View allAll Photos Tagged LOADOUT
The Big Eagle Railroad takes a cut of empties upgrade for the mine loadout past the iconic Winifrede WV church. These units have since been replaced by a pair of GMTX painted GP38-2's.
OMLX 414 and 412 ease under the old Gavilon loadout on some rough track in Imperial, Nebraska. This isn't quite the end of the Imperial branch, but it only travels another half mile or so to reach Frenchman Valley Coop where the power will grab an empty potash covered hopper before swapping ends and working their way south. The Nebraska, Kansas, & Colorado Railway took over operating this 48 mile line from BNSF in 2004.
South Central Florida Express train Cane 2 has a load of fresh cut cane from the Runyon loadout trailing USSC 3804 (GP38-2 built Oct. 1974 for the San Manuel Arizona Railroad as SMA 17) hustling back toward the mill in Clewiston across the bridge over the Miami Canal.
This is the northernmost of three railroad crossings of the canal along different lines. A few miles to the south the USSC's private cane haulage mainline crosses it, and then a few more miles beyond that the SCFE's ex ACL Okeelanta Branch also bridges it, both of which each are equally photogenic.
The canal runs 77 miles from Lake Okeechobee southeast to the Miami River in downtown where it empties into the Atlantic. In 1906, Gov. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward launched his ambitious drive to drain the Everglades and transform miles of sawgrass prairie from Miami to Lake Okeechobee into the vast Everglades Agricultural Area. Meant to irrigate the new farmland it was also intended as a commercial waterway with a series of locks, the last of which was completed in 1915. But boat service did not last long and ended when the railroads built into the area though derelict locks remain as a reminded of that earlier era.
Canals lace south Florida, and are as ubiquitous here as they are in Venice. In fact my girlfriend and I joked that it should be called the 'Canal State' instead of the 'Sunshine State!' If you're so inclined to learn more about the canal system check out these links: www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2001-11-18-0111170514-st...
www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/07/17/in-sou...
palmbeach.floridaweekly.com/articles/our-canals/
Now getting back to trains, wholly owned by US Sugar Corp. as their common carrier railroad subsidiary, this particular trackage was built about 1929 when the Atlantic Coast Line extended their old Moore Haven and Clewiston line to this canal where they met the Florida East Coast Railway's Kissimmee Valley Line which had been built south from New Smyrna Beach to Belle Glade in 1923 and then similarly extended here in 1929. Consequently this canal was the southernmost point on both railroads and a train going either direction from this point (MP 957.8 on the old ACL or MP K70.9 on the old FEC) is considered northbound!
The ACL trackage west of the bridge passed to the SCL, Family Lines, Seaboard System and finally CSX thru a series of mergers, and the latter finally sold this branch line in June 1990 to the Brandywine Valley Railroad, a Lukens Steel Company subsidiary which operated it as the SCFE. Four years later they sold the railroad to its largest customer, U.S. Sugar which operates it as a separate company semi independent from the 119 miles of private non common carrier branch lines they already owned.
And another four years after US Sugar acquired the SCFE they leased the FEC's K Branch eastward from this point to about MP K15 west of Fort Pierce with overhead trackage rights into the yard there to effect interchange. The trackage into Fort Pierce is actually younger having been built in 1947 as a cutoff from that town on the mainline to Mantola, 29 miles west, where it met the original branch. This new line allowed for some 150 miles of the original railroad which was totally devoid of customers to be abandoned while retaining access to the lucrative sugar mills clustered at the south end of the line.
Lake Harbor, Florida
Sunday March 15, 2025
Cook and Sons 2 -1, at the Sapphire Coal Company loadout, Thornton, Kentucky. April 26, 2003. Jack D Kuiphoff © photo
Unit 2, NW2 built as NYO&W 127 >NYC 9512>8695>PC 8695>9177>CR 9177
Unit 1, SW7 built for NYC 8884>PC 8884>CR 8884
fb, 6/08/2023.
A trio of Indiana Southern SD40-2's have an empty coal train in tow heading west between Linton and Dugger on May 30, 2020. They would make a hard left at Dugger to get to the Bear Run loadout, the largest coal mine east of the Mississippi. G&W isn't my favorite thing ever, but documenting several coaltrains in this area over 4 days will certainly be nice to look back on in a decade or so.
