Sixteen Tons
I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
This was DCUE's 2nd trip out to the Coal Breaker. The Breaker is a large structure that took coal boulders and crushed them up into various usable sizes for homes, power plants, etc. This one was built in the 1930s and abandoned in the 1970s.
Some of us began the trip by climbing to the top of the hill to see the Dragline. A Dragline looks like a big crane that has a scoop it throws out and then drags back towards itself to scoop up earth and hopefully coal. Despite it being a Sunday there are still some active strip mines nearby working in the distance.
1. There were bulldozers operating just over this ridge...
2. They moved this thing to the side to make way for a new road past it...
3.
4.
5. Gears that controlled the boom and bucket as well as the Dragline's walking ability...
6. Should have used a different lens or something but here you can tell the size of the bucket...
7. Winter reveals the Coal Breaker in it's full glory...
8. This is where rail cars would come in and have the finished crushed coal deposited for transport...
9.
10. The ever expanding sign-in board...
11. This is a do over of a shot I took last time but this time I did it at f/2. Still not quite what I wanted it to be...
12.
13. The flooring is not so reliable anymore...
14. Here is how different sizes of coal were sorted. I believe they sold coal in 4 sizes here...
15.
16. Carnegie USA by Carnegie Steel, ironically another well known abandoned site...
17.
18. Conveyors...
19. I take this picture every time. Last time had some weird blue haze in the back but I think I got lucky this time. The light in here changes constantly...
20. Probably undesirable rock that was sorted from the coal...
21. More conveyors...
22.
23.
24.
25. Finally went into a new spot on my 5th trip here. This was a control room for dispensing the coal into the rail cars...
26.
27.
28.
29. Danger! Danger! High Voltage!
30. We broke our past record of 15 with a current total of 17 people here...
31. This was the coal delivery building. Rail cars would come in with the coal boulders and this side of the house would latch onto the rail cars and tip them over and spill the contents into a hopper that went up the main conveyor into the building where a huge roller crushed them smaller...
32. The other side of the house where bottom dumper rail cars would drop coal down into the hopper...
While I was taking the photo in #33 several people had headed down this hidden stairwell into the underbelly of this building. A few minutes later I hear a huge splash sound and people yelling. Apparently the grate walkway and stairs down there are submerged in water a lot of the year and were super brittle. One guy ended up walking down a little 2 stair section and the stairs fell right out from under him into the nasty water. Luckily he caught himself on the rails and wasn't fully submerged. The hazards of exploring I suppose.
33. Close up of the motor and huge tumbler that would rotate a rail car...
34. Close up of the latches that would come down onto the rail car to hold it while it was rotated...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/forgottenplanet
DCUE Meet Up group who hosted the event...
http://www.meetup.com/dcurbanexplorers/
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
This was DCUE's 2nd trip out to the Coal Breaker. The Breaker is a large structure that took coal boulders and crushed them up into various usable sizes for homes, power plants, etc. This one was built in the 1930s and abandoned in the 1970s.
Some of us began the trip by climbing to the top of the hill to see the Dragline. A Dragline looks like a big crane that has a scoop it throws out and then drags back towards itself to scoop up earth and hopefully coal. Despite it being a Sunday there are still some active strip mines nearby working in the distance.
1. There were bulldozers operating just over this ridge...
2. They moved this thing to the side to make way for a new road past it...
3.
4.
5. Gears that controlled the boom and bucket as well as the Dragline's walking ability...
6. Should have used a different lens or something but here you can tell the size of the bucket...
7. Winter reveals the Coal Breaker in it's full glory...
8. This is where rail cars would come in and have the finished crushed coal deposited for transport...
9.
10. The ever expanding sign-in board...
11. This is a do over of a shot I took last time but this time I did it at f/2. Still not quite what I wanted it to be...
12.
13. The flooring is not so reliable anymore...
14. Here is how different sizes of coal were sorted. I believe they sold coal in 4 sizes here...
15.
16. Carnegie USA by Carnegie Steel, ironically another well known abandoned site...
17.
18. Conveyors...
19. I take this picture every time. Last time had some weird blue haze in the back but I think I got lucky this time. The light in here changes constantly...
20. Probably undesirable rock that was sorted from the coal...
21. More conveyors...
22.
23.
24.
25. Finally went into a new spot on my 5th trip here. This was a control room for dispensing the coal into the rail cars...
26.
27.
28.
29. Danger! Danger! High Voltage!
30. We broke our past record of 15 with a current total of 17 people here...
31. This was the coal delivery building. Rail cars would come in with the coal boulders and this side of the house would latch onto the rail cars and tip them over and spill the contents into a hopper that went up the main conveyor into the building where a huge roller crushed them smaller...
32. The other side of the house where bottom dumper rail cars would drop coal down into the hopper...
While I was taking the photo in #33 several people had headed down this hidden stairwell into the underbelly of this building. A few minutes later I hear a huge splash sound and people yelling. Apparently the grate walkway and stairs down there are submerged in water a lot of the year and were super brittle. One guy ended up walking down a little 2 stair section and the stairs fell right out from under him into the nasty water. Luckily he caught himself on the rails and wasn't fully submerged. The hazards of exploring I suppose.
33. Close up of the motor and huge tumbler that would rotate a rail car...
34. Close up of the latches that would come down onto the rail car to hold it while it was rotated...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/forgottenplanet
DCUE Meet Up group who hosted the event...
http://www.meetup.com/dcurbanexplorers/