My last Terraserver post is my fave.

This is the St. Nicholas anthracite coal breaker west of Mahanoy City, PA. It is one of two large breakers left.

St. Nick is remarkably intact and worth of preservation.

The breaker is the large building at center bottom. If you go straight up to center top, you'll see the thawing shed. St. Nick was a central breaker, where mine run coal was brought in by the Reading RR for processing. The thawing sheds were tied into the powerhouse (also still standing) to use steam to loosen frozen coal.

From the sheds, loaded mine run cars would roll to the smaller building above the breaker. This was the dumper house. Two tracks wide, it has a track for bottom dumping and a track with a rotary dumper. Both are intact.

You can see a long conveyor that comes out of the ground below the dumping house. This took the mine run coal up to the top of the breaker, where gravity forced it through a series of cones to sort the coal. Empty hoppers from the dumper could be reloaded at the breaker with processed coal ready for market.

Allt his is intact, too.

The only piece missing is the culm conveyor, which too waste rock out to the rightside of the image. However, it is present in this image.

The site is on an active Reading & Northern line.

Rob

St. Nick
trains@robertjohndavis.com

> My last Terraserver post is my fave.

> This is the St. Nicholas anthracite coal
> breaker west of Mahanoy City, PA. It is one
> of two large breakers left.

> St. Nick is remarkably intact and worth of
> preservation.

> The breaker is the large building at center
> bottom. If you go straight up to center top,
> you'll see the thawing shed. St. Nick was a
> central breaker, where mine run coal was
> brought in by the Reading RR for processing.
> The thawing sheds were tied into the
> powerhouse (also still standing) to use
> steam to loosen frozen coal.

> From the sheds, loaded mine run cars would
> roll to the smaller building above the
> breaker. This was the dumper house. Two
> tracks wide, it has a track for bottom
> dumping and a track with a rotary dumper.
> Both are intact.

> You can see a long conveyor that comes out
> of the ground below the dumping house. This
> took the mine run coal up to the top of the
> breaker, where gravity forced it through a
> series of cones to sort the coal. Empty
> hoppers from the dumper could be reloaded at
> the breaker with processed coal ready for
> market.

> Allt his is intact, too.

> The only piece missing is the culm conveyor,
> which too waste rock out to the rightside of
> the image. However, it is present in this
> image.

> The site is on an active Reading &
> Northern line.

> Rob

My parents house is only a few frames north east of there. :)

mrwowak@yahoo.com