Carmi, IL: 2002-2022 White County Coal's Pattiki Mines and L&N Railroad Scenes

Shaft for Mine #2: (Satellite)

Prep Plant and Rail Loadout: (Satellite)

First Depot: (Satellite)

Second Depot: (Satellite)

The mine was served by EVWR/L&N. EVWR = Evansville & Western Railroad

This is the address on the sign below.

Street View, Sep 2008

Christie Trout posted five photos with the comment: "'DRAIL' locking the gate  for the final time."

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Dennis DeBruler commented on Christie's post
According to the key, CRP = "Checkerboard Room and Pillar; evenly spaced large pillars"

Dennis DeBruler commented on Christie's post

Dennis DeBruler commented on Christie's post
The shaft that was just closed was Mine #2 (1040). There was about a mile long conveyor that moved the coal to the rail loadout facility for Mine #1 (1000). The railroad was L&N, and it is now Evansville & Western Railroad (EVWR).
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.0676367,-88.0940586,2446m/data=!3m1!1e3
The prep plant had a throughput capacity of 1,000 tons of raw coal an hour.
https://www.gem.wiki/Pattiki_Mine

CourierPress, ARLP (Alliance Resource Partners, the parent company)
The mine had already closed in 2016. At that time, it employed 300 workers. "Remaining coal reserves as of December 31 of 2015 were estimated at 54.6 million tons."

A vertical conveyor was used to bring the coal out of the mine. "The Pattiki mine produces high-sulfur coal from the Illinois No. 6 coal seam utilizing continuous mining units and room-and-pillar techniques. Production from the Pattiki mine averaged approximately 220,000 tons per month during the first quarter of 2010." [sec]

L&N+Big Four Union Depots and L&N Railroad Scenes

 

Trent Briggs posted
Carmi, Illinois
Richard Fiedler shared
Richard Fiedler shared

Brian Vieck posted three photos with the comment:

I have more from Carmi, IL in 1979!

The 2nd photo of the depot was scanned in reverse. I included the 3rd photo as it has the L&N Customer Service van in the background.

From the Alan K. House collection.

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David Cantrell commented on the above post
Built around 1912. Similar size to Mt. Vernon.

 

Brian Vieck posted
Mary N Bob Hawk: is this one on corner of 3rd and Fackney streets down from where the lumber yard is now..looks like the carmi lumber in the background on the left.

 

David Cantrell commented on the above post
This was next to the water tower at 1st. The first union depot was at 3rd street and looked like this:

 

Andy Zukowski posted
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Depot in Carmi, Illinois. 1908

Bill Edrington: The Big Four (CCC&StL) Cairo Division also used this depot, and that’s why there are two train order boards in front of the building. In fact, that’s a southbound Big Four train in the photo, led by Class Cx 4-4-0 #7054.

Richard Fiedler shared

Roy Vombrack: Was this a special occasion?

I was surprised when David said "union depot" because I saw only one railroad in town. This topo map explains the mystery. The L&N paralleded the Big Four's Egyptian Line through town. This allowed them to share the bridge over the Little Wabash River.

1943 Carmi Quad @ 62,500

It looks like this 1938 aerial photos caught both of the depots.

1938 Aerail Photo from ILHAP

Brian Vieck posted two photos with the comment:

A couple non train scenes of L&N rails at Carmi, IL. 

In the snow photo the NYC tracks are on the right. 

Both photos are looking east.

c. 1980

Photos by the late Alan K. House.

Travis Payne: When I started, we rarely went past Epworth. Now we have fairly steady business from Evansville to Mcleansboro. It's cool to see how much we've grown.

Thomas Kick: that was the switch/spot tamper that I was foreman on back then Dean Cocke was the operator and a damn good one.

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Dennis DeBruler shared
Carmi, IL: Evansville & Western/L&N tracks on the left and Abandoned/Big Four Egyptian Line tracks on the right.

