Pnnsylvania's last large coal breaker is coming down

When I was a small kid, in the early Fifties, I remember my father taking me out to see the Glen Burn breaker.  Although it seemed interesting enough to me, I didn't understand why it seemed so important to him.

Years later, I did. He'd been born in Mount Carmel, PA, and spent most of his life up to that time in the coal region.  The Glen Burn must have represented the glory days of Mount Carmel's prosperity and importance to him.

I don't think I ever saw the St. Nicholas, but like the ruins of a Roman temple, I can understand why so many people attach such significance to it.

Since I have lived my entire life in the southwest, where coal was not a common source of fuel, I must confess that I do not know what the purpose of a coal breaker is (other than the obvious).  Would a Forumite be so kind as to enlighten me as to why such a large structure was required?  Was it just to break coal into different sizes required by different customers?  Separating impurities from coal?  What do they do in modern times to get the result that this coal breaker provided?

Thanks.

Tom

this website will give you some insight for the coal breaker operation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_breaker

Charlie

Anthracite coal mining

Description of breaker operation starts about 7 min 30 sec

Perhaps this is a dumb question: In the video posted by CTA, they stated that small pieces of coal were stored because there is no demand for small pieces (10:15). What did they eventually do with those small pieces? (Who had a use for them?)

It was dumped into "culm piles."  In the Mount Carmel and Shamokin areas, those culm piles became essentially man-made mountains.  There's been talk of industrially reclaiming the enormous amount of culm, but I don't know how far that's gone.

I am familiar with Kentucky coal mining, which is bituminus, and has tipples vs. breakers, as I associate with western metal mining.  Which type of coal is coming

out of the Wyoming and other mines, and came out of the southern Colorado mines

(Trinidad, etc.)?  I am assuming it is bituminus?

Interesting how times change.  Normal procedure for the Montour RR was to haul the coal, bituminous, to the Champion facility, unload the hoppers, wash the coal and reload for shipment. Washed coal more valuable than mine coal.  Today from Westland, one of the main Montour Coal load areas, there are Marcellous Shale Gas tank cars. 

We spent last Christmas in the Mt. Bethel area, eastern PA.  There are huge piles of waste/scrap slate also.  Slate a very marketable roofing material at one time.

There was talk of low grade coal/waste coal here in Western PA, also, and production of electricity from the remains.  All seems to have disappeared in favor of our new found wealth of the shale gases.    

Certainly not covered hoppers, as the coal mines in Wyoming and Montana would not be able to flood load the 135+ car coal trains on the move. The tops of the coal gondolas/hoppers are now sprayed with a "treatment" to keep the coal dust from flying off the cars and contaminating the right-of-way, i.e. the ballast and track/roadbed structure.

Balshis

See this link

http://readinganthracite.com/r.../gilberton-power.php

It describes the Gilberton co-generation facility, which is a power plant that burns waste coal (culm) to produce both power and steam.  It is located east of Frackville PA.  There are several other cogen facilities in the Pa coal fields that burn culm to produce both power and steam.

Frank

Thanks for the information, fellows.  Interesting.

Fabulous video !!!

What did they eventually do with those small pieces?

Anthracite is used as filter media in drinking water treatment.  Very small sizes are needed, usually in the 0.5 to 2 mm range and uniform to within a 10th of a millimeter.  Several anthracite filter media companies are located in northeastern Pennsylvania and ship around the world.  The finished, washed and graded product is shipped in 50 pound bags or one ton super sacks.

http://www.carbon-sales.com/

Thank you.  I wish them well; certainly there's enough culm around Mount Carmel alone to keep them running for at least another century!