Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Severe traffic jam at work yesterday. Maintenance in the Way had two tracks tied up so 4 mains worth of traffic only had 2. Meaning we sat a lot. I happened to be in a spot to get a few pics of coal mining in progress.

This is the pit at S Antelope. Seen is the big dragline - the bucket holds 2 or 300 tons o' dirt. Also seen is the coal seam. Around 70' in most places. Smaller seams are present but would be too costly to process so they are covered back up when the big seam has been removed.


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Green means go! Sat here for a while & the disp lit us up to move to another parking spot. Can't see it too well, but the light is green over red = straight ahead.


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Another shot of the dragline and seams at S Antelope.


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On the other side of the rail was N Antelope. Here is a big-a$$ shovel filling the big-a$$ Cat haul trucks. The one seen is medium size & holds like 150 tons or coal or dirt.


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Different angle - same scene. Cond was able to hang out the window so you don't have to look through my very dirty windshield.


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Dragline #3 at N Antelope. Barely visible is one of the lesser seams that will be covered up in a few days.


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Different day - different train. Sitting at Reno Jct waiting to get into Jacobs Ranch mine - which was stuffed at the time. Visible ahead is West Thunder Mine.


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The undercutter. This lifts the rail, scoops out the ballast ( rock chunks) tumbles the coal dust & dirt out & replaces it. They just finished for the day, and mechanics are servicing it for tomorrow's work.


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New crude oil transloading facility under construction. Many new oil wells are being plumbed into this. We will be pulling 100 car trains of crude by the end of the year. Which will export through Galveston. Story goes that it will be pumped onto Chinese refinery ships which will process the crude into gas & diesel on the way to Panama where it will pumped into Chinese tankers enroute through the canal & back to Asia.

Big biz.


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I have a few more, but my iPod takes such crappy pics, I'm embarrassed to post them. I'm not bringing my Canon on the train, either! SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

....and WE dont get any of the oil....whats wrong with THAT picture...

....interesting pics-even if thru a dirty winder... ...would love to go for a full round trip ride....

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....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

Yeah, the whole oil bit is confusing. We have more oil than ever from all the hydraulic fracturing ( fracking). At the moment, it's mostly pumped via pipeline to the refinery in Cheyenne but a lot goes to Asia via Vancouver.

So. We have crude oil in quantities too numerous to mention... natural gas in such abundance it's burned off at the well to relieve pressure on the new oil.

But! Have gas prices gone down? Demand is constant & supply is up... No. Gasoline is still over 3.50 at the pump here.

Thank you b Hussein for bankrolling china. SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

Back when I hunted out on the Meadows Pasture, we had at one time up to 16 wells running around us. Kinda tapered off in the late 80's and early 90's. Last time I was up that direction there was only one running and all the rest were pulled and capped, around 2004.
Many years ago a friend "The Hook" was running escort for large loads. He escorted a big dragline bucket into either the N.Antelope or S. Antelope, someplace I have pictures that he gave me of the load, I'll see if I can find them in this mess.
Good pics Steve even thru a dirty window. How about some of Bill? I miss my old huntin grounds alot, and the guys I hunted with.

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"Like a tank with it's tracks blown off, my turret still swivels and my cannon fires, so whenever the fight kicks off, I'll likely live or die right there, where the fight begins and ends"
John Connor

I'll try to get a few pics one of these next few days. I'm there at night more often than not so it might be a few days.

Saw some guys all dressed in camo last trip - might be bow season in some of the hunting units. Saw a buck goat that had to measure 15" or 16" recently. This time of year, they are pretty spooky, though. SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

Reminds me of the mine that is on both sides of I90 up by Gillette.

Rad

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Tri-State Gun Collectors Life Member

thanks for the photos it puts things in better perspective , we do have vast resources

A few more from today.

Early lurkey season. Stop, look & listen? More like stop, gawk and run for it. **splat** 'tarded turkey.


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"Foamer". Unkind RR term for rail fans who "froth at the mouth when they see a train". These kind of people squander their vacation to come from all over the country to see coal trains. This guy was a little close to the rail, but we didn't rat him out. The RR will file trespassing charges. They really don't hurt anything as long as they don't get too close.


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Leaving Jacobs Ranch mine on the mine lead. In the distance is west Thunder mine and main track.


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Approaching main track. A BeaNer is heading north in a hurry... which you can't tell from a still. Have no fear, he was getting after it.


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Switching in the yard. We had just set out a couple cars and were back to the train. Cell phone/iPod cameras are about worthless... he's only 1 motor and 2 cars back & he's barely visible. I had just ka-banged the power back onto the train & he was "hanging the air". ( Connecting air hoses so we would have brakes)


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There's not much room between trains & you have to keep your head in the game when switching.

I had a few more, but the quality is too crappy to post. This AM the sun was right & you could really see the seam at S Antelope. But we had signals to stop at the next light. Meaning I needed both hands and full attention to keep ahold of the train. Squeeeeeled to a stop around a curve on a descending grade just like in the comics. I'd rather be lucky than good.

A train rolled into N Antelope, the disp burned us a green light & away we went. 10.5 hours for van ride to the mine - carefully leave the mine - slug up grades, pumping cubic acres on hydrocarbons into the air - bob & weave through track work - FINALLY make it into the yard - switch out a couple cars - and stumble out the door.

Same drill tomorrow. SW

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Slava Ukraini!!