Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF "Mega" Coal Train w/ Lots of Goodies

While railfanning around Northport, NE last July, I happened upon a "Mega" BNSF coal train with a handful of interesting items on it.  Northport, NE is south of Alliance, NE and is where BNSF's Valley Subdivision wyes into the Angora Subdivision.  In addition, Union Pacific's South Morrill Subdivision passes through, crossing the Angora Subdivision.   Most of the coal trains that use the south entrance to Wyoming's Powder River Basin pass through here, in addition to some non-coal BNSF traffic.  A "Mega" coal train is two coal trains coupled together into one--very interesting from the railfan perspective, but not so much from the train crew perspective.   I heard several BNSF dispatchers refer to these things as "Mega", so it seems to be somewhat 'official slang'.  

As for the train in this video, it is viewed coming off the Valley Sub geographically eastbound, and turning geographically northbound on the Angora Sub to head up to Alliance.  The power was 2x3x4 with the first half being originally 2x1 and the second half being 2x2 originally.  Two additional units are on the rear and are manned helpers out of nearby Bridgeport, NE and are being used to shove the train up Angora Hill which starts here at Northport.

Five interesting things about the train:
1.  It's a Mega coal train
2.  The leader of the second train is a BNSF 25th Anniversary "Stickers" unit.
3.  Within the second train is UCEX 2015, Ameren's veterans coal car.
4.  The rear unit of the second train is a Progress Rail "Banana" Tier 4
5.  Manned helpers

Thanks for watching!
-Tom

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great catch and thanks for posting.

any idea where the train was combined (after loading at the mine, guernsey, etc.)?

66

 

I'm not sure where it was combined, but I did see some of these combined trains come out of the mines like that, so it could've happened there (it could have arrived there like that empty, too).  Guernsey is also a good possibility.

goneon66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> great catch and thanks for posting.
>
> any idea where the train was combined (after
> loading at the mine, guernsey, etc.)?
>
> 66
>
>  

Seeing more of these on the Alliance-Ravenna(Lincoln) segment. The couple I've seen lately have NOT been going to the same location. They have to split up somewhere and my guess is Lincoln.

Fantastic catch!  Thanks so much for sharing!

~Joe P.
Hainesville, IL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/21 12:28 by TheApostleGreen.