I call them the Powder River Express. They go through Texas here regularly. Southbound full, northbound empty, a full cycle, 24-7. It's an amazing operation!!!!

What choreography! You must have great connections with Union Pacific to pull off such an awesome three-train catch like that! Spectacular ending!!

I love the powder river basin because of this 3 trains for one video & you can see for miles so you can see about 5 of them at the same time LOVE IT!!!!!! friendly crews as well

There's literally never-ending action here. You're right about the concrete ties. Concrete ties are an expensive luxury but they make sense in places that can't go down for maintenance very long.

Brilliant video mate! It's strange seeing that Southern Pacific Locomotive on the second train, 13 years after being bought and the SP livery still goes strong...

That was so cool. I love how they all meet in the end at the same place.

The Powder River Basin is one of the biggest things on my bucket list.

Oh my gosh what a beautiful catch! Spectacular shots too!

I was first there in 2010 at the height of train movements there. The war on coal has decimated the train count there, and track #4 north of Bill is now used for hopper storage. A sad sight. I photographed over 200 coal hauling EMDs in the deadline east of Gilette in 2017.

welcome to the powder river basin, where coal is gold and trains are endless... great video!

Sweet video. Very nice meet!

Great & epic work as always

Where I'm at, KY and WV are great for mountain RR action, but nothing like this! Great shooting! :)

@penguingeneral2 This line is completely triple track (with an area of 4 main tracks too) and has heavy traffic. I was happy to catch this event, but I'd be willing to bet something similar to this plays out on this line one or more times per day.

Running very clean at full throttle

Great catch on the the three way meet. On the weight on the cars (I saw in one Kansas City a few weeks ago) on the train I saw, had an average of 21 tons empty, with a 101 ton loads, for a total of 122 tons per car (and figure roughly 137 cars). For the most part that is what I see on other trains. I would love to visit the Orin Sub someday.

I like it. For some reason this video seems kind of creepy, or sinister somehow. I know that doesn't make any sense, but you got these industrial locos, throbbing with power, and the long lines of cars, all identical, slowly moving past you, unstoppable, and the setting of the scene, and the lighting. It was way better than your typical train video. And there is something about the resolution or camera that makes it look almost like an animation or like it's filtered. I've seen that before.

Because this type of train "meeting" is not common in most parts of the world. The footage is spectacular.

I just love to see all the enthusiasm in the enthusiasts. Warms my heart to see that there are people aware of this industry.

Yeah, send the high-speed empty down the middle. For maximum coal dust dispersion.

Wow that's a beautiful sight

Fantastic videos !

i have been to bill wy twice and it is simply amazing to see

I have been to Bill WY and driven along that line from Douglas to Gillette twice. When you see coal trains running as often as streetcars, you know you are witnessing big time railroading. The videos do it justice. But go there and experience it. Douglas is a great place to get a hotel and great eats.

LMAO!!!!!! Good one! ~ But I love trains, especially the real long ones, makes me feel like a kid. LOL

Seeing all that coal on two trains like that is pretty satisfying !

You also mention market forces. I think it would be interesting to see if the PRICE of electricity would go up,down or stay the same if we were to leave coal and switch to wind/solar. Coal is much cheaper to aquire and use than the other alternative energy sources. Coal also has flexibility with regards to how/when you use it. You can leave it in the ground. You can mine it and use it immediately. Or you can mine it and stockpile it. Those options aren't available with green energy...

Gotta love those coal drags!

Great catch. Whats the capacity of those hoppers? Just wondering how it compares to the stuff where I'm from which is up to 120t capacity

2:05, Wow, What an awesome shot. Fantastic post.

This is an impressive train video. I subscribed.

I am ASTOUNDED that most people think semis and trucks are the optimal transport instead of freight trains. I want those people to LOOK AT THIS!!

great catches.

Holy Crap! I would've been jumping up and down!

@sevenswanstudio That was a Grade Crossing signal normally used to warn highway traffic a train is coming. It is also a greeting.

it looks like a model train;) good video!!

Superb shot ! :)

This is awesome!

coal train racing will never replace NASCAR

phenomenal

Nice video

Really nice catch - thanks for sharing....

Super video. Great catch !

phenomenal!

Excellent!!

Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, and Jeff Gordon were racing those trains.

Great vid. Love the drama, also really love the UP crews 'acknowledging' your filming of them.

Awesome video

such powerful pieces :-OO

Should take a snap of that and send it to Green Peace to hang framed in one of their offices.

Awesome great catch

All our railways here in the UK are fenced off. In cities they're made safe by walls, buildings etc, never running alongside roads as with you. In the countryside hedges and walls again separate livestock and people from trains. Very few of our roads are " open ". No doubt we being a much smaller country we have less open space. Mike in Llanblethian, Wales, UK

nice video wonderfull coal trains

fantastic.

what is the speed for such train ?

