Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Sandusky, OH: Evolution of Coal Loading Docks and McMyler Loaders

(HAER; Satellite)

In response to my comments below, Andy Sausser provided the following links: Sandusky's Coal Docks and A History of the Coal Docks.

The notes for the Port Reading coal dock contains a history of the McMyler Loader.

Andy Sausser posted
Sandusky, Ohio circa 1944
Dennis DeBruler Jack Delano took several photos of the unloaders at Sandusky and Cleveland:
https://www.loc.gov/collect.../fsa-owi-color-photographs/...
[Some comments on the post indicate that the boats that are riding high in the water are probably there for winter layup.]

Dale Pohto commented on a post
I found a winter layup photo which includes all three McMyler coal loaders. Loader #1 in the picture was dismantled prior to 1958. Loader #2 was demolished in the 80s, while #3 is still in operation.

Dale Pohto commented on a post

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
It looks like there are a couple of Huletts at the end of each dock. Has the Library of Congress captioned this photo incorrectly?

Delano, Jack,, photographer.

Unloading a lake freighter at the Pennsylvania Railroad iron ore docks by means of Hulett unloaders, Cleveland, Ohio. In the foreground, empty cars are waiting to pass under the unloaders to pick up their loads 

1943 May

Cleveland had four of them in a row and their backside was Whiskey Island rather than the water shown in this photo.

https://www.flickr.com/.../2179.../in/set-72157603671370361/

This eBay entry does label it as Sundusky:
https://www.ebay.com/.../Hulett-Unloaders.../371557694424
 
ClevelandMemory via Dave's Hulett Ore Unloader History
[Evidently Sandusky did not have any Huletts. So where was the 1943 photo taken?]

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
 Looking at a satellite image, it looks like NS still uses Pennsy's dock to unload rail cars. Thus I assume they are still loading boats.
https://www.google.com/.../@41.4580056,-82.../data=!3m1!1e3

Andy Sausser commented on his post
Still a working dock
Andy Sausser commented on his post

Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted
Two views of the bulk freighter Algosoo being loaded with coal at the Pennsylvania Railroad docks in Sandusky, Ohio, circa May 1943 (Image Source: Library of Congress - Farms Services Administration - Office of War Information Collection). 
The photographer was Jack Delano (1914-1997). The loader is a McMyler-Wellman coal dumper, and there was once three such units in Sandusky. Loader #1 was dismantled prior to 1958. Loader #2 was demolished in the 1980s, and Loader #3 is still in operation.
Information Sources:
[The description continues with a history of the Algosoo.]


Sandusky Dock is an NS-owned and served facility, located on Lake Erie, operated by Sandusky Dock Corporation. It operates a Heyl & Patterson high-lift dumper with an average loading capacity of 2,625 tons per hour. The facility accommodates a maximum vessel length of 1,000 feet and overall loading capacity of 50,000 net tons. Storage capacity of 875,000 tons is available with reclaimed coal and railcars loaded to vessel simultaneously. The facility has an annual throughput capacity of seven million tons.
The normal loading season is April 1 to December 15, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
[NS]

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
Jack Delano was at Sandusky's dock, but they didn't have "brand name" Huletts. So now I'm confused unless the unloaders were changed between 1939 and 1943.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2017878189/
Update: As Andy explains below, my confusion is that these are loaders, not unloaders.
Andy Sausser: Dennis those are coal loaders, rotary car dumpers

Carl Venzke posted
Loading a freighter with coal at one of the three coal docks owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Sandusky, Ohio - May 1943 - Jack Delano photo.
Rodney Swingle Looks like the front of that freighter was loaded first.
Daniel A. Mitchell Right now this ship is nearly empty, ballasted down (water tanks) at the stern to keep the prop (mostly) underwater. The loading dumper is positioned about amidships. The ship will be moved back and forth loading various hatches, until full. Ships have to be loaded evenly, not all in one location, or risk breaking the ship's back.

Richard Colby shared
Dale Pohto The machine on the right was PRR... The one opposite was arch-rival NYC. That in the background was N&W (it still remains, owned by NS).
Ronald L Sutton Similar in Toledo; I think NYC and C&O.
B Tupper Upham Wow, I think the ones in the foreground used to be the Mad River & Lake Erie, and Lake Erie & Western.

Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted
The freighter Algosoo being loaded with coal at a Pennsylvania Railroad dock in Sandusky, Ohio in May 1943 (Image Source: Library of Congress - Farms Services Administration-Office of War Information Collection).
 The collection notes incorrectly describe the ship as being loaded with iron ore. Jack Delano (1914-1997) was the photographer. The loading equipment is a McMyler-Wellman coal dumper, one of three such units that were once located in Sandusky.
[The text continues with a history of the freighter.]

Carl Venzke posted
Loading coal into a lake freighter at the Pennsylvania Railroad docks, Sandusky, Ohio - May 1943 - Jack Delano photo.
Charles Smith First Photo (above) ships bunker being filled badly ( I might add) with coal...second photo (below) next dump goes into the ships hold. In Chicago they had a steam coal barge with hoist to fuel the lakers as the ships took on coal at rail-water in S.Chicago.
David Allen There is video on Youtube of several locations showing the Mc Mylers in action.
Matthew Fish David Allen there is one rusting away in NJ in the Fresh Kill River. [I could not find this river.]
Ashley Phillips That first shot looks like they are filling a bunker on the deck possibly for the ships fuel ? as in the second shot it looks quite tidy with a purpose built wall around the deck! Lovely shots!,
Daniel A. Mitchell That coal bunker just in front of the stack is indeed the ship's fuel supply. This was a typical location for the bunker on many great lakes ships.

