Disappearing Wyoming rail freight?

[briantroutman]

Does anyone have any insight into the reason why a massive amount of rail freight seems to disappear from (or originate in) the area around Gillette, Wyoming–with no corresponding traffic on highways or waterways from that point onward?

[oscar]

Coal, mined near Gillette. I've seen lots of coal trains heading east through Nebraska.

[AlexandriaVA]

Those maps don't have arrows to indicate flow.

Freight isn't disappearing in Wyoming, in fact it's appearing in the form of mined coal (as Oscar stated).

That's a great map by the way. Who made it? USDOT?

[kalvado]

Those maps don't have arrows to indicate flow.

Freight isn't disappearing in Wyoming, in fact it's appearing in the form of mined coal (as Oscar stated).

That's a great map by the way. Who made it? USDOT?

Looks like BTS - https://www.bts.gov/bts-publications/freight-facts-and-figures/freight-facts-figures-2017-chapter-3-freight
FHWA links earlier versions (the one above seems to be 2010 version), and newer links say "moved to BTS"

[AlexandriaVA]

I love how it compares ton-by-ton freight movements, and gives the regional context as well....you get scale and location in one map.

Shows the extent that our country is connected, and other way it is not. Air fright absent, but hard to render in such a format (plus probably a low% in all honesty).

[briantroutman]

Coal, mined near Gillette.

I assumed it had to be some natural resource being extracted. I'm still somewhat surprised that this freight handily outweighs the aggregate tonnage of freight on any other single rail line anywhere else in the country. Just looking at the map...there's no other rail line that comes remotely close. But considering the relatively low value of coal compared with its weight, I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising, although no other coal-producing region generates nearly as much freight tonnage. I didn't realize that Wyoming produced nearly as much coal as the rest of the nation combined, but I see that it almost does.

Freight isn't disappearing in Wyoming, in fact it's appearing in the form of mined coal (as Oscar stated).

Understood–which is why I said in my original post "...disappear from (or originate in)..." . I didn't include both scenarios in the title for the sake of brevity (and levity).

The above is the 2012 version (the newest I could find), which I located here: https://www.bts.gov/content/freight-flows-highway-railroad-and-waterway-2012 It appears that the embedded images in the 2017 version that kalvado linked are the same size as the one I posted–you just need to open them in a new window or zoom in to see more detail.

[jon daly]

John McPhee wrote about the coal trains 13 years ago. I was surprised there was still so much moving out of that area; although western coal is cleaner than Appalachian coal, IIRC.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/10/03/coal-train-i

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/10/10/coal-train-ii

[freebrickproductions]

Yea, the Powder River Basin coal trains. A good number of them head past me here in Huntsville on their ways to and from Scherer Steam Plant in Georgia. A few also head up to a TVA plant near Kingston, IIRC.

[froggie]

The Powder River Basin.  Major coal mining area as others have noted.

20 years ago, the then-Dakota Minnesota & Eastern (DM&E) railroad (whose main line generally follows US 14 across SD and MN) announced intentions to expand into the Powder River Basin in hopes of shipping coal east.  The plan was to branch off from their main line in Wall, SD and loop south of the Black Hills.  It went through regulatory approval, but they couldn't get financing.  Since then, they were acquired by Canadian Pacific, who shelved the plans about 5 years ago.

[mgk920]

Yepper, outbound coal.  The line between Gillette and Orin, WY (actually serves the mines) was opened on a new ROW in the late 1970s and was progressively upgraded to four main tracks within just a few years.  It's shared by both BNSF and Union Pacific.

An example of this area:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS7F8S836Wk



Mike

[mgk920]

Coal, mined near Gillette.

I assumed it had to be some natural resource being extracted. I'm still somewhat surprised that this freight handily outweighs the aggregate tonnage of freight on any other single rail line anywhere else in the country. Just looking at the map...there's no other rail line that comes remotely close. But considering the relatively low value of coal compared with its weight, I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising, although no other coal-producing region generates nearly as much freight tonnage. I didn't realize that Wyoming produced nearly as much coal as the rest of the nation combined, but I see that it almost does.

I remember reading an article on the Powder River Basin many years ago and the quote that was given in the article that was taken from the geological engineering report on the extent of the coal reserves there was the word "staggering".

Mike

[jon daly]

Are any of you also railfans? I read those McPhee articles in a book this winter and since then, I've tried to keep an eye out for freight bear Providence, RI on my commute. The book, UNCOMMON CARRIERS, also profiled a long haul trucker, so I've been more cognizant of what trucks I see on the road.

[GaryV]

It would have been interesting if they had included Great Lakes shipping (that's inland, right?)

As I recall, the Soo Locks see nearly 100 M tons go through per year.

[kalvado]

It would have been interesting if they had included Great Lakes shipping (that's inland, right?)

As I recall, the Soo Locks see nearly 100 M tons go through per year.

I suspect great lakes freight is more a canadian thing. Only Duluth (not sure if Superior is included) made in on a 25 busiest US ports map in BTS link above.

[oscar]

It would have been interesting if they had included Great Lakes shipping (that's inland, right?)

As I recall, the Soo Locks see nearly 100 M tons go through per year.

Well, inland, but not in our land, with much of the shipping traffic to or from U.S. ports passing through or near Canadian waters (especially anything to or from ports east of Lake Erie).

[paulthemapguy]

If you want to see where all the coal trains start from, drive WY-59 from Douglas to Gillette.  Holy cow, all the train tracks winding around!  And coal hopper cars sitting everywhere.  You'll see up close where all that rail traffic comes from.

I'll also see a lot of coal trains coming from that direction, heading eastbound on the BNSF tracks in the Chicago area (Aurora, Naperville, Downers Grove, Brookfield, etc.).

[Brandon]

If you want to see where all the coal trains start from, drive WY-59 from Douglas to Gillette.  Holy cow, all the train tracks winding around!  And coal hopper cars sitting everywhere.  You'll see up close where all that rail traffic comes from.

I'll also see a lot of coal trains coming from that direction, heading eastbound on the BNSF tracks in the Chicago area (Aurora, Naperville, Downers Grove, Brookfield, etc.).

Yep, and that coal is used for more than power generation.  It has a lot of uses, of which steel making is not insignificant.