On a beautiful spring day nearly two years ago we watch a pairing of YN2 AC4400's shove a Gainesville Regional utilities coal empty under the loadout to begin the loading process. The loadout at Mary Helen is one of the best scenes in coal country. The old country store that still stands next to the steep coal branch is a reminder of times gone by in the hills and hollars of Eastern Kentucky. A few moments later conductor Al Sergent would motion us over to chat about the area, and give us a few unique angles of the old loader at creech in rural Harlan county USA.
CSXT 7848 leads Q694-11 under the idled loadout at Ivel. This was the last significant snowfall in eastern Kentucky until this week.
While exploring US Sugar's operations in south-central Florida, I had hoped to see crews burn one of the sugarcane fields. To begin the harvesting process, crews will light a field on fire to burn away all of the leaves and debris for easier harvesting as only the stalks contain sugar. Crews then rush to cut the stalks, drive them to one of the many loadouts, dump them into a captive-service hopper, and rail the material to Clewiston - all within 24 hours. In this frame, a cane train picks up loads at the Shawnee Loadout as thick smoke from the nearby burning field obscures the sky.
A misty rain fills the sky north of Danville, West Virginia as CSX empty coal train U005 heads towards the yard in town behind a pair of ES44AC's. The train is passing through the remnants of a former coal loadout that is in the process of being demolished to start mine reclamation efforts on the site.
====Info====
CSX Coal River Subdivision
Danville, WV
CSX U005 (Coal Empties; Russell, KY to Danville, WV)
CSX 3104 ES44AC Blt. 2012
CSX 3000 ES44AC Blt. 2012
Closing back in on the coal loadout in Rangely, DPR-1 cools its jets passing through the openness of northwest Colorado.
CSX C75329 rolls east past the signals at Rockville, MD on a muggy summer afternoon. The C753 originated at Mettiki Mine on the former Western Maryland Thomas Subdivision. Mettiki is the last active coal loadout in the state of Maryland. The train is headed to Newport News for export.
Norfolk Southern U86 has almost completed the trip up the Cub Creek Branch as the crew brings the train to the Coal Mountain Loadout.
On a beautiful, warm spring morning, Wisconsin & Southern symbol T004 (Horicon-Janesville) blows past the quarries and stone loadout at Sussex, Wisconsin, exercising trackage rights over CN's Waukesha Sub. WAMX SD40M-2 4223 leads.
The 82nd Santa train passes under the now-inactive Collco loadout, just west of Haysi, Virginia. Leading the train in 2024 is the perpetually half-finished Clinchfield heritage unit, recently released as part of CSX's heritage program.
Canadian National coal train No. 769 travels up the Luscar Industrial Spur near Cadomin, Alberta, on July 15, 2013. The train will soon be loading at the Luscar Mine loadout that is part of Teck’s Cardinal River Operation and is reached by this branch line operated out of Leyland.
Kanawha River Terminal Geeps and an Alco resting between loading and unloading coal trains at Ceredo River.
South Central Florida Express train Cane 1 is getting ready to depart with a fresh cut load of sugar cane from the Childs loadout. They are paused just north of the State Route 70 overpass at MP 898.8 (as measured from Richmond, VA via the old Atlantic Coast Line main) led by USSC 4203, a rebuilt GP40-2 that began life in Oct. 1966 as a straight GP40 built new for the Milwauke Road as their number 193. Childs is the longest distance cane run on the SCFE with the loadout located leas than seven miles from the depot in downtown Lake Pacid. The trip back to the Clewiston sugar mill is a bit over 50 miles from here which makes for a nice long morning chase.
Unincorporated Childs
Highlands County, Florida
Saturday March 15, 2025
NREX 1287, or Sunny Knott's LOC1 resting at the Sunny Knott loadout on Jones Fork.
