http://mfmalk.zenfolio.com/p47324941


All,

Not steam trains, but related to coal that once fueled them: follow the above link to the photos from my visit to the Blue Coal Corp./Huber Colliery yesterday. Served by the CNJ RR, now only a lone track lies where a yard of 90 once did; very little evidence of roadbed remains. Nature is reclaiming.

Taking a step backwards, I carried minimal camera equipment: a DSLR with 50mm/F1.4 prime lens, tripod and spare memory card. Very little done in Photoshop also; basically just stripping away the color.

Didn’t see any ghosts, but some eerie sounds were heard…

Enjoy,
Matthew



“Built in 1892 as the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Breaker (Maxwell #20), then rebuilt in 1939 as the Huber Breaker, it is more commonly known today as the Ashley Breaker. This giant building was used by the Glen Alden Coal Company to crush and size the coal brought to the surface from three nearby mines. The coal was sorted, washed, and put into train gondolas awaiting in the yard behind the breaker. In the 1800's and first half of the 1900's, structures like these produced almost all of the nation's coal right here in Northeastern PA. Millions of men and boys worked in these enormous, noisy buildings. Seven to ten thousand people alone worked in the 134 foot tall, 11-story Huber breaker. Towards the end of the colliery's operation, they painted the coal blue as a marketing ploy. Thus the name Blue Coal Company. There is still over spray on the walls where the coal was painted. Today, it is in a state of disarray due to vandals and exposure to the elements. Walkways are loose, steps are missing, handrails are gone, and hundreds of the steel-reinforced windows are broken or missing. Most of the machinery has been stolen since the breaker was shut down in 1976.”

Sad, and beautiful. Nicely captured, Matthew.

Stephen

Very nicely presented. Was there some discussion about preservation of this or some other colliery? Ultimate preservation is the CNJ 113 shuffling a few cars around a recreated yard with re-en-actors telling stories to the "museum" visitors. Sadly I don't think a lot of people would pay money to see living history of breaking coal.

Thanks for putting those up.

Tom

My first visit to the Huber took place on Nov. 23, 1963. How well I remember my first sight of the place as we rolled down the mountain on Route 309 through rain and fog. Steam was issuing from many places, but what took my attention was the exhaust of hoisting engines at two corners of the breaker property where active deep mines still worked. The accelerating chuff-chuff-chuff of the engines carried across the valley. We could also see the remains of the CNJ's Ashley Planes and the surviving two stalls of the Ashley roundhouse. On a track nearby stood an idling F-M Trainmaster and an RSD-5, coupled to a decrepit, plywood-sided red caboose. This was the Ashley helper that would shove trains up the grade east out of town. The only evidence today of the CNJ at that location is a searchlight signal standing hard by Main Street, aimed at a roadbed no longer in existence.

Nice work, Matt. The Huber is a building of worldwide reknown (it was the first large scale application of the International style to an industrial building. I spent quite a bit of time in it decades ago. I wish I had the guts to climb the conveyor belt shaft back then. I certainly wouldn't try it now!

As one of two "almost" intact large breakers left, it deserves a better fate than all the others that have gone to scrap. There are preservationists at work, but it is a daunting challenge with huge financial hurdles... hurdles that could have been avoided had the county acted when it had a chance.

Rob

Rob, those preservationists you mention have quite a task ahead of them. I saw a YouTube video of Huber when it’s raining; the roofs aren’t doing much anymore. There were some areas I did not venture into, regardless of how photogenic it looked.

Tom, did CNJ #113 ever work at Ashley serving Huber?

Thanks,
Matthew

Where is the other almost-intact colliery located?

http://mfmalk.zenfolio.com/p47324941

All,

I made another trip to the Huber coal breaker in the anthracite region of northeast Pennsylvania, follow the link above to my images.

For those who missed my prior post, the link below is to the entire gallery. Click on "Slideshow" at the top right of the screen.

Like the Pacific Electric Railway in SoCal, or the infrastructure for moon shots at Cape Canaveral; to think this was once all in place, now dismantled/abandoned/forgotten.

http://mfmalk.zenfolio.com/p266880180

Enjoy,
Matthew