View allAll Photos Tagged LOADOUT
A local was operated east out of the division point terminal of Schreiber on the Lake Superior route. A few pulpwood loadouts were served as evident by the empty log cars. This was as far "west" in Canada that I photographed a CP MLW locomotive.
On a rainy fall afternoon, Bell County Coal's old GP9 still sits on her track at the mouth of Hignite Holler. After years of wear, its former Kenney Branch Mining logo is beginning the show through.
The 1956 C&O veteran was used by Bell County to place cars under the Hignite #1 loadout in the background. I was told that the current owner of Bell County Coal is interested in getting the old Geep up and running again.
Taken with permission.
At the end of L&N’s steep Merna Spur, Loyall Shifter C633-01 shoves their first cut of SCE&G empties under JRL Coal’s “Creech” batch loadout. To the right of the 564 is the Mary Helen Coal Corporation, built in 1919 and later doubled as the town post office. ‘Downtown’ Mary Helen. Ky is easily one of the coolest places Dad and I have ever spent a couple hours.
December 1, 2018.
Delay after delay caused the Ballast extra out of Livingston to only catch sun in two spots between Sappington and the west end of Jefferson Canyon. Wedged between the Jefferson river, and highway 2 the entire ballast train is in the last sliver of light in the canyon and it would be gone within minutes, this crew would roll into Whitehall at sunset and be back the next morning to load it up and take it back east. #properleader
Hiking up the hill behind the cemetery across the tracks from the old general store building provides a nice view of the loadout at Creech. Loading about a car every two minutes, these two GEs creep along at a tenth of a walking speed while they finish up loading the first of fifty in the first cut.
Being my third trip to Florida I had always heard that gators are everywhere, but yet I had seen none other than on an airboat ride through the everglades. With the 302 pulling down a short branch line from a single loadout outside of Clewiston, I stepped out of my rental and was greeted with a monster gator sitting across the canal from me. He quickly disappeared with a splash, followed by an iguana running out of the ditch and in front of my car. I would see at least another 8 gators along the USSC on this day but sadly none wanted their picture taken with a train.
The 4.5-mile Luscar Industrial Spur has a mundane name, but this short piece of railroad is quite remarkable. In this view, a third, 50-car section of a Canadian National empty coal train climbs the Luscar Industrial Spur near Cadomin, Alberta, on August 8, 2016. These 150-car trains operate in three sections to load on this spur due to the steep 3% grades. The strange jog in the track about eight cars back is where a switch was once located for a track operating to the Gregg River loadout, which was torn out quite a few years ago. Soon, the train will be loading at the Luscar Mine loadout that is part of Teck’s Cardinal River Operation, and is reportedly at the highest elevation on the Canadian National system.
OCS P001 passes by Anker Energy's loadout on the NS Loveridge Secondary in Maidsville, PA. The train is utilizing trackage rights from Fairmont, WV to reach company lines once more at Newell, PA.
We fortuitously managed to not have a car bomb the picture as the train passed by.
Three Monongahela Railway B23-S7 Super-7's lead a train of empties headed for Consol Coal's Bailey Mine onto the Manor Branch at Waynesburg, PA on October 5, 1990. The Monongahela units will become helpers to shove the loaded train back over the summit of the Manor Branch on the return trip. The loadout for Emerald Mine at Waynesburg is visible in the background. The Manor Branch opened for service in 1984 and is named after the real estate firm that purchased the land for the branch right-of-way.
Fujichrome 50D RFP.
Ellis and Eastern's daily (weekday) train to the Corson sand loadout has arrived at it's destination. The E&E 77 and 87 are in the process of shoving back into the siding tracks with 17 empties to load sand to take back to Sioux City. The train is on the neat truss bridge over Split Rock Creek, on the BNSF's Corson Subdivision. The E&E uses the BNSF to get from the east side of Sioux Falls out here to the Concrete Materials plant.
The ALCO killer has finally taken over, in the form of this SW7. The crews remarks on the new engine are favorable, mentioning that it handles better then either of the ALCOs did prior. Since taking over the road duties, S2 #113 is out of service with mechanical issues and the S4 #115 handles train loading duties at the mine loadout.
Here is the SW7 headed back down the hill to Alexander with the day’s 2nd cut of loads at MP6, skirting tightly alongside the Left Fork of the Buckhannon River.
An empty arrives at the West Elk loadout at the the end of UP's North Fork branch in Somerset, Colorado.
Canadian National coal train No. 769 loads at Teck’s Luscar Mine near Cadomin, Alberta, on July 15, 2013. Afternoon sunlight illuminates the Luscar Mine coal processing plant into interesting shapes as the train slowly loads on the spur. This loadout is part of Teck’s Cardinal River Operation and is located on a line operating out of Leyland called the Luscar Industrial Spur.
Mary Helen, Coalgood, Merna Spur, or Creech, either way you call it you can't deny the uniqueness of the first unit train loader on the former L&N. Probably over shot but worth the visit if you haven't already.
810 cools its heels briefly to allow a helper set to tie on back around the bend in the Gilbert Yard. The spot served as the interchange way back when for the C&O, Virginian and Norfolk & Western. The VGN and N&W merged together to form one system way back in 1959, while the C&O doesn't reach this far south anymore, as CSX swings east to the loadout at Emmett about 10 miles or so from the branch's end.