In 1969, Evans Industries of Kentucky (George Evans) and National Steel (George Stinson) partnered to create the Beaver Creek Consolidated Coal Company (Evans owned 10%, National Steel with 90%) to serve coal reserves on Jones Fork. The Stinson #1 mine and prep plant were built near Raven, and the Beaver Creek #4 mine was built here near lackey. Most coal from BC#4 was loaded raw and shipped as stoker coal, however some raw coal was shipped to Stinson. The Stinson prep plant had a railcar dumper to dump these cars for processing. Most of the "clean" raw coal was sourced from smaller mines around BC#4 and dumped there. In 1971, National Steel bought out Evans Industries and became full owners of BCCCC, which was later consolidated to just National Steel. The loadouts at Lackey were placed into service in October or November 1970, with the smaller loadout in the background of the image assisting the main tipple with loading. Stinson started shipping in December of 1970. Upgrades to the plant were done in the mid-90's under Sunny Knott Mining ownership, hence the name. It's around that time the secondary loadout was taken out of service.
Of note, the Beaver Creek Consolidated Coal Company name dates back to 1910, as a land company from Huntington, WV. Evans bought the company in 1945, and used the name for his new mining business in 1969.
The Interstate First Hill crew was backing from Dorchester Junction, Va. to the Red River Coal loadout in Dorchester with 45 empty Silverside gons on March 3, 1985. The old Dorchester Branch would soon be abandoned, with the wooden trestle and the Business US 23 bridge replaced by a fill. The track in the foreground is the main between Andover and Norton. Until the mid-30s, the at-grade crossing was protected by an interlocking tower in the lower left foreground. Under NS, this spot was later identified as "DNOR" as a block location.
A mine run heads south the Carr's Fork Branch just north of the twin communities of Sassafras and Vicco. They just spotted empties at the loadout in Yellow Creek and are returning to bring the second half of their train up to Yellow Creek for loading. Not much space between the tracks that road on the right side of the frame!
The Grise is an articulated flatbed that provides support for its BT-9 handler during cargo loadouts and catalyst conversions when paired with a Duroc. The treaded vehicle can move steadily over any terrain and in any conditions providing a stable base from which the BT-9 can operate safely.
The BT-9 is a single man short range utility handler able to lift 80% its own weight while having the dexterity and precision to perform detailed operations even in harsh conditions.
CPKC's Fording River Sub is a 33 mile-long branch line serving 4 coal mines on the west side of Crowsnest Pass. The line was built in the early 1970's and features a steady stream of coal trains carrying Canadian carbon to the Pacific for export.
Here, at the far northern end of the line, CP 9354 slowly & steadily loads a coal train at the EVR Fording River Mine. The train is sized to match the length of the loading loop almost exactly, as the DPU has cleared the switch only a few car lengths before the head-end completes its circuit through the load-out.
CPKC Coal Train
CP DRF-44 / ES44AC #9354
CP DRF-43 / AC4400 #9755
(DPU) CP DRF-44 / ES44AC #8949
Fording, BC
August 25th, 2025
It's a murky summer solstice in the Last Frontier as a pair of SD70MACs have arrived with the morning 87 car Anchorage Sand and Gravel unit train (Alaska Railroad symbol 155W), and they are shoving it into position beneath the loadout at MP A3 on the Palmer Branch.
With the old QAP and CPP pits no longer in service this loadout is the only freight customer on the little branch that in days of old once stretched far out the Matanuska River valley to coal mined at Sutton and Chickaloon. These days, other than these season gravel trains, the only trains to operate on the branch are a dozen or so special passenger trains to and from the annual Alaska State fair celebration held at the Palmer fairgrounds.
Palmer, Alaska
Wednesday June 21, 2017
Utah Railway 9005 leads empties east as they approach Castle Gate and then onto Utah Railway Junction. At URJ they will diverge from the mainline and head for the loadout. In a few hours they will be adding their mid-train helpers for the trip up Soldier Summit. 8.99
Looking back in some old files, I came across this chase of Winchester & Western's "Sand Man" job from Winchester, VA back to Unimin's sand loadout at Gore, W. Va. Nick Palazini and I were in the middle of a 4 day trip and after chasing the Gettysburg red geep in the morning, we matched up with friends Jim Kleeman and Bill Kalkman for the remainder of the day. The Sand man spent considerable time switching in Winchester before heading west. Jim and Bill had a long day and invited us for dinner, however we politely declined as the clouds were breaking to the west. Our decision turned out to be a winner as we did quite well chasing GP-9R's 572 and 575 bracketing the former Conrail MT-4 slug 210 with 18 empties, shown passing the big curve at Indian Hollow in Gainesboro, VA on April 17, 2015. The only disappointment to the day was when we finally sat down for dinner in Romney, W. Va is that we found out they did not serve beer....apparently Romney is a dry town!
