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.