Grinding up the 1.55% grade of Crawford Hill, BNSF 6132 east would be lucky to be going 10 mph, as two gevos pull hard on the front, and an SD70MAC and two SD70ACes shove hard on the rear.

A helper set consisting of a trio of Burlington Northern SD40-2s splicing a fuel tender push hard on a heavy eastbound coal train climbing Crawford Hill east of Crawford, Nebraska, on July 7, 1996... (more)

Five SD40-2's, a pair of Burlington Northern and three from Kansas City Southern lead this loaded coal train up Crawford Hill. On the KCS coal hoppers, only the rotary ends and the initial and num... (more)

West of Crawford, Nebraska, a helper set led by BNSF No. 8243 meets an eastbound coal load climbing Crawford Hill on the morning of July 14, 2008.

After helping a coal train to the top of Crawford Hill in Nebraska, a BNSF helpers set drifts downgrade east of Crawford on July 21, 2003. In this era, helpers on Crawford Hill were former Burling... (more)

This empty westbound hopper train is descending Crawford Hill.

Helpers passing
As a loaded BNSF coal train gets a push from a helper set on the right, another set of helpers passes by heading back to Crawford for another push on September 16, 2013.

A westbound empty coal train led by BNSF SD70MAC No. 9768 passes an eastbound load going up Crawford Hill grade east of Crawford, Nebraska. Two GE ES44ACs are pushing a SD70MAC DPU on the upgrade ... (more)

Southbound BN coal train climbing Crawford Hill

A work train grinds up the hill with some foreign power as the afternoon sun races towards the horizon.

BN 9211 and two more SD60Ms are serving as helpers on Crawford Hill in northwestern Nebraska. These helpers have just shoved a coal train up the hill and at the crest, Belmont Road, they are now s... (more)

A set of three Burlington Northern SD60Ms head downgrade back to Crawford, Nebraska, to push another coal load over Crawford Hill on July 21, 2003. A fuel tender is spliced into the power to lengt... (more)

The late afternoon sun provides nice lighting and creeping shadows as a BNSF empty coal train descends Crawford Hill just north (west) of Belmont Road. At this time EMDs were pretty popular on man... (more)

A five unit set of SD40-2's with a fuel tender in the middle negotiate the curve at Windy point while assaulting the grade up Crawford Hill. In the background, a three unit helper set that also co... (more)

An eastbound BNSF local freight climbs Crawford Hill between Crawford and Belmont, Nebraska, on September 17, 2013, meeting a set of light helpers drifting downgrade on Main 1. In the background i... (more)