Looking for a picture of one of the coal mines where my grandfather worked. Found this site which maybe of use to some. Unforturnately most pics are recent of what's left of the mine, but there are some vintage pics mixed in.
http://coalcampusa.com/
I seem to be confused as to which mine I remember seeing. I did look at the South Fork, PA facebook page, which has some interesting RR photos, which sadly were in poor condition. There some interesting pics of newspaper clippings of railroad and mine tragedies.
The scratchbuilder will find something of use on these sites.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
N&W, L&N, SOU, PRR, were coal haulers so they might have had access to that area.
Could someone shed some light on this if I'm wrong?
My family came from near the Johnstown flood area, which is where my interest lies. I am not sure you mean the same with "that area". Appalachia is a multistate area . The town, Frugality, where my grandparents met, no longer exists. It's a curve on a road in google maps.
That area was PRR county, but I see B&O and NYC also were in that area. My cousin sent me the following link. It talks about mining and the early railroads, which were bought by the PRR. It may be of interest to some.
Cambria PA History
The Pennsylvania Railroad mainline passed directly through Johnstown, so they were the biggest railroad operation in the area, and served mines in the South Fork area. Local switching in the Johnstown area was also handled by the Conemaugh & Black Lick and the Johnstown & Stony Creek. A B&O branch came into Johnstown from the South, via Somerset. The Cambria & Indiana came into the area from the North, interchanging with the C&BL. The C&I had ties with the NYC. The PRR, as well as the B&O's BR&P also operated into Vintondale to the North, serving mines there.
Tom
My favorite Coal Mine of all times is Sewell West Virginia. A railroad owned coal camp town founded in 1847 and operated till 1956. The coal was brought down from mann's Creek and dumped in coal chutes down to a lower level and transferred out. The town also had 200 beehive stoves that cooked the coal into Coke. The last resident of the town, a railroad employee moved out in 1973. Sewell once a thriving Boom Town now a ghost town in Ruins.
Edit. Maybe this could be the coal mine you're looking for.
ATSFGuy N&W, L&N, SOU, PRR, were coal haulers so they might have had access to that area. Could someone shed some light on this if I'm wrong?
I'm sure the Clinchfeild modelers be a tad upset..Clinchfield was a coal hauler to.
NYC(T&OC) also hauled some Appalachian coal out of WVa..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Thanks for the correction BRAKIE, I forgot about the Clinchfield RR, I didn't know NYC hauled some coal as well.
And the Virginian.
And Anthracite coal country is also still the Appalachian Mountains. So there's all those roads - Reading, CNJ, LNE, DL&W, LV, L&HR.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Guess I should take a break from the West Coast and spend more time with the East Coast.
Or is old age starting to affect my memory?
Didn't the Erie haul some coal as well?
ATSFGuy Didn't the Erie haul some coal as well?
As did PRR,B&O and the Haysi.
ATSFGuy Thanks for the correction BRAKIE, I forgot about the Clinchfield RR, I didn't know NYC hauled some coal as well.
No worries mate..I forgot about the Virginian.
Several NYC trains through Bucyrus,Oh was coal drags off the N&W on their way to lake ports, steel mills and coke plants located on the NYC. After N&W bought PRR's Sandusky Line the lake bound coal stayed on the N&W to the Sandusky docks which is located on the shores of Sandusky Bay and is still in operation today..
It may take a lot of research but I think you may find your answer here. The history and information in this article jumps around a lot, from old to Modern, but it sure covers the broadest spectrum of my research on Appalachian coal mining. I found it very interesting. Especially the part about the mine strikes and Mine Wars C&O Railroad converted a passenger car to an armored car with two twin machine guns to ensure safe delivery of their coal. I wish you the best of luck connecting your grandfather to the pictures you have.
W&H Main Yards: Guide to Appalachian Coal Hauling Railroads
The Norfolk & Western was a like conveyor belt railroad when it came to hauling coal, Erie could never match it.
ATSFGuy The Norfolk & Western was a like conveyor belt railroad when it came to hauling coal, Erie could never match it.
True dat..I recall when three out of five N&W trains out of Portsmouth(Oh) was coal drags usually pulled by SD45s or GP9/RS11 consist.
C&O was also like a conveyor belt and a lot of that coal came out of the coal fields around Logan,WVa..
BigDaddyI seem to be confused as to which mine I remember seeing.
Frugality is (was) on the PRR branch out of Cresson.
Possibly you saw the Peerless #1 mine or the Ridge #8?