Two things: the car and the airplane. In the early 1900s, cars became popular in the U.S. In 1956, the U.S. started to construct the Interstate Highway System, which created large high-speed roads, competing with the trains. Soon after, the U.S. invested in many airports, and plane travel, blessed with superior speed, took away the remaining passengers. In 1971, the U.S. created Amtrak to take over the failing passenger services, and their trains run on the now freight railroads.

In the U.S., if a train has a locomotive on the rear (Distributed Power), an EOT is not required and instead the rear headlight of the locomotive is left on dim and used as a marker. U.S. freight locomotives typically don't have red marker lights even built into them for use in 'trailing' situations.

Belle vidéo !

Cool Triple Coals!

I would hate to see what happens to both those trains going in the same direction on different tracks when those 3 tracks narrows down to single track! Will one train stop or will they both collide into each other?

Great passing scene !

great video

Very cool!

fajna jazda równoległa!

that is some big ass trains right there blimey

nice footage !

IMPRESIONANTE..!!!!

And what makes putting Diesel in them more sense? Coal > plant > train is more efficient than: Diesel > train Especially if the Diesel prices rise.

great video!

1:00 (y) great shot !!!!

How did you get an overhead view?

Huh, I kinda miss the coal trains of Wyoming. Used to see em all the time when we'd take 18 outta Orin Junction heading to South Dakota, and used to listen to them at night running from Glenrock Coal Mine to the Dave Johnson Powerplant. Now all I have to listen to are CN frac sand trains going by 3 miles away along the US8 corridor, they aren't near as long. Sadly people around here whine about waiting for a quarter mile long train to go past.

Good catch on these coal trains

I personally visited a large coal power plant that had the capacity to burn between 9000 to 12000 metric tons o coal a day, depending on the heat demand for district heating, and electricity. There are out even power plants that can output 4000 MW/h. 500 MW/h is almost small.

In general railroads in North America have determined that electrification does not make better economic sense in the long run. It's been looked at over and over throughout the past few decades but the way railroads in the US, CN and MX operate, combined with the cost of the change, makes in incredibly unlikely we'll see electrification on this continent in the forseeable future.

Also don't forget that coal is needed to make coke, a vital ingredient in several important industrial processes, one of being steel making ;-)

Ugh. I'm slightly frustrated by the folks who are making comments on this video in regards to how it shows how we are ruining our planet. Well the computer you are using to make these comments, view the video and send your emails has to be powered by something. We all like to turn our lights on and make coffee every morning. We all love to have lights in our homes so we can still be productive after the sun goes down etc etc etc. Trains are the most efficient form or transportation over land. The only mode that is more efficient are barges, which by the way are also used to haul coal and oil. Let's keep shipping via rail including oil. No need for the keystone pipeline, we already have plenty of trains to move our oil. We can improve the safety as the rail industry has been doing for over a hundred years now. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. We can have efficient, responsible energy and transportation and rail is the way! Coal is domestic so we don't have to go to war to keep it flowing. The coal indusrty creates jobs as does the rail industry. We should improve the working conditions for people in all domestic industry. Stop sticking our noses in the business of other countries and lets bring this country into a new chapter where we can depend on ourselves through domestic sources of energy.Food for thought.

Not that many. Amtrak is the only long-distance (non-commuter) train provider. The East Coast is where most of the trains are: there is the Northeast Regional, the Acela Express, and some long-distance trains between WA and NY. There are also some trains along the west coast and around Chicago. In the mid-west of the country there are only four East-west routes and one North-south route (which does not connect the former four routes). Look up "Amtrak Map" to see what I mean.

top driving there. those two would have emerged the other end of the empty waving at each other. good driving top marks.

wow, great movie

Longest trains I've ever seen ×1000000

2011 I was hauling coal with a 240 ton Komatsu haul truck at Antelope mine . It is the first mine north of Bill Wyoming and is still operating today no thanks to Obama! I was told in the high point there was 60 plus coal trains going through there a day !

Awesome!

Very nice!

...with green energy,you have two options. Use it NOW or convert the energy to a storable source. It's that second option of converting the energy to a storable energy that adds to the cost of green electrical production. And we BOTH know who will pay for that or ANY extra costs...The Consumer.

imagine being late for work and you have to wait for those things to pass

The important aspect relates to the realities of burning all that coal... 400 PPM and risen'...

What do these trains weigh in total? Always amazed at the size of US trains. Must be 100 wagons at 100 tonnes each = 10000 tonnes. I guess the locos must be 4000 hp each. I'm English by the way. Our freights are smaller but run a lot faster to keep out of the way of the passenger services on a very crowded network.

Um país desenvolvido é assim mesmo!

Notch would be proud.

amazing

I just love the response from zchcsse1

excellent,

thumbs up and favorite!

Yes sir, it was indeed.

almost a million views for a one in a million shot! right place right time.

that is awesome!

It is incredible that Americans have not electrified their mainlines yet... Even in India main lines are electrified.

this is very cool!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right @ 2:06 is a great shot!