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.
Enjoy, subscribe and thanks for watching!!

[@cthunter41]

Good to see my neck of the woods! I used to drive from cheyenne to Gillette every week and I miss seeing those coal trains running 3 wide heading south. Awesome

[@DaMeng3000]

I went out there a couple times when I was younger during summers with my grandpa and it was the best experiences of my life. I miss it!

[@ryanfrogz]

Wow, I LOVED that 70MAC trio!

[@jackkilleen47]

Me Too! NS 8172 was an added bonus!

[@brandonmuir5117]

I was here in sept of 2018 and was surprised at how few trains i saw after seeing videos of 3 and 4 train meets. I never saw anything like that. Did see a double stack train which was neat becuse I too never knew anything other than coal ran down this line

[@upsd402]

Great video, I am amazed how many Union Pacific run on this line. I was there this last week, saw 7 BNSF and 3 UP coal trains. Again great video.

[@bnsf7562]

I too was surprised by the amount of Union Pacific traffic. It only occurred to me how much UP I saw as I was editing.

[@upsd402]

bnsf7562 with Union Pacific going with PSR, it’s cut the amount of traffic, and how many coal trains if runs on the Power River line. Unfortunately BNSF is running longer coal trains like UP. Great video.

[@finaldraft151]

Cool Video . Good looking scenery out there. Traffic has decreased significantly out that way I would imagine but still plenty of trains to catch.

[@bnsf7562]

There are plenty of trains to catch. I was surprised at how busy it was given the downturn in coal demand.

[@spacecalander]

i love the powder river basin! This would be a great Bluray.

[@spacecalander]

Wow the SD70MACes have no visible PTC Antenna But they must have them cause they are on point of some of the trains featured here.

[@RobRob5656]

beautiful movie!

[@bnsf7562]

Thank you!

[@logandetwiler4483]

Hey pal you forgot some useful information on the wheeling and Lake Erie’s Brewster subdivision video. I wanted to share with you some useful information about the Creston west switch

[@scotty4579]

Great catches

[@bnsf7562]

Thank you!

[@CantofanCristian]

Super cool movie.
Super marfar
Cristi's Super Mega Extra Like
Bravo !!
I love your movie !! ❤
Regards with respect and respect from Cristi👋

[@Nicola636128]

Great video!

[@michaelplumb8821]

I love to see the coal trains and the occasional freight trains. Do you have a 24 hour version? How about list of all the train symbols that go with these trains?

[@bnsf7562]

Unfortunately, I do not have either of those things. I don't know much about BNSF train symbols or the number of trains that use this line over a 24 hour period. I know the most recent issue of TRAINS Magazine had a story on a portion of this line.

[@heavydutyrepair64]

Norfolk southern pulling with BNSF

[@franzbrunner499]

the coal trains i saw at Mullan Pass do have well over 100 cars (despite so steep), but here in less mountainous area trains are far shorter -why is that?

[@bnsf7562]

One of the possible reasons may be the demand for coal has dwindled significantly in recent years. The Montana video I made was shot in 2014. This video was shot in 2018. While a difference of four years may not seem like much, it does add up.

[@taslimchaudhry1431]

Great Catch
🚂👍👍🇮🇳

[@heavydutyrepair64]

CSX also pulling

[@tonyordaziii7250]

Can you do the Laramie, Rawlins, and Evanston Subdivisions

[@bnsf7562]

I've done a bit of the Sydney Sub in southeastern WY and western NE. Later this year, I'll be putting up a video I did of the triple track main between Gibbon and North Platte. I would like to do the western part of Wyoming, but it will probably won't happen for some time yet.

[@rsmith3469]

Great video thanks for posting. How long has BNSF been running non Coal trains over the line? Business that slow? I remember when supervisors would complain about "foreign" loads on the line.

[@bnsf7562]

I'm not exactly sure. I was under the impression that it was strictly for coal trains, so when I saw the stack train and the manifest, I got confused. It looks like there is a scheduled stack train that runs over the line, but anything else may just be a detour or an extra possibly.

[@AustinWesternRailfan]

@@bnsf7562 This line is 98% coal trains, but ive seen a video of an Autorack train on this line. The Other different train besides coal go on the Casper Subdivision and Big Horn Subdivision

[@AustinWesternRailfan]

And back then from what I was told, this line used to be flooded with manifests and other unit trains

[@j.m.youngquist419]

Clean up your act U P , it's not a very good corporate image !