Powder River Basin stock photos

Documenting railroad, mining, and related activities in the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming and Montana, the busiest mining and freight railroad operations area in North America, is an ongoing project. I have made four trips to this area since 1995 and plan to continue updating my coverage with periodic trips. This thumbnail page brings together images from the PRB, some of which are also included in other thumbnail pages.

However, even this page can provide only a small sampling of the 2,000+ images available from this area. If you are looking for images of railroad or mining operations in this area, please contact me for further details.

Please note that there is an additional page of sample PRB images available. Click here, or use the link at the bottom of the page.

Click on any image to view a larger version with (in most cases) a more detailed caption.

	951268 An inbound empty Burlington Northern Santa Fe unit coal train rolls south on the northern segment of the Orin line, which constitutes the backbone of railroad operations in eastern Wyoming. The train is heading for its loading appointment at a nearby mine.
	951272 Headed by three SD70MAC General Motors Locomotives, an empty 110-car Burlington Northern Santa Fe unit coal train heads for the loading silos of one of the several dozen large surface coal mines of the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.
	951217 Aerial view of mile-long Union Pacific unit coal train on loading loop of Powder River Basin mine in Wyoming.
	990833 An inbound empty coal train with a trio of GE AC44C locomotives (two up front; one in remote control mode at the end) rolls west through Lusk, Wyo., passing the town's landmark redwood water tank.
	971399 Meet at Barnes, Wyo., the east end of double track out of Lusk, Wyo. Both trains have ex-CNW power.
	971364 Powder River Basin: Four parallel tracks at Logan, Wyoming, Oct. 4, 1997 (looking north from the Steckley Road bridge). The four tracks were a temporary situation. For details, see the larger version of the image.
	951147 These giant trucks -- note the tall ladder leading from the ground to the driver's cab -- bring coal from the pits to the processing areas at mines. Like the diesel locomotives used by railroads, they are diesel-electric.
	971449 A Burlington Northern Santa Fe track crew, working from a truck with welding equipment, repairs a broken rail on the inside curve of the double-track mainline over Crawford Hill in western Nebraska as a loaded coal train grinds its way uphill.
	990776 Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) inbound empty coal train at Logan Hill, Wyo., passing an outbound loaded coal train. The two lead units wear BNSF's latest paint scheme.
	971375 Track inspector with hi-rail truck travelling through a valley formed by two loaded coal trains. Photographed on Logan Hill, Wyo., from the the Steckley Road Bridge.
	950479 Track construction train at work in Powder River basin.
	951017 Close-up of track construction train (different one from the one shown in the preceding image).
	951029 Track workers, Orin Line, Powder River Basin, Wyoming.
	951279 Engines of a BNSF coal train pass the back end of their own train, moving in the opposite direction, on the loading loop of the Caballo mine in Wyoming.
	951198 Wildlife, including mule deer and antelope, is plentiful in the Powder River Basin and has generally learned to ignore both trains and vehicles. You can approach mule deer quite closely, as long as you stay in your vehicle.
	990718 Union Pacific coal train with GE AC44CW and EMD SD90/43AC in front and another GE unit (see next image) pushing in remote control from the rear.
	990727 DPU (distributed power unit) unmanned remote control locomotive at rear of UP coal train shown above.
	990985 BNSF inbound PRB empty coal train with rotary-dump cars crossing the North Platte River at Guernsey, Wyo.
	971134 Fort Laramie National Historic site a few miles east of Guernsey, Wyo., depicts what life was like in a frontier army outpost and settlement.

An additional page of sample PRB photos is available by clicking here.

For information on my guidebook to the Powder River Basin:

The Powder River Basin
A guide to America's Power Railroading Base
By Ernest H. Robl

click on the above link.

For additional Powder River Basin images by me, please see the March, 2002, issue of Railfan & Railroad magazine. In addition to the cover, this issue contains 12 pages of my work, including text that is excerpted from my Powder River Basin guidebook. If you are looking at this page after March, 2002, you can probably still order copies of this issue from the publisher's back issue department. Click on the link above or the cover at left.

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