The PRR T&HS recent issue of the KEYSTONE (Vol. 50 #2) has a very good article regarding the Johnstown area.
Good Luck, Ed
gmpullmanThe PRR T&HS recent issue of the KEYSTONE (Vol. 50 #2) has a very good article regarding the Johnstown area.
They need to update their online store. The last issue they have in the store is from 2015. Frugality was before my time. It was probably St Michaels or Sidman that I remember. Both on the PRR.
I appreciate the help.
BigDaddyThe last issue they have in the store is from 2015.
I believe their reasoning is to encourage membership in the PRRT&HS in order to get the most recent issues.
Regards, Ed
It's an old thread, but it's mine and I'm bringing it back with some new info. Deal with it.
I didn't realize I had this pre-airplane aerial view of South Fork PA. It actually has some interesting modeling possibilites, train station, multiple coal mines, a river,mountains, a wye, and engine house and a brick manufacturer.
go the the link and you can really enlarge the drawing
About four years ago I took a tour of the Seldom Seen Coal mine in Patton, Pa. a small scale coal mine. Don’t remember the real name when it was in operation. It employed about forty men. All the equipment still in place. The coal was lowered down a steep grade over a stream bed to a hopper at the mainline nearby.
Thirty six inch gauge track with over head head electrical power at the mine still in use. We had to wear hard hats. No springs on the cars. I could not make a video. Converted cars that hauled coal. A hard dark ride. They use to use a continuous miner. I saw two there.
http://www.seldomseenmine.com/
Edit.
Just saw, Miller Run.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
For History buffs, Johnstown is sad.
Seldom Seen I should do a coal mine tour. Most of my uncles and my grandfather worked in the mines at one time or another.
I did the silver mine tour in Park City. The elevator cable is made of braided steel, braided by hand! They were keeping the mine maintained if the price of silver came back. The miners that gave the tour loved being miners.
Johnstown, the Flood Museum was interesting, is the steel plant still standing? Since my grandmother and aunt passed away, I have no reason to visit there.
You young fellers also forget, the Interstate, and the Western Maryland hauled an awful lot of black diamonds out of Appalachia also.
Centralia is another sad story. The coal fire is still burning and the town is totally gone, bought out by the government. The fire will burn for centuries, feeding on the seams of anthrisite coal.
BigDaddyLooking for a picture of one of the coal mines where my grandfather worked.
Collieries and Coal Breakers
my mom's from Mahanoy Plane, Pa
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
You're probably looking for something in Northern Appalachia. I live in Central Appalachia (Eastern Kentucky). I had intended on developing a Coal Camp layout which was going to be a replica of the Hardburley Community in Perry County, Ky, near Hazard. It is the camp my dad grew up in. Papaw worked in the mines there. Like I say, this is probably not what you are looking to do but i do have pics of Hardburley if they would help. Doc
Fascinating look at the Woodward breaker in Kingston, Pennsylvania circa 1900:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/23106?size=_original#caption
Lots to study here!
Do you suppose there were that many floors as there are rows of windows?
no, i think they needed as many windows as possible for light
Not full floors - a lot of the 'floors' were just for catwalks to maintain the machinery. Certainly at the time of that picture, young kids would be employed to pick pieces of slate out of the coal as it ran past on conveyors.
There are a couple of other mine tours near me. I've been on one, the Pioneer Mine in Ashland, which is on the opposite hill from Centralia. You can go down in the mine on the electric mine cars, and they also have a steam loco that takes you around the side of the mountain for a rather spectacular view of reclaimed strip mining areas. The Centralia fire is working its way down the mountain, eventually it will hit this and other mines in Ashland.
Still the worst has to be the Knox mine diasaster, when some greedy manager had the miners dig too close to the surface - a surface that was UNDER the Susquenhannah River. Many mines in the anthracite reqion are interconnected - the river breaking through here pretty muich flooded the entire northern anthracite region and shut down all mining there. The river swirled down into the hole like water down a drain plug - they threw everything they could in the hole to try and block it. Eventually they were able to build a giant concrete 'drain plug' over the hole - when the river is low you can still see it today. Considering how quickly the hole opened and the river poured in, it is perhaps a miracle that only 12 were killed. 69 others in the mine managed to escape. In this case, the greedy management didn't get away with it. There was even a 'secret owner' who was president of the mine worker's union (no conflict of interest there). He, the "on paper" owner, the superintendent, and 3 other union officials served jail time.