Peabody Conveyor Belt Bridge

AZ · Page → Lake Powell area

A railroad that never touched another railroad — and ran on 50,000 volts.

Heads up: This is Navajo Nation land — you need permission from the Nation to be on the right-of-way.

The Black Mesa & Lake Powell Railroad opened in 1973 with a single job: haul coal from Peabody's Kayenta mine on Black Mesa to the Navajo Generating Station at Page, more than 70 miles away. It never connected to any other railroad in North America, and it was the first railroad in the United States electrified at 50,000 volts.

At the Black Mesa end, long overland conveyor belts carried coal from the mine to the loading silos, where automated trains filled up and headed across the Navajo Nation toward Lake Powell. For more than 45 years the trains ran back and forth on a closed loop between mine and power plant.

The power plant shut down in 2019, and the last coal train ran on August 26 of that year. Crews removed the overhead wires in 2019–2020, but the tracks were left in place and handed back to the Navajo Nation, which has studied reusing the line for a tourist railroad or trail. The industrial buildings are abandoned and the rails are still out there in the desert.

⚠️ Before you go: every railroad on this map is private property. A line that looks abandoned may still be owned by a railroad, used to store rail cars, or put back into service at any time — sometimes with no warning. Before going near any track, make sure it's truly abandoned (no recent use, rails not polished, no signals or cars stored on it) and that you're allowed to be there. Never assume a track is dead.

📷 Photos & stories from riders

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