1943 Carmi Quad @ 62,500

Brian Vieck posted
April, 1980. Making a weld at Carmi, IL
From the late Alan K. House collection.
Mark Rickert: Looking at the soup that is the roadbed, welded rail seems like it should have been the least of the worries.

Brian Vieck posted two photos with the comment:

April, 1981

L&N Scale Test Car at Carmi, IL.

August, 1979

Travelin' Tom car at Carmi, IL. Anyone know why this car was named as such and what it's purpose was?

Alan K House collection

[Some comments indicate that "Travelin' Tom" was a scale test car for the coal mines in the area. No one knew why it was "Tom."]

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Brian Vieck posted
1979 photo by the late Alan House.
Westbound L&N track geometry "car" at Carmi, IL on the L&N line from St Louis to Evansville, IN. The track on the far right was the NYC Egyptian line that ran north/south. The two roads shared the bridge over the Little Wabash River at Carmi and was how the two lines crossed each other hence the reason for the parallel trackage in this area.

Brian Vieck posted two photos with the comment: "Track work at Carmi, IL. The old NYC line is to the far left in the first photo nearest the Depot. First photo is looking west and second photo is looking east toward the Little Wabash River bridge.

Date unknown.

Alan K. House collection."

[So the Egyptian Line was south of the L&N through town.]

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The depot was in the southwest quadrant of the tracks and 1st Street.

1974 Carmi Quad @ 24,000

Clifton Forge, VA: JD Cabin: CSX/C&O vs. CSX/C&O, Turntables, Coaling Towers and Rail Museums

Junction: (Satellite)

Roundhouse: (Satellite)

Turntable: (Satellite)

Coaling Towers: (Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite, I don't think this was the original location)

Freight House: (Satellite, I think this is the original location)

Museum: (Satellite, 881 photos, cohs)

This post is what motivated me to research Clifton Forge.

Ron Flanary posted
[The bridge in the photo]

Waiting at JD Cabin

Like so many venerated places from the heyday of the American railroad era, JD Cabin—the east end of the big C&O terminal at Clifton Forge, Va.—was something else again, particularly in the late steam era. This is the point where the through passenger trains converged or split from the low-grade coal line via Lynchburg to Richmond from the Mountain Subdivision to Charlottesville, and then to Washington or to Richmond, and beyond to Tidewater. Most of the manifest traffic took the former line while the heavy coal traffic for Newport News followed the easy downriver grade of the James River. The huge H-8 Allegheny-type 2-6-6-6s only ran as far east as Clifton Forge, handing off their coal trains to heavy 2-8-2s here.

All this history was on my mind as I was driving home from a work trip to Richmond on June 10, 1993. When I arrived in Clifton Forge the evening sun was slowly dropping behind the Allegheny Mountains to the west. In the back-lit yard, I noticed a coal train that was apparently ready to roll east behind a pair of freshly repainted CSX SD50s. Where could I capture a “different” type of image in the challenging lighting conditions? Sure---perhaps there was something at the huge double track overhead truss bridge over the Jackson River near the community of Iron Gate. In less than three miles east of the junction, the Jackson’s confluence with the Cowpasture River created the James.

I looked things over at JD Cabin and selected a 300mm lens and climbed up to my “spot” with camera, tripod and cable release in hand. Now, the waiting began. I knew I had a long four-hour drive still facing me to get back home, but if the light held long enough for the train to hit a small window of sun on the far side of the bridge, perhaps it might yield a usable image. The waiting continued, and I seriously considered packing it in when the sun’s rays were fading fast. Just then my scanner squawked to life, and I heard the yardmaster give Extra 8577 permission to roll.

It didn’t take long for my train to reach the point where I banged off a few shots. As I packed up my equipment, I counted the loaded CSX 100-ton coal hoppers brimming with West Virginia bituminous as they groaned by in rapid succession. When the flashing EOT finally passed, 166 loads were counted. That was quite a train for two SD50s, but with level or slightly downgrade track, it would reach its destination without complications.

