Coal Mine Info

[Loco]

    Looking, but can't find a canary.  I need to know it's save for my coal miners to opperate!  LOL

Just a bit of hummor.  Great thread.

[C&O Fan]

Great Thread Guys !!!

Ok i'm guilty of being one of those modelers that only have a tipple and little else

i did include a mine car shed some mine tracks a shaft entrance and a office building

But it looks like i've got a lot more to do. What photos i could find on the Internet

didn't show much else

I did find 2 drawings on line that showed me for the first time some of the complexities

of a mine Here's one

http://www.wva-usa.com/newsite/www.wvrailroads.com/drawings/kaymoor/

Here's a photo of what i have so far

[GraniteRailroader]

Seeing this thread got my brain thinking....

I'm wanting to do an N-Scale bookshelf layout. If you had to fit an operational mining site into a bookshelf layout, what "MUST" be included? I'm thinking a 30"x72" space with another 30"x4 section to make it an "L". A second level "below" is an option for a freight yard towards the rear and perhaps some mining operations below the surface.


Edit: A quick prototype question... Did the mines have any sort of MOW equipment?

[dcsunderland]

Granite, it depends on what part of the country your layout is based and also when.  If you are modeling the western states in say the steam era you could have a portal, an ore stockpile, waste dump, and maybe a shed or two.  That would be a very small gold or silver mine that wouldn't need to ship by rail.  You could go a little bigger and put a headframe for a shaft which would need a boiler and a hoist.  This could have a tipple to load trains.  A modern mine wouldn't be much different but wouldn't need a boiler and wouldn't load trains.

If you wanted a coal mine a steam era one would be like the ones I described above.  A modern mine needs a stockpile, a crusher, a silo and loadout or a tipple and the neccesary belts.  Remember all mines need compressed air, water, ventilation fans and after the 1880's electricity.  Shops and crushers can be underground.  I hope this helps.

Dave

[batterymule7]

Mines that used rail equipment underground did have mow equipment but not in the fashion that we are all used too.  For example, if an ore carcame off the track (a very common occourance) there wouldn't be a derrick per say to put it back on, usually in my experience and knowledge, the motor crew would use a heavy jack or a come along to get a car back on the rails.  Anybody with more expereince in these matters, feel free to chime in.  For track gangs, there would be a motor and a few flat cars loaded with supplies, ties, rail, replacement mine timbers, air tools such as tampers, air wrenches and the lot.  There might even be a powder car in there if any serious grade adjustment needed to occur or work on the **** ditch needed to be done.  Any work that needed to be done on the trolley system could be done off the backs of the flat cars if need be.  Like I said this is just info I have gathered from freinds that have been there and done that, if anybody else has more experience chime in I am dying to learn new stuff.

[scrhenry]

chuck, at our mine which employs over 500 union employees our surface facilities are the following. a supply yard with 2, 44" guage tracks, empties and loads. our supplies are "dropped" down a slope attached to a slope car. there is a maintenace shop building for repair mine cars and mine locomotives. there is an adjacent vehicle maintenance shop for pickup trucks, forklifts, etc. a hoist house where the hoist operator "drops" the hoist car into the mine on what looks like a big reel with 2" cable.

the prep plant has the main coal prep building which is 110' tall, a maintenance shop, numerous conveyor belts which run from the mine, to the prep plant and then either to the train loadout or to the slate dump. there are also office buildings at both sites for management personnel, 3 sided buildings for storing electric motors and load centers and a centrally located warehouse for underground supplies. at our mine we have a captive railroad that runs from the prep plant to the river so we have a clean coal silo for the train to load from, 2 raw coal silos for storing coal from the mine in case the prep plant is down for repairs and a raw coal stacker for additional storage. there are numerous ponds where water is pumped from underground, treated and used in the coal cleaning process plus a thickener where waste water from the prep plant is pumped, the solids removed and then the water is used again in the plant. there is also 1 silo at the plant which stores magnetite for cleaning the coal. there are also numerous small buildings scattered about such a a grease shanty where bulk oil for the mine is stored, a hazmat shed for oil spill supplys, pump houses for the ponds etc. i can't think of much more but will be glad to answer any more questions you have. 

