Coal Country: BNSF's Orin Subdivision

BNSF's Orin Subdivision runs 127 miles between Douglas, WY in the south and Gillette, WY in the north. Union Pacific co-owns 103 miles of the line between Shawnee Junction and Caballo Junction. This is the home of the infamous 'Powder River Coal Basin', an area of northeastern Wyoming rich in the natural resource that accounts for 40 percent of the coal mined in the United States.

On a quick, two day trip to the area in late June, 2018, I covered the section of track between MP 100 (where Highway 59 passes under the main lines) and the summit of Logan Hill. I had wanted to go further west, but my time was limited. I do hope to return in the future to cover the remainder of this line as traffic was extremely heavy both days. Meets and side-by-sides are common, sometimes trains can be seen miles off on the same track as one that has just passed by.

Power included pretty much everything BNSF and Union Pacific put on coal trains. I was distinctly surprised at the number of SD70MACs seen on the BNSF trains, though few of them were seen leading. This is truly heavy railroading as train after train passes by to and from the mines on a seemingly never ending cycle.

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