The Latest Birmingham History Adventure Trip

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grandeman

Member since
April 2005
1,054 posts

The Latest Birmingham History Adventure Trip

Posted by grandeman on Friday, March 10, 2006 7:44 PM

Hi all. I thought I'd throw a few pics up that I took today on a Red Mountain adventure trip with my friend Ray. He and I had a great time and took in a good dose of the Birmingham District's history.

I should say to any younger members here, do as I say, not as I do. Industrial sites are dangerous places. Stay out of them. If an old fart like me didn't make it home, that would be bad. If a young guy like some here didn't make it home, that would be truly tradgic.

First, we went (back) to the Sloss 2 ore mine. My fears were confirmed, the company that now owns it considers it a liability, not a historic site. Unfortunately, the entry has been bulldozed. [V] I understand the legal liability involved, but the site could have been preserved while still being secured.

Here's a new shot in the winch house. Note where the steam drivers were mounted prior to the conversion to electric power in 1920.

This pic show the remains of the electric motor dating to 1920. It was 2200 volts, 1500HP and required a bevel cut reduction drive gear to be installed. Note the General Electric inscription.

On the way to the Republic Steel Raimund Mines, we stopped by to check out this old piece of Tennessee Coal & Iron (TC&I Co) rolling stock. I believe it to be a payroll car...:cool:

A look in one of the truck journals.

At Raimund 2, we took a look down the employee entry shaft... The entry is in good shape with it's concrete reinforcements, but further down some of the structural members are damaged badly. While it was tempting to go further down, we stopped at that point. The camera flashed off the moisture hanging in the air, but you get the idea.

From there, we went to the Spaulding/Ishkooda Ore Mines in Homewood that Ray remembered as a kid. The L&N ran right past the mine site and, as you'll see, the CSX still does today. Ray has video footage of L&N trains passing the mine when it was operational. :cool: The site is very overgrown and there are, as with most such sites, some very dangerous areas. One area had a concrete roof that could easily be walked upon. One end of it appeared sunken slightly. On further investigation from the underside, it was obvious that you don't want to walk there!

Building Remnants.

This veiw is in a fairly sound area structurally, but note the missing supports. :eek: Many of them had been cut out.

CSX freight passes the remains of an ore tipple.

As the train passes, this pic shows one of the three water holding tanks. Ray vividly remembers the water being sprayed from the stand pipes in the center of each tank like a fountain.

I hope ya'll enjoy the pics. We sure enjoyed visiting part of Birmingham's past. I'm hoping to get in a few more exploration trips before the weather gets to warm.