Rana HECUs are a common sight in and around industrial waste zones. Their standard loadout of a vacuum filter arm and a net scoop allow them to handle solid and liquid contaminants with ease.
BNSF 5120 leads a westbound merchandise train through Kleenburn, WY, on the BNSF Big Horn Sub. The spur to the left of the train went to the loadout at the mine that used to be here, now all thats left is the spur and reclaimed land.
CSX ES44AC 3191, the rear DPU on mine run R290, approaches the flood loader at the Contura Energy Feats Loadout in Holden, West Virginia as the last cars of the train are loaded. Once loading completes, the mine run crew will return the train to the Peach Creek Yard outside Logan where it will wait for a recrew to head towards its destination.
====Info====
CSX Island Creek Subdivision
Holden, WV
CSX R290-14 (Coal Loads; Peach Creek, WV to Feats Loadout - Holden, WV Turn)
CSX 3414 ET44AC Blt. 2016
CSX 374 AC44CW Blt. 1998
(DPU) CSX 3191 ES44AC Blt. 2015
U717 is just about ready to depart UTAC's Fairlane loadout with the day's last light illuminating their handsome EMD trio and fresh taconite loads bound for Proctor. A sharp eye will also find one of the T-Birds further back, unloading their raw ore simultaneously. When I planned this expedition, mid-Feb was picked for as much snow and steam as I could find. Nature had other plans, although I managed to find a little ice here and the browns actually look pretty nice just minutes before the sun dips below the horizon.
Coal loads from the Island Creek loadout off of the Lenore Branch roll down the Kenova District inbound for Williamson yard.
CSX G685 blasts south by the abandoned loadout at Emlyn with Norfolk Southern's Interstate Heritage Unit in the lead. With a late afternoon call out of Corbin, we were hoping to at least get blue hour in the gorge, but a hotbox detector nabbing them north of Saxton unfortunately put an end to those ambitions.
One for Switcher Sunday: What I believe is properly noted with the reporting marks PGVX 2012, an SW8, lets out a little bit carbon as it shoves on a set of 4 loaded hoppers at the site of the former Dubuque Junction.
I got lucky on this particular Friday afternoon and happened to be in the area of the Viterra operation here when I noticed activity with someone on the railcars. My best guess given what I saw and the very rusty condition of these former SOO Line Hoppers is that what the crew was transferring out of the barges in the upper center with a crane and loading these four hoppers was salt. With that job apparently complete, they were pulled slowly through the loading house (I assume it has a scale) and then eventually up to this spot to clear a switch. With a belch the crew is now shoving back where they'll deposit these 4 loads on one of the spurs just above the engine, for the CN yard/local crew to pick up soon. Since they are SOO cars, I wonder if they went to the CPKC interchange for forwarding to a customer on their railroad? The two road still swap cars via a spur off the main near the CN yard.
This is a scene loaded with so much neat history the more you look, and there's lots of layers. If you're curious here is a (admittedly somewhat long winded) description of some of it...
The most obvious is the diamond at front at center: This is the site of the former Dubuque Junction, once linking together the Chicago Great Western and the Illinois Central. The IC still is in operation with the mainline at right, and the track in the lower center is what is used to connect to this facility. The other former CGW main was originally abandoned west of Dubuque in the 1980s. A segment of the line here was still used until somewhere in the early 2010s though to service another nearby Cargill Complex - around 2012 I still saw the occasional set of cars being moved by a different SW1 assigned there. But it has since been severed and the track the 2012 is on is just a stub that ends a few more car lengths behind the camera. There was once a tower here at Dubuque Junction directly under the camera: see this neat Lance Wales photo showing off the spot in Chicago Central days looking in the opposite direction from my view: www.flickr.com/photos/wales23/11921296805/
The name Dubuque Junction is still used today for what is now the connection between the CN and CPKC a short distance to the west.
