes over it about 5 miles north of Bill. This whole section, from a little north of Shawnee Jct to south of the lead to North Rochelle Mine, is completly triple track. Once you get away from the line north of Bill going up the back side of Logan Hill, you might want to find Stekley Road ?? it has a good view at the top of Logan Hill. Farther north you want to find Antelope Road. It will take you back to the railroad and past the southern-most mines. Good views on it include a bridge over the 4 track lead to Antelope Mine and eventually it gets around to the bridges over the creek at the bottom of the valley. Right there you can head back a ways next to the lead for 2 other mines. There isn't much back there so unless you like bugs, I'd say don't bother except for the east side of the bridges. Up the far side you get to a public view point of the pit operations of Antelope Mine. It's cool. Across the road from it is the main down in a cut. The road continues north, crosses the line at grade and eventually T's into the road that heads back to North Rochelle. That road takes you west to Hilight Road which gets you back to the main. The next mines north are Black Thunder and Jacobs Ranch (Reno Jct). These mines are back a few miles from the main along a state highway. There are good views of Black Thunder and a little ways farther down the road is on a bridge over a mining road which the mining dump trucks drive down right under the road. North from Reno Jct Hilight Road stays with the line for quite a ways but eventualy goes away. Traffic starts to thin out from here. From here on no roads stay with the line. You'll have to take other roads back to the mines but there are company signs leading to the mines. The road back to the Cabello and Belle Ayr Mines area will take to a good spot to watch the Belle Ayr helper tack onto the back of trains and also it meets a road that will take you south a mile, back under the line and up a hill that you see a lot of good pictures from. Another road farther north take you back to the point where the Belle Ayr helper cuts of on the fly. At the far north end is Donkey Creek which is a good spot to sit down for a little while and watch some BNSF action. A note: many of these roads go through active blasting areas and are subject to temporary closure or permenent because of pit expansion so some or these roads many be closed now. While we were out in the area we were never bothered by police, and the crews were extremly friendly as long as you weren't trespassing. The bugiest people are the mine people. Just stay off their property. I'll look up the names of those last two roads. Hope you have fun. It's a great area.

Jon H

[Anonymous]

Hey Doggy,
How soon are you heading for the Basin? I get out there about annually and have a bit of stuff to share. Maybe w/ my day off tomorrow, I can type some stuff out.
- Stack -

[Anonymous]

Thanks For your valuable help also as of 2003 do they change crews at Bill because some one told me they stoped using it due to costs

[kschmidt]

Greetings,

I was out in the Powder River in 1997. It was quite a place just for the sheer number of trains. The best road is Hwy 59 it pretty much follows the tracks from Douglas on the south to Gillette on the north. My friends started in the south and stopped at Bill, WY the UP crew change point. Then just north of Bill we stopped at the Antelope Mine and there was a spot just off the road where there is a nice S-curve. We were there for 2 hours and there was always a train in sight. I believe the railroads call it Converse Jct. Then we went as far north as Black Thunder Mine. There alot of nice spots along the way.

Also Pentrex just released a DVD "Powder River" Combo which alot of nice information about the Powder River. Enjoy your trip. I hope this helps.

Keith Schmidt

[PwdOpd]

See if you can find a copy of Donald K. Park's book "Powder River Coal". It's published by PARKRAIL of Fort Collins. Colorado. It gives a pretty good guide to the area. He mentions that some of the roads are gravel, and no doubt some still are, but two of the main roads are now paved. Most of the action is around Bill and Reno Junction. East of Gillette about 4-6 miles is Donkey Creek Junction where BNSF turns south of the Main into the Powder River Basin-good action here. Just east of Reno Junction is Black Thunder Mine where from the highway you can see two trains loading at a time.
These are just a few of the many places to see lots of coal trains. Enjoy your trip. pwdopd

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any Railfan Information on the Powder River Basin an engineer who worked out their at one time told me theirs is a rode following it but I would like somemore information

Thanks