Pyramids of Coal


Metuchen Recorder April 4, 1896 Vol. II. No. 40

STORY OF THE SOUTH PLAINFIELD “COAL DUMPS”

It is the Largest Coal Depot in the World -- Had Over $1,000,000 Worth of Coal on Hand at One Time --
Interesting Matter Regarding Those Wonderful Mountains of Coal.

Within three miles of Metuchen is situated the largest coal depot in the world. It is the coal storage grounds of the Lehigh Valley railroad at South Plainfield, known as the “coal dumps.”

The coal is brought here from the Lehigh and Wyoming coal regions of Pennsylvania. The coal market is one of the most uncertain things in the world, as it is positively impossible to estimate on the output at any time, and the object of this storage is to always have coal ready for the market.

The site is an ideal one for the purpose. The railroad company owns about 125 acres, which is situated in the angle between the Lehigh Valley main line and the Easton and Amboy road, a branch, and about 50 acres are utilized for the storage grounds. As regards situation, no better place could be found, lying as it does on the branch road on which about 80 per cent is finally shipped to Perth Amboy, where it is shipped by boat to New York, and points on Long Island shore and along the New England coast, etc. At the same time it is within half a mile of the mainline with which it is connected by a single track spur to the east reaching to Oak Tree, and which brings it within easy access to Newark, Jersey City and even New York again, besides the points en route.

These dumps are marvels in size, simplicity and strength. There are fourteen with the following capacities; six holding 30,000 tons each; two holding 20,000 tons each; four holding 15,000 tons each; two holding 10,000 tons each, with a total capacity of 300,000 tons.

These dumps are made of two self-supporting steel trusses which make an obtuse angle, the largest being 85 feet high, with a spread at the base of 250 feet.

The dumps are arranged in two rows of seven each, with a railroad running through he center. These tracks are about six feet above the surface of the ground. Under the tracks and alongside the dumps are bins, known as “pockets.” The cars come along the track, and when they get over one of the pockets, the “gate” or bottom of the car is removed, and the coal falls through the ties into the bin, about the same as in a coal yard. This bin tapers down to the bottom into a trough about eighteen inches or two feet wide. This trough runs out to and up one side of the truss to the center. Through the trough is an endless chain, fastened to which are pieces of sheet iron which fit snugly in the trough. They are about two feet apart, and as they pass through the bins they drag the coal along with them to and up the trusses. To make the thing more plain, they are operated on the same plan as those pumps which are turned with a handle, where there is an endless chain with pieces of rubber attached, which, when cranked up through a pipe, draws up the water. This unloading is done at the rate of about 120 tons per hour.

The coal is not at all dropped from the top or centre of the trusses as that would break it too much. The trough is fixed so that it can be regulated to let the coal drop from different distances. It is started at a few feet from the ground and when a cone is formed so that it nearly touches the trough, the outpour is stopped at that point, and another hole is opened a little further up, and so on until it reaches the highest point, when it forms one immense mountain of coal in the shape of a cone.

The reloading is on the same principle as the unloading. A big raft is swung up to the side of the pile on tracks laid on the ground. The raft is about two or three feet high, about six feet wide, and is as long as the diameter of the heap, at the base. Around this raft there is a steel construction about two feet wide projecting beyond it, as the brim projects beyond the crown of a hat. An endless chain with the same sort of an attachment as previously mentioned goes around, sliding on the projection and dragging the coal, which keeps sliding down against the raft. At the base of the truss another trough begins, and it is then lifted to a tower a few feet higher than the coal cars. While passing through the tower it is screened and comes out on the other side and is conducted to the car in a chute.

The actual time of loading one of the four wheel cars is 1-1/2 minutes. It takes about half a minute to take the car away and get another one under, so that the loading goes on at an average of about 150 tons per hour, or 28 four-wheel cars or 7 of the big eight-wheel bodies. Altogether there are seven men employed at the reloader, which gives an idea of the labor saving qualities of the machinery.

A pair of scales 55 feet long is arranged on the track opposite the office, and when the cars are loaded they are sent over the scales two or three at a time, and their weight is taken as they pass over. The coal is then ready to be shipped.

There is an engine house on the property with four boilers of 100 horse power each, which conducts steam in 6 inch pipes to engines in seven different towers, for the purpose of operating the endless chains.

MISCELLANEOUS FACTS
There has been on hand at one time at the yards over $1,000,000 worth of coal.

During March, 20,000 tons were shipped.

Loading about 2,000 tons is considered a fair day’s work.

The brick stack on the engine house is 100 feet high.

A half million tons were handled during the year 1895.

L.E. Molineux is the foreman of the yards.

There are eight sizes of coal, and of this number five are handled by the company, viz: egg, which goes through a 2-3/4 inch screen; stove, 2-3/8 inch; chestnut, 1-3/8 inch; pea, 3/4 inch; buckwheat, 1/2 inch.

The average number of men employed is 50.

During the five years in which the plant has been operated nobody has ever been killed.

There are five miles of track in the yards.

When there is work to be done, it proceeds, no matter what the condition of the weather is. Only one day has been lost so far, and that was the first day of the blizzard last year.

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