The second more obvious neat bit of history is the stone tower at upper right - that's the Shot Tower. Built in 1856, it is a holdout of the history of this tri-state area of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois in the lead mining industry that was really important around here for many years. Lead mining allowed for the production of lead shot for weapons in these towers, where the molten lead could be poured and the round shot formed as the material fell and cooled.
The industry here has been there far shorter than the tower, but it has changed over time too. The PGVX reporting marks of the 2012 would reflect Peavy Grain, a previous owner that then became Gavillon Grain before that company was bought in 2023 by current owner Viterra. The little complex here once had more buildings but some of them were torn down in the last few years, supposedly with the intent of creating a new facility although the Viterra purchase may have put a pause on some of those plans. There's still a number of tracks and loadouts for transferring bult products to and from trucks and barges, and the SW8 is stored inside the load out shed under the bins but can occasionally be found out and about.
This little blue switch engine also has a neat history: the best records I can find is that it was built in 1951 for the US Army, with the same number. That fits with a story told to me by the operations manager, that he once a number of years back had a group of Veterans stop in and want to see the engine. If I remember right, they had operated it during their time in the army as support for the Korean War! For now at least this 73 year old engine is still earning it's keep in what would seem to be a low-stress retirement job, moving the occasional cut of cars here on the banks of the mighty Mississippi.
(By the way, If anybody else has older photos of this junction in it's heyday beyond the handful on railpictures.net, I'd love to see 'em!)
Though in the twilight of its career, the NS H62R continues to shine bright. Rebodied in 1999, the H62R is a perfect physical representation of the NS merger using N&W design language and keeping the Southern four bay design. Along with the few HS series cars that remain, the H62R now represents the last vestiges of the Southern coal fleet. I hope one will be preserved.
Spotted at Four Rivers Coal in Middlesboro, this pair of H62R's are seen awaiting another load of Kentucky coal.
Helpers on a northbound coal train bound for the main east of Gillette passes the south wye switch to the Coal Creek loadout. As this is a joint BNSF-UP line, helpers are made up of power from both roads
Rust colorored hills, Saguaro cactus, a cattle guard, and the Copper Basin Railway....pure Arizona right here!
The same morning empty ore train seen in this photo at Tunnel 2: flic.kr/p/2kWtKyx has now swung off the ex Southern Pacific branchline main and is on the former Kennecott Copper Ray branch at MP 1.8. After crossing the cattle guard they will cross State Route 177 and enter ASARCO property making photography off limits for the 90 min or so it will take them to head up to the loadout by the concentrator in front of the mine and exchange empties for loads that we will chase back to Hayden. A pair of ex Kennecott Copper pit motor GP39-2s bracket an ex Louisville and Nashville GP40.
The Copper Basin has operated the 54 mile long Magma - Winkelman former Southern Pacific branchline since 1986. That year the SP sold the line to Kennecott Copper which immediately turned around and sold it along with their 7 mile private mine haul railroad from Ray mine to Ray Jct. and their branch from Hayden Jct. up to the Hayden smelter to create the CBRY. Later that same year Kennecott turned around and sold their Ray mine and all Hayden operations to ASARCO, operator of the original 1912 smelter in Hayden. Independent for its first 20 yrs, the CBRY was purchased by ASARCO (virtually its sole reason for existence now) in 2006.
Pinal County, Arizona
Sunday October 18, 2015
Deseret Power Railway (DPR) E60C electric locomotives DPR-1, DPR-2, and DPR-3 are seen leading the morning empty train away from the Bonanza Power Plant, headed back to the loadout in neighboring Colorado. The power plant is slated for closure by 2030, being replaced with a smaller nuclear plan in the same location, almost certainly spelling the end for the railway much like the Black Mesa & Lake Powell.
