An empty coal train arrives at the West Elk loadout on the North Fork Branch on a gorgeous morning in the Colorado Rockies.

The final cars are being loaded with coal at the West Elk loadout at the end of the former DRGW North Fork branch in Somorset, Colorado

A loaded coal train works its way through the massive Escalante Canyon between Delta and Grand Junction, Colorado as the last light of day dwindles down to darkness.

A pair of AC00CWs run around their train of empty hoppers at Sharples, West Virginia before shoving to the Mountain Laurel loadout.

A unit train slowly loads coal at the Mountain Laurel loadout on the desolate Coal River Subdivision in Southern West Virginia.

A pair of YN2 AC4400s load coal at the massive Mountain Laurel complex near Sharples, West Virginia.

An up close and personal view shows the loading process as mine run C612 inches along at less than a mile per hour loading its train with Kentucky black diamonds.

Balkan mine run C612 has just scanned its cars through the Balkan loadout and is ready to load the first cut with a nice YN2 leader and fresh snow on the ground.

Tucked back in a mountain crevice deep in the Eastern Kentucky coalfields, a creech mine run loads coal at the infamous Creech loadout in Harlan county. The old Mary Helen Coal Corp company store ... (more)

The conductor on Kopper Glo mine run 787 steps off the train before a cut of empties is shoved through the loadout before being filled with black diamonds.

NS mine run 787 begins loading coal at Kopper Glo's loadout in Clairfield, Tennessee. This is the last active loadout in the state, and it merely hangs on by a thread.

An empty for the Elk Lick loadout in Larado, WV passes the now idled Franco facility on a fittingly dreary spring evening.

With the Illinois Terminal heritage brightening up the consist, a mine run out of Weller begins loading the second cut of an 821 at the massive Consol complex near Oakwood, Virginia.

The last cars are being loaded with West Virginia black diamonds at the Cub Creek loadout with a former N&W shoving platform on the rear.

As seen from the comfort of my drivers seat, an NS mine run prepares to load a unit train at the Cub Creek loadout near Gilbert, West Virginia.