It was nearly midnight when I reached Big Stone Gap, but I felt my time in Clifton Forge was worth it. The only thing to do was to wait for the slides to return from Kodak to see if my photographic efforts were successful. You had to get it right the first time then, and there was no way to know if your calculations and settings were okay until you opened the little box of freshly minted slides (which I always smelled, by the way). In this case, I gave it a B, or maybe a B minus. Under the circumstances, I doubt I could have done better.

Ron Flanary shared
Charlie Isaacs: Ron, great pic and narrative of this area. I was the Track Supervisor/Roadmaster there from 1982 to 1994. There was an American flag off to the right on top of the bluff there which stayed for years. Back in the early 80's transportation would run "Big Macs" across the Alleghany Sub with pushers. Once they arrived at Clifton forge it was common to run 190 cars of coal down towards Newport News with 2 locomotives.

Junction Tower

The tower was on the south side just west of the turnout for the two routes. (On the left side of this aerial photo excerpt.)

EarthExplorer: Apr 28, 1944 @ 43,100, AR1AZ0000020068

Turntables and Coaling Towers

This yard still has two turntables.

We can tell from the remnants of the foundation that this turntable used to serve a roundhouse.

Satellite

A 1944 aerial photos shows that the roundhouse used to be a full 180 degrees.

EarthExplorer: Apr 28, 1944 @ 43,100, AR1AZ0000020068

The turntable in today's locomotive servicing facility did not exist in 1944.

Satellite

But it did exist in 1963. I included part of the now abandoned bridge in the lower-left corner as a reference point because a little northeast of that bridge is a large, rectangular coaling tower in this 1963 image.

EarthExplorer: Mar 24, 1963 @ 43,100, AR1VAPX00010201

The big rectangular coaling tower that we see in 1963 did not exist in 1944. Judging from the shadow in the upper-right corner of this excerpt, there was a smaller coaling tower similar to...

EarthExplorer: Apr 28, 1944 @ 43,100, AR1AZ0000020068

...this C&O tower that is still standing in Ronceverte, WV.

Aaron Bryant via Dennis DeBruler

At least the smaller, circular coaling tower is still standing. And at least part of the bigger tower is still standing.

Satellite

Museum, Junction Tower, Depot and Freight House

Street View

Street View

Noah's Railroad and Weather Photography posted two photos with the comment: "Chesapeake & Ohio SD40 7534 sits idle at the C&O Heritage Center in Clifton Forge, Virginia, on August 6, 2023. Built in March of 1971, the engine became famous for remaining in C&O paint as late as September of 2008, decades after the end of the scheme’s usage and the C&O as a whole. It was donated by CSX to the museum in 2017."

Randall Hampton shared

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I presume the depot and interlocking tower were moved to their current location in the Heritage Center.

2:36 video @ 0:58

But according to a topo map, the freight house is in its original location and the tracks in this area were team tracks.

2:36 video @ 1:51

Operations

When looking for the location of the junction, I noticed that a coal train was on the route that went over the mountains (northern) rather than the one that followed the James River to Richmond, VA (across the bridge).

Satellite

Then I noticed that it appeared to be an empty train. So I followed it west to see if I could find the locomotives. They were at the locomotive servicing facility.

Satellite

And while following that train, I found another set of locomotives working with loaded coal cars.

Satellite

Those locomotives were handling just a cut of cars that ended at the throat of the yard. The locomotives near the lower-left corner of this excerpt are attached to a long cut of loaded coal cars.

Satellite

Bridges & Tunnels posted five photos with the comment:

Steel rails and towering bridges—Clifton Forge, Virginia, echoes with the ghosts of its railroading past.

Once a vital hub for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, Clifton Forge played a key role in moving coal and freight through the Allegheny Mountains. Its rail yards, historic bridges, and abandoned coaling towers stand as reminders of a time when steam locomotives ruled the rails. Today, the town’s rich railroading heritage endures, waiting to be explored.

🔖 More on its history + photos: https://bridgestunnels.com/.../11/a-visit-to-clifton-forge/

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Two more drone shots from B&T.

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70 photos