Glen Lyn, VA: 1919,1944-2015 95mw AEP/Appalachian Power Company Power Plant

(Satellite)

Street View

#1: 1919 15mw

#2: 1920 20mw

#3: 1924 20mw

#4: 1927 25mw

#5: 1944 95mw, the oldest and smallest coal-fired unit in the AEP system. In 1944 it was the largest unit in the southeastern US.

#6: 1957 240mw "Unit 6 produced an industry first with the first use of a single turbine-driven boiler feed pump integrated into the thermodynamic cycle."

Units 1-4 and their 13 boilers were retired in 1971. Units 5-6 were retired in 2015.

"Glen Lyn’s first two units were built without the use of welds – all the joints were flanged. It was not until 1924, when Unit 3 was under construction, that welding was first used."

[AEPretirees]

 

Ed Painter posted
Glen Lyn, Virginia (on the West Virginia border) where we moved when I was 4 (1955) and lived until moving to Narrows, VA following my 4th grade year. We lived in a Company house (a Sears Roebuck house) on the hill behind the plant. The town was centered around Appalachian Power Co.'s Glen Lyn coal fired power plant where my Dad worked in management. The plant had 6 units having been built in 1918 (4), 1944 (1), and 1957 (1). The plant was shut down in 2014. Glen Lyn was a grand place to live for a little boy that loved trains. The town was literally surrounded by the N&W and Virginian Ry mainlines (N&W steam that transitioned to diesel and the Electrified locomotives of the Virginian) and you couldn't leave town without crossing either one or both of them. The mainlines were also very close to our house and right of ways made great areas play on and watch trains from . Both mainlines served the plant. The area was also truly beautiful. At Glen Lyn the East River flows into the New River. At Glen Lyn the New River Valley is surrounded by significantly high mountains deep within the Appalachians. I enjoyed my time living there!

Some photos from the slideshow in AEPretirees. Some of these photos are from the book Test of Glenlyn Generation Station by E.H. Hitchcock of Ohio State University.

a
Photo from 1921-1922 titled "Turbo-generators No. 1 and 2."

b
Photo from 1921-22 titled “Calibrating Automatic Coal Weighing Scales.”

c
Photo of Glen Lyn Plant taken in 1957.

d
Undated early view of Units 1 and 2 turbines at Glen Lyn Plant, probably from 1940s or earlier.

e
Aerial photo of Glen Lyn Plant taken in 1925.

f
Photo from 1921-22 titled “Power Plant from East.”

g
View in Glen Lyn boiler room, 1921-22. Boiler numbers 2 and 4 on right; boiler numbers 1 and 3 on left.

h
Aerial photo of Glen Lyn Plant taken in mid-1940s.

i
Construction of Glen Lyn Unit 6, 1955-57.

j
This photo shows Unit 5 pumps at Glen Lyn Plant.

k
The Unit 6 high-pressure and low-pressure turbines at Glen Lyn Plant.

Joe Miracle posted
'06-07 timeframe Glen Lyn Power Plant. I was lucky enough to visit her before she shut down in 2015 ("I'm from corporate and I'm here to help)". Beautiful plant set into the Appalachian hills. Snapped this with my crappy Nikon point and shoot and it is one of my most treasured photos from working in the plants.

Ed Painter posted
NS 1069 #756 at Glen Lyn.VA 08-09-2013
Ward Jeffery: We'll never see this one on the big bridge, unfortunately. But still great to see it where the home road ran. [So this was the Virginian Railroad.]
Randall Hampton shared

Dennis DeBruler commented on Randall's share
When I checked a 1965 topo map, both railroads were already labeled N&W. So I found an older map. It appears that N&W management should have swallowed their pride and favored the Virginian route through here.
1932 Narrows Quad @ 1:62,500
Randall Hampton: West of the state line, the Virginian was on a high route toward Princeton, not useful for reaching Bluefield. East of the line, N&W did build a bridge a couple of miles upstream to allow crossing over to the single track, and some loaded eastbound trains still go that way. The old VGN is still intact from there all the way through Roanoke and beyond.