New Haven, WV: 1980 1.3 GW AEP Mountaineer and 1950-2015 Philip Sporn Power Plants

Mountaineer: (Satellite)

Sporn: (Satellite, an image is saved below because it is being torn down.)

James Moody posted
Old Philip Sporn Plant, New Haven/Graham Station WV. 
My dad worked there 36 years after originally being at the Philo plant. Both plants were groundbreaking technology at the time.

 

Satellite, I included the cemetery because generally they don't go away.

Andrew Shafer posted
AEP Mountaineer making megawatts

 

Shane Michael posted
AEP’s Mountaineer Plant in New Haven. WV! burning coal! Pic taken from Racine, OH.

 

Gene Smith posted, cropped
Sporn plant

15:23 drone video @ 0:55

15:23 drone video @ 13:18

Two of the thirteen photos posted by Shane Michael with the comment: "Crounse's "Donna York" Making Her Way N/B In Racine, OH With 15 Rock Loads!!"

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I selected the photos that show smokestacks or conveyors in the background because they flag a power plant that is worthy of research. Some more views that Shane caught.

Two of the thirteen photos posted by Shane Michael with the comment: "AEP Mariner Making Their Way N/B In Racine, OH With  Empties For Pow!!"

[AEP (American Electric Power) is the owner of the power plant. It appears they also own some towboats.]

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Two of the thirteen photos posted by Shane Michael with the comment: "Florida Marine's "Ms. Nicole" Making Her Way N/B In Racine, OH. She flipped tows with AB York!"

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In this view, what appears to be a smokestack on the right is actually two smokestacks.

Shane Michael posted

Specifically, it is the two smokestacks on the right in this view taken from the Ohio side of the river. The two smokestacks on the left in the above view are the two smokestacks on the left in the below view. Obviously, the one on the right is active. And it is the one labeled "AEP Mountaineer Power Plant" on Google Maps. The power plant on the left is not labelled, but I have determined it was the Philip Sporn Power Plant. Since the one with the cooling towers looks newer, did it replace the ones on the left?  Kinda. The Mountaineer started operation in 1980. "It has one of the tallest chimneys in the world at 336 meters [1100']." [MasonCounty] The 1,105 MW Sporn plant started ramping up operations in 1950, and it was shutdown in May 2015. [gem-s] These two plant provide an insight into power generating technology. The first four units at Sporn are 153 MW and came online between 1950 and 1952. Sporn added a fifth 496 MW unit in 1960. The 1980 plant has just one 1.3gw unit. [gem-m]

Street View

If this plant has just one boiler, why does it have two smokestacks. This photo shows that one has not been replaced by another that has better pollution control because both stacks are active.

Dan Pfirman, Mar 2021
[The oil well in the foreground is a reminder that West Virginia produces oil and gas as well as coal.]

Dana Williams Jr. posted two photos with the comment: "View for Phillip Sporns unit 5 stack. Mountaineer/1301 in the background."

Drew Bednarczyk: Ah, Mountaineer. Then gem of the AEP fleet.

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When you do a Google search, several hits concern a $334m project that would generate 235 MW with 90% of the CO2 captured and injected into geologic formations about 1.5 miles under ground. A general theme I've noticed while studying power plants concerning pollution control is that shareholders don't help pay for it. The choices are rate payers and/or Federal tax payers. In this case, the Feds were willing to do 50%. But the state regulators, even in these coal mining states, were not willing to accept a 12% rate increase. The states thought all of AEP's rate payers, not just the Appalachian Power Companies customers, should help pay for this pioneering technology that might have saved coal mining. Perhaps national organizations such as business associations and unions should have helped pay for the plant.

Another set of Google search results concern AEP replacing their ash ponds with ones that should do a better job of keeping toxic substances out of the ground water. The EPA is also requiring them to improve their landfill to also help clean up the ground water. Better control of their waste needs to be done even if they soon close the plant because the waste will remain.

And a Google search offers the topic "mountaineer power plant closing." Even though this 1980 power plant has a design life until 2040, they are considering shutting it down long before then.

Brian Taylor posted
Mountaineer threw blades 4 years back. [2022-4 = 2018]
[Given the unit is huge (1.3gw), that has to be an expensive booboo.
Some of the comments indicate that this is what happens if a lot of water gets into the steam supply.]
Brian Kroeker: wow that must have shaken the building.

6 drone photos

12 photos

6 demolition photos, Shane Michael shared

A Nov 6, 2022, 11:08 drone video of the plant (source)

Saying goodbye to Sporn

safe_image for Twin Stack Demolition YouTube Video

safe_image for Unit 5 Demolition YouTube Video
The booms start at 1:26.

Dec 17, 2022, postings:

0:16 video @ 0:02 (source)
There she blows…….RIP Phillip Sporn Plant 1947-2022

5 photos and a video, cropped
[Shove the slider for the video about halfway into the video. A couple of the photos were of the dust cloud near a playground.]

A video from the other side.

0:53 video, the "boom" happens at 0:14
Frank Romano: I lot of these coal plants were bult around the same timeframe, so they reached the end of their design life at the same time and would require huge investments to extend their life, which is impossible to economically justify when compared to the efficiencies of gas-fired plants. The cost to build and run a new combined-cycle gas-fired plant is much cheaper in every aspect compared to trying to keep a coal-fired plant running, even if you disregard the environmental side (which is not insignificant).
The biggest issue the US has is if anything big happens to the natural gas supply since we've become way too dependent on it. We'd be in deep doo-doo.

18 before, during and after photos (source)

Viola, IL: CB&Q Depot, NP Caboose and Lost Wood Grain Elevator

Depot: (Satellite)

Caboose: (Satellite)

Grain Elevator: (Satellite, it was replaced around 2013.)

 

Trent Briggs posted
Trent Briggs shared
Dennis DeBruler shared
A CB&Q depot
Thomas Whitt shared

Andy Zukowski posted
CB&Q