Western Railroad Discussion > Intermodal and Coal Train Race Through the PRB

This clip features a race between a BNSF intermodal train and a Union Pacific coal train heading out of Wyoming's Powder River Basin south of Bill, WY on BNSF's Orin Subdivision.

Non-coal trains are a relatively recent occurence on the Orin Sub (outside of MofW trains), and it was quite strange seeing intermodal here, although this does seem to be the normal routing for this "repo" train.  

The intermodal was seeming to get the early lead, however the UP coal train was moving a tad faster by the time the rear ends went by.  

Thanks for watching!
-Tom

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now that is a sight.

great catch and video...........

66

Nicely done.
–Mac

Very nice and rare video.
JB

Great video!

Fantastic location!!

Wow, that's great.

Fun train chasing area, gets kinda warm sometimes, kinda cold sometimes and usually windy all the time. Maybe I'll get back there next year.
I've seen multiple trains there with some unusual locomotives  but nothing like this one. For a while I didn't catch on to the track assignments either, eventually realized the southbound trains are working their way through the multitude of crossovers for the BNSF to turn west ( Shawnee Jct to Orin Jct to Guernsey, etc ) while the UPrr turns to the east ( Shawnee Jct to Lusk then Scottsdale, etc ). Not as complicated as they make it look.

Highly entertaining and cool!
Got to ask a dumb question though.   Why is a Portland to L.A. intermodal threading the PRB?   

That was awesome !

That was cool !  Look's like VOTD to me.

Author: Fizzboy7 Highly entertaining and cool!
Got to ask a dumb question though.   Why is a Portland to L.A. intermodal threading the PRB?   

My guess would be because of the fires in southern Oregon and nortern California and I don't think the "Inside Gateway" route on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe can clear double stacks. Portland to Los Angeles via the Powder River Basin is a hell of a long way to detour.

SantaFeRuss



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/21 05:22 by SantaFeRuss.

That was effin cool. Great video. 

Great race.

Not a lot of options for BNSF if the inside gateway is closed or if it doesn’t clear double stacks.

Thanks for posting this interesting sequence.

I know that flat spots on wheels have to get very pronounced for them to be taken out of service.  But, every coal train I hear has some pretty good "bangers" in it.  Seems like that would be a little hard on the rail.  Is it?

Great capture!!  I'm sure this will not happen again when the western routes reopen.

Regards, Jim Evans

FiveChime Wrote:
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> Great capture!!  I'm sure this will not happen
> again when the western routes reopen.
> Regards, Jim Evans

They have been running B-PTLLAC4s single-stacked or all trailers via the Gateway Sub as far back as 8/15.  July 2020 every other day they were running a B-PTLLAC4 or B-PTLSBD4 via Spokane-Denver-Belen.  They also run B-PTLCHC4s, but they need the empties in SoCal, too.

tomstp Wrote:
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> I know that flat spots on wheels have to get very pronounced for them to be taken out of service.  But, every coal train I hear has some > pretty good "bangers" in it.  Seems like that would be a little hard on the rail.  Is it?

Yes, it is hard on the rail, so it wouldn't surprise me to know they have impact detectors in the PRB to catch those wheel sets beyond the limits.  zchcsse might know, he worked in the area for awhile.

mapboy

SOOOooooo That's how BNSF is getting their intermodal from So. Cal .To the PNW  
that is one heckuva Fuel bill, but good on them for doing it!

Very NICE and enjoyable race video!

Larry

Thanks for the video - seeing stacks on the PRB < is > cool!  BNSF also has the old Colorado & Southern route that heads north from Cheyenne to Laurel.  That's the line that goes through Wind River Canyon.  I'm not at all familiar with it, but I don't think it gets much use.  Does it have clearance issues as well that would prevent stacks from going that way?

Very exciting video!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

Thanks for all the nice comments, all!

As far as the intermodal goes, this was during the beginning of the fire detours as I had caught what I believe was the first HPASBAR detour the previous day in the area.   However, these Portland to LA "Repo" trains do normally take this route when they have double stacks.   I'd been seeing them for many months on the Seligman and Needles Subs in AZ/CA prior to the fire detours.   Perhaps the economics of double stacks exceed the economics of extra crews/miles/fuel???  I don't know.