Richard Colby shared
Steve Vanden Bosch I think that’s the Algosoo
Don Lee It is. Delano took plenty of other photos that day and they all show the (first) Algosoo.
B Tupper Upham Loading bunkers!
Jon S. Chapin I remember fuel bunkers were in front of the aft house, tall as the boat deck with a hinged coverplate (closed when not full-up).
Bill Shaver yeah, lump coal... awfull stuff... frozen too...

Carl commented on his post
Same location, date, and photographer - different car being dumped.

Steve Vanden Bosch posted seven photos with the comment: "These photos are from the Library of Congress and they were taken in 1943 by Jake Delano. The title is Ore being loaded from the lake steamer Algosoo of Sault Ste. Marie at Pennsylvania R.R. ore docks, Sandusky, Ohio"
1

2

3

4
B Tupper Upham: Yeah, that's Sandusky and Cedar Point in the distance.

5

6
B Tupper Upham: That's the present NS dock (ex-PRR) dock way out in the bay..these are the LE&W (NKP) and Mad River (NYC) docks that are long gone.
Dick Krieg: In the middle to late 60's I worked on the construction of a new dock for loading coal onto ships. I never did see the end product.B Tupper Upham: That's the present NS dock (ex-PRR) dock way out in the bay..these are the LE&W (NKP) and Mad River (NYC) docks that are long gone.

7

Steve Vanden Bosch posted
Here is another photo are from the Library of Congress taken in 1943 by Jake Delano. The title is Ore [actually, coal] being loaded in the Algosoo of Sault Ste. Marie at Pennsylvania R.R. ore docks, Sandusky, Ohio

Don Lee posted
From the shoe box files: This pic, 1989-ish, of the out-of-use No. 2 car dumper at Sandusky coal dock. No. 1 was already gone by the time I got there. This dumper is the one loading Algosoo(1) in the famous Jack Delano photos from 1943

James Torgeson shared
An abandoned and partially dismantled former Pennsy coal dumper at the dock in Sandusky, which is still operated by Norfolk Southern. (With another dumper, needless to say!)

One of the detailed shots of an unloader on this site because it is explaining how he modeled an McMyler coal unloader. In this case, the detail is of the clamps that hold the hopper during dumping. There are a lot of overview photos as well.

Don Lee commented on his post
Wider views of the coal dock area, by me and (earlier) by Delano.

 In the 1904 topo excerpt below, B&O built the docks on the right at the foot of Warren Street in the 19th Century and "iron ore, lumber, coal, and grain were shipped in large quantities....In 1891, the Sandusky & Columbus Short Line Railroad Company opened a straight track from Sandusky to Columbus and constructed the original Coal Dock later known as Pier #1 at the foot of King St." In 1902 Pennsy bought the S&CSL and added a coal dumper to Pier #2 in 1914. [History]

1904 Sandusky Quadrangle, 1:62,500
"In 1937, with Piers #1 and #2 operating around the clock and larger and larger freighters being constructed," the Pennsy constructed Pier #3. It was almost a mile long and 600' wide. It was built with "eleven million tons of steel sheeting and pilings and the 2.5 million cubic yards of silt and debris that were dredged from the bay" to create new channels that could handle 1000' freighters. This is the pier that NS owns and serves today. "Today 95% of the coal shipped from Sandusky is used in the manufacture of steel." [History]

1959 Sandusky Quadrangle, 1:24,000

MP Rail Photography posted
The NS Sandusky Coal Docks, operated by the Sandusky Dock Corporation can load as much as 2,500 tons of coal an hour. Built in 1891 by the Sandusky & Columbus Short Line Railroad Company with funding also provided by the city of Sandusky the docks provided a way to get coal from Appalachia to the world.
The docks were bought by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1902 and then by the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1964. Seen here is Pier #3 which has been operating for 80 years and has a coal stockpiling capacity of over one million tons.
I had been railfanning along the Chicago Line when I decided to stop and see if I could get any good shots of the docks and I was not disappointed.
April 4, 2021 - Sandusky, Ohio

MP Rail Photography shared

Samuel Grieve posted
Dale Pohto: The #3 machine. Hard to distinguish details from the small image. Do you know the approximate image dimensions of the original artwork?


Bubba Dubs posted two photos with the comment: "Sandusky coal loader."
Tim Thomas: If you look up New Departure films there's a bunch of good shots of the dock
1

2

9:52 video @ 1:45
NS loading the Algoma Innovator at the Sandusky Coal Dock
Mike Czarnecki shared

Speaking of history, note the Conrail logo on this hopper.
9:52 video @ 0:45

1:38 video @ 0:11
Hi everyone. I had to redo this video before sending it because I forgot what ship I was on. Changing ships that are very similar is more difficult. I forget where I am. The store room here on the CSL Niagara, is on the opposite side from the Atlantic Huron so I am continually making a U-turn in the galley. I thought it was so cool how we loaded coal here in Sandusky, Ohio. I was just getting some fresh air and I thought I would take this video. Hope you are enjoying your day.
Chase Sambell shared


35:29 video of today's coal unloader in action





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