Coal! It moves by the thousands of tons across the High Plains from Wyoming's Powder River Basin to power plants in the Midwest and South. Come with Pentrex to the rarely visited hills of eastern Wyoming, western South Dakota, and Nebraska to see heavy coal trains of more than 100 hoppers pulled by the latest in AC motive power.

We begin with BNSF's busy route between Newcastle, Wyoming and Alliance, Nebraska. A highlight is the climb over Crawford Hill, Nebraska's only helper district. SD70MACs abound, while older locomotive models such as C30-7 and SD45 make occasional appearances.

Union Pacific shares the load in handling Powder River coal. We follow the UP from Bridgeport, Nebraska to Lusk, Wyoming. Footage of Chicago & North Western's coal operations prior to its merger with UP shows trains interchanging between the two railroads at O'Fallons, Nebraska. Last stop is Cheyenne, Wyoming, an important terminal on Union Pacific's Overland Route. Here you'll see manifest and intermodal traffic pulled by both UP and run-through power. High Plains railroading means heavy, long trains; big power; and nonstop action. Experience it all in this thrilling production!

57 Minutes