Still amazes me that there is mainline railroading down in this tuff part of West Virginia.
Empties bound for the Elk Lick loadout hug the high and muddy Guyandotte River on the Logan Subdivision, one of several sprawling C&O coal branches on this side of West Virginia.
The first cut of fifty or so empties makes a (very) steep reverse through the loadout at the now JRL-owned operation called Creech.
One of the various portions of track radiating out of Logan, WV is the Island Creek Sub. It only extends 6 miles out of town, making it one of the shortest runs out of Logan. Along present day US 119 sits former Island Creek Mine No. 21, nowadays known in the CSX coal directory as Feats.
This empty train will pull all the way past the loadout, nearly bringing the DPU up to the track equipment parked on the main outside of the east tunnel portal a mile and a quarter to the west of this view.
Empties bound for the Bailey loadout in Pennsylvania scoot over the raging Russel Fork River at Pool Point on the north end of the former Clinchfield.
C820 runs around the first cut of loads at NRG before proceeding down the Poor Fork Branch to get the next cut of empties to load.
A shifter out of Danville, WV works the Wells Prep Plant near Van, WV with a gorgeous AC44 and a younger sister GE. The track gradient is really obvious here. The conductor on this job was very friendly. He came and chatted with me and a couple other goobs and made friends with Dakota the railfan pup.
C643-17 by pulls a cut of Yellow Creek loads by an abandoned loader near Jeff, Ky. The train is coming off the Cars Fork branch and is about to enter the Rockhouse main at Jeff. Yellow Creek only loads 1-2 trains per month yet is the 3rd highest producing loadout on the Rockhouse/E&BV side.
NS 80W rolls west on the Guyandot River branch towards Gilbert, passing a loadout that is rumored to become active in the near future.
Deep in the mountains of southwestern Virginia lies a network of coal-hauling branches of Norfolk & Western heritage. Splitting off the Pocahontas and Clinch Valley Districts, these lines provide access to a dwindling but still important network of coal mines in the region. One of the busiest areas today is the Buchanan Branch around Weller, which services multiple coal loadouts and a thriving coke plant. It is here that we observed this scene last fall, on a wet and dreary but productive evening. This train originated at the Consol mine in Page and is headed to Wheelersburg. From there, it'll take a barge down the Ohio River to its eventual customer. For now, crews on both ends are just working their hardest to get the train up the steep hill that northbound loads face on their way out of Weller. The helper crew here is J77, shoving a loaded job symbolled U53.
A&O Z81821, empties for Arch Coal's Sentinel Mine prepare to knock down the restricting signal at the West End of Berryburg Junction. They'll make a right hand turn onto the Compass Branch and head a few miles up to the loadout. The train will be loaded before dawn and returned to the CSX at Grafton.
It is a cool foggy day as an 800 series coal train rolls by the loadout at Raven with fresh coal in tow.
Due to engine problems with the 601, Escalante Western drags just half of their usual train out of the El Segundo loadout. They'd be back for the second half later in the day, but unfortunately other obligations prevented me from sticking around for it.
GMTX 3311 shuffles coal hoppers around at a coal loadout in Switchback, WV along the NS Pocahontas District.
RJ Corman works the logging operation that occupies the former National Coal loadout site in Turley, TN on the Jellico Branch.
Continuing with the ballast train theme, BNSF 5134 along with the two ACe's shove their empties up to the loadout at Pipestone.
A trio of R. J. Corman SD40's lead an empty coal drag up the Loup Creek Branch, passing Dunloup Creek Falls as they follow the namesake creek out of Thurmond, WV. The train is bound for the Alpha Metallurgical Resources loadout at the very end of the branch in Pax, WV. Due to the tough grades and tight curves along this branch, RJ Corman utilizes a trio of SD40-2 variants to assist CSX run-through power.
DPR 1 is the leader on another loaded coal train on May 9, 2019. The conveyor to the mine is in the distance and feeds the loadout. A very efficient operation.
© Eric T. Hendrickson 2019 All Rights Reserved
Having loaded at JRL Coal's Creech loadout earlier in the day, C623 is seen crossing over the Cumberland River at Wasioto.
Through trains on the Indiana Sub haven't been a thing for almost 20 years. This eastbound was a reroute from the LH&StL which was undergoing a rebuild. It's also been 10 years since a coal train loaded at the Wheatland loadout. Currently, you can still get a local 2-3 times a week, so at least not all hope it lost.
After a decade of sitting dormant U44 loads the first train of coal at the Pardee loadout off the former Interstate Railroad in southwestern Virginia.
If you think of the Billings-Laurel area as Northern Pacific country, you'd mostly be right. However, two other Hill railroads called the area home before BN came to town. The CB&Q had two southward routes extending through Wyoming, and the Great Northern also had a branch heading northwest to Great Falls and eventually Shelby. The latter route is called the Laurel Subdivision on BNSF today and connects the old NP with the Hi-Line across northern Montana. The southern portion of the line is also used to access Signal Peak mine, a busy loadout that fills several trains a week of predominantly export coal for Roberts Bank, BC. With empties for Signal Peak in tow, a BNSF AC4400CW winds around the many twists and turns that the right of way makes on its way out of Billings.
A pair of RJ Corman tunnel motors pull empties towards the Pax loadout after bringing a loaded train to the interchange.
I finally had the chance to work in the waterfall, which was quickly drowned out by the EMDs moving West.