Chestnutridge, I'm working on my new layout and wish to include a prep plant as the main of the industries. Your description is most helpful. As you can imagine pictures are work a thousand words. Do you have or know where can I find pictures of prep plant?

Also, a description of how a prep plant works would be very helpful.

Thank you!!!!

cheers, scrhenry

[chestnutridge]

scrhenry, i will help you all i can but please let me know what approx time line you are modeling. i am very familiar with the mid 70's to the present. the basics of a prep plant are to process coal prior th shipment. the first step is to seperate slate from the coal. this is a 2 step process. as the coal exits the mine by conveyor belt it dumps into a rotary breaker that looks like a drum on a cement truck but much larger. the breaker has fins on the interior running lengthwise and as the coal and slate hit it all product is broken into smaller pieces. upon exiting the breaker the material travels by conveyor to near the top of the prep plant. our plant is ten stories high and the coal enters on the 7th floor. upon entering the plant the coal/slate is washed with a mixture of water and magnatite and sluces into 2 raw coal screens where the coal/slate is seperated by size. the screens are tilted and vibrating to allow the coal/slate to continue moving downward. after leaving the raw coal screens the coal/slate falls into a large tub called a vessel. the vessel is sloped on one end and has a chain conveyor running the length. this is where the magnatite comes into play. magnatite makes coal float and as it floats to the surface it vibrates through 2 more screens [refered to as D&R screens] that seperate the coal into basically 2 sizes. now back to the vessel. while the coal floats the slate doesn't and is moved by the chain conveyor up the incline of the vessel and dumped into the refuse screen and from there moved by conveyor to the slate dump and moved by truck to the fill area to be bulldozed out and compacted.

after the coal moves through the D&R screens it dumps into chutes and down through the plant to clean coal conveyors and on to the clean coal silo. smaller sizes of coal and coal fines continue through the plant to clean coal screens and then into machines called "birds". birds spin very fast and spin the water and magnatite out and into vessels on the first floor to be pumped back up to be used again. the smaller coal and coal fines are conveyored out of the plant and mixed with the larger coal before it goes to the clean coal silo for shipment. i know it's alot of info to digest so if you have any follow up questions feel free to reply. again, let me know what era your modeling and i'll dump even more info on you. if i can figure it out i'll post a couple of pictures on this thread.

[scrhenry]

Chestnutridge,

Thank you very much for your description.

I'm modeling Post-Conrail meger NS, say 2002-2003. I have been looking at the few pictures I can find on the internet, particluarly those on http://www.coalcampusa.com/. From these pictures, your description, and the drawings of Kaymoor mine (http://www.wva-usa.com/newsite/www.wvrailroads.com/drawings/kaymoor/) I'm starting to understand the process.

As far as modeling, it seems that most modern prep plants have one main building that is tall and narrow where as older ones were more horiziontal. Also, I notice that in several pictures, there are opening at different levels, some include an I-beam. I assume this is to move heavy equipment out for repair, am I correct? Another question I have is about the rotarty breaker, are they typically at the same elevation as the prep plant? Are they typical enclosed (square building) or open (round cylinder)? What would you guess are the rough dimensions.

Thanks!

scrhenry

[simon1966]

This is a really interesting thread.  I have been spending a bit of time researching a mine here in Central Illinois for my layout.  I am modelling the early 50's, which was very nearly the end for this particular mine.

All that is left of White City #15 is the power station.

I have scratch built part of this and am now fleshing it out with other structures.

In addition to the tipple and a scratch built mine head structure (this was a shaft mine) I am adding a lage stack for the power plant, a mule shed, a store house, a long shed like building that was used by the miners for showers etc.  There were some other smaller office buildings (sheds more like).  According to my Father-in-law, there was also a secondary ventilation shaft and blower house, but I have not been able to find any archive photo of this part.

Anything else I should be adding?

 Thanks for the help.

[coalminer3]

Happy New Year to all.

I'm pleased to see that this thread is ongoing.  I was looking at the picture of White City 15; who owned this operation?  I was looking through 1950 and 1953 editions of the Keystone Manual and could not find it - I probably read right by it.  The Burlington Historical Society awhile back did a booklet on CB&Q coal operations in Illinois.  Worth looking at if you haven't seen it.

