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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
It’s an old thread, but it’s mine and I’m bringing it back with some new info. Deal with it. [:D]
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.