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left(LiZu Melody)
☑* EXiA * Kunai Leg band L Resize@Neo Japan
☑* EXiA * Tomoe Arm band L@Neo Japan
☑* EXiA * Tomoe Arm band R@Neo Japan
☑* EXiA * Tomoe Glove Bento Maitreya@Neo Japan
☑* EXiA * Tomoe Kunoichi Boots Maitreya@Neo Japan
☑* EXiA * Tomoe Kunoichi Kimono FATPACK Maitreya@Neo Japan
☑Kunai (wear)@Neo Japan
☑[CX] x -TWC- // Tritium Slave Collar - Blue (Onyx)@Neo Japan
☑[^.^Ayashi^.^] Kim hair(Unrigged)@Neo Japan
NEO JAPAN
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GABRIEL3/117/139/500
☑[The Forge] Plasmoid Katana. Shoulder Stance
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☑Dura-U90-FAT PACK A:left@Neo Japan
☑::GB:: Hodie haori (Belleza) Inyou koi@Neo Japan
☑::GB:: Cyber arm cover (Light) (Belleza) Black@Neo Japan
☑::GB:: Metallic gloves (bento Light hand) (Belleza)@Neo Japan
☑::GB:: Metallic gloves (Resize) (put into the mouth)@Neo Japan
☑::GB:: Pocket layered pants (Belleza) Black@Neo Japan
☑::GB:: Cyber tenbu boots (Belleza) Silver@Neo Japan
☑[CX] XenoCircuit - Night (Gianni)
☑[CX] Bloody Cyclops w/ Nails (Black Bridge High) R
☑Butanik83 - Cybernetic Yakuza Shades(add)
☑+HILU+IKIGARI FACE CHAIN P(GANMI)/BLACK
☑aku/BLACK
☑.TeaBunny. Diamond Chain Earring - R - Onyx
☑Butanik83 - Cybernetic Yakuza Arm Blade L(add)@Neo Japan
NEO JAPAN
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GABRIEL3/117/139/500
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☑[ContraptioN] SK3LET0 Series Prosthetic Leg ??? BOXED@Neo Japan
☑:::NOIR::: Anais Choker@Neo Japan
☑:::SOLE::: GRPE - CLeg - Freya base (L)(Black) (Unrigged)@Neo Japan
☑:::SOLE::: GRPE - CLeg - Freya base (R)(Black) (Unrigged)@Neo Japan
☑Butanik83 - Cybernetic Yakuza Arm Blade[Package]@Neo Japan
☑.Shi Hair : Kuwn@Uber
☑CHEERNO SPR - S_01 Shirt [JAKE]@TMD
☑D I R A M - ZIVA UniSex Glasses_Pack02@TMD
☑Legal Insanity - Miles shorts black Bell. Jake
☑SISU\ WAR BELT M-SLANT L (BLK) (LOADOUT B)
☑[ContraptioN] SK3LET0 Series Prosthetic Arm ??? BOXED
NEO JAPAN
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set
☑VARONIS - Odachi Build@Neo Japan
☑BOILDEGG_OSAKA_FATPACK@Neo Japan
NEO JAPAN
With the picturesque Lake Powell in the background, Black Mesa & Lake Powell’s morning train to the mine has just left the Navajo Power Generation Plant at Page, AZ. Headed to the Kayenta Mine Loadout, about 78 miles away, the crew will load the train on a loop track before returning to page to dump the train.
Usually shooting for the open field at the VT Yankee switch in Vernon, I decided to try a shot by the ballast loadout instead. Here is the northbound leg of the New England Central 611 turn highballing for Brattleboro where it will magically transform into train 323 for St Albans.
JDNX 2001, a cabless Alco rebuild, resting between trains at Excel Mining's Scotts Branch tipple. This critter loads unit trains instead of having the CSX crews do it, and this might be the last active critter unit in the Eastern Kentucky coalfields. Excel Mining is shutting its doors in January 2025, so who knows how the future will go for this critter and tipple.
On a beautiful winter evening, a trainload of Eastman bound coal prepares to depart Nally and Hamilton's Balkan loadout.
Norfolk Southern coal train 818 passes beneath the abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad coal tipple in Marion, Ohio with the most appropriate heritage locomotive in the lead. The train had loaded at the Consol loadout in Oakwood, Virginia three days earlier and is destined for Iron Dynamics in Butler, Indiana.