Kaymoor was not too far from where I am located.  Parts of it are still there although the NPS took down a fair amount of the structure(s) b4 they fell down.

Keep the info. coming.

work safe

 

 

[simon1966]

 I was looking at the picture of White City 15; who owned this operation?  I was looking through 1950 and 1953 editions of the Keystone Manual and could not find it - I probably read right by it.  The Burlington Historical Society awhile back did a booklet on CB&Q coal operations in Illinois.  Worth looking at if you haven't seen it.

White City is actually part of Mount Olive, here is a clipping from the local press back in the 50's.

Macoupin County ILGenWeb© MINE NO. 15 WILL CEASE TO OPERATE ©2006 Contributed by Joan Miley
In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data and images may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or for other presentation without express permission by the contributor.

STAUNTON STAR-TIMES, Staunton, Macoupin Co, IL, Thurs 17 May 1951 page 1

MINE NO. 15 WILL CEASE TO OPERATE

A notice was posted Saturday at Mine No. 15 of the Bell & Zoller Coal & Mining Company, located west of Mt. Olive at White City, informing the employees that the mine would be permanently closed, and it is assumed that all machinery will be removed from the bottom for use elsewhere. It is supposed that the action was taken by the company because of the high cost of bringing the coal to the top.

Mine No. 15 employed about 360 men, most of them from Mt. Olive, White City and Staunton. The mine was sunk about 50 years ago. It had been operated by the Consolidated Coal Co. of St. Louis until March 1, when the mine, together with No. 7 mine, near Staunton, and other properties were sold to the Ziegler Coal Co., and operated by the Bell & Zoller firm. For a while it was rumored that either No. 7 or No. 15, or perhaps both, would be shut down, but evidently the company has decided to continue operating No. 7, where the equipment includes a coal washer, at least for the present.

Naturally the closing of No. 15 is quite a blow to the economic welfare of this vicinity. It is hoped, however, that many of the employees may be placed at other mines of the company, and those who are at the retiring age can draw their pension allotments.

The coal mining situation all over the country has been hard hit by the extensive use of oil and gas as fuels, and the closing of No. 15 is the second shut-down in Macoupin County within the past 2 weeks, as No. 1 of the Superior Coal Company ceased operation last week.

 

You can link to this as well as a lot of other good material at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilmacoup/mines/m_510517.htm

 

 

From what I can tell, a lot of the coal was used by the Chicago Northwestern RR, which may have also contributed to the demise of the mine.  It is of importance to my family because my Wife's Grandfather died as a result of injuries suffered in the mine back in the 30's.

 

As a member of the BRHS (Burlington Route Historical Society) I can say that the Bulletin on coal mining is one of the best that the society has put out.  This and any of the publications are well worth getting.

[coalminer3]

Good Morning All.

Excellent- thanks for the information.

work safe

[chestnutridge]

scrhenry, modeling post conrail/ns will put you in the modern era for the most part. you are correct concerning the I beams. trolly cranes are stored inside the plant to protect the electrical components and most openings have tall doors to facilitate movement of large components/parts inside. some doors are hinged and have chain attached to the door and welded to the frame so they can be pulled back in place. other doors are light weight and are simply picked up and set to the side. both varients would make good modeling details. regarding the breaker i can tell you about ours. the main structure is open with a metal sided "building" on top which protects the head drive unit of the slope belt. the slope belt is 2700' long and comes out of the mine opening to the top of the breaker and dumps into the breaker. as far as dimensions a rough guess is as follows: square footprint approx 50' x 50' and 40' in height. the belt line from the breaker to the plant is approx 10' high at the breaker and ends at the plant around 70' high. check the following sites for pictures: consol, foundation coal, peabody coal, continental conveyor. hope this is helpful.

[WabFan]

Fascinating work and you've done better in research than I've been able to using the mine name and the Wabash RR.  Wabash is reported to have built a line to the mine in 1905 but haven't found a map of it yet. My grandfather was a station master in Mt. Olive in the 50's and early 60's.