Western Railroad Discussion > Moving Bowie Resources Coal - Moffat Tunnel

Eastbound coal load C BRTSH 20 had distributed power unit UP 6654 on the rear as it dove into Moffat Tunnel at Winter Park, CO, January 22, 2005. The Bowie Resources (train symbol BR), Limited, coal load originated in Paonia, Delta County, Colorado loaded at Converse loadout. The Bowie #2 Mine began commercial production in November 1997 and has a capacity of 6 million tons per year.
Bowie's primary product is a high Btu, low sulphur run-of-mine steam coal. The coal can be supplied as a stoker product. Mining is done underground in the thick Paonia Somerset "B" and "D" seams. Recoverable reserves presently leased exceed 100 million tons. The property has 60 million tons under permit.

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One correction: Bowie Resources and the UP built a new loadout for the Bowie #2 mine. It is located east of Converse, near the old Terror Creek loadout. For a period of time, coal from Bowie #2 was trucked to the Converse loadout. Now, a conveyor at #2 directly feeds the new loadout facility. When I left that area a year and a half ago, Genessee and Wyoming contract crews actually ran the trains at the loadout. The UP crews would bring the train to the loadout and the Renzenberger van would pick up the crew. When the loading was finished, a new UP crew would be brought up to take the train back to Grand Junction. I don't know whether that is still the practice. Also, when I left, the Converse loadout was pretty much mothballed. The Bowie #1 mine that originally fed it has been closed for years and surface facilities at the mine have been largely reclaimed.

Yes, Rail America IIRC, and they do still load the coal at Bow-Ee, Colorado. Rhymes with the front of a ship.

KK

It's not RailAmerica, its Rail Link, the industrial switching division of G+W, that operates at Bowie. Here in the PRB where I work for Rail Link, we hear very little about that operation, but what I had heard when we first started running trains there was that the loadout at Bowie only has enough room for part of a train. So the train has to be split, part of it loaded, set out, the other half picked up, loaded, then put all back together. Then the UP comes and gets the train. Don't know if that's still the practice or not though.


andy

Yes, meant Rail Link. Sorry.

Yes, the loadout is so close to the main line connection that they can only load half the train. The front half is then set over a track, and the other half loaded. Then the train is reassemble with the halves reversed from how it arrived. Can creat havoc on those rare rotary dump trains that have double ended cars in the consist and part of the train with rotary to the front, and part to the rear.

KK