Each year, the amount of coal transported by rail continues to grow. The Burlington Northern and the Chicago & North Western benefit greatly by hauling this coal out of the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. Watch as each railroad uses its own main line, and then as they work together on the joint line moving the coal out of the state.
The Burlington Northern's 5th Sub from east of Gillette, southeast through Newcastle is the easternmost line. This section of railroad hosts much of the BN's coal traffic and also has plenty of general freight and priority trains as well.
The Chicago and North Western operates over a section of its old "Cowboy Line" from Crandall to Shawnee toward the mines. On the Powder River Sub, the C&NW's Dash 9-44 and AC4400CW locomotives lead trains along with a sampling of Union Pacific power.
Then the two railroads join together on the BN's 10th Sub, which is also the BN/CNW joint line. This corridor is the direct link to a majority of the Powder River Basin coal mines.
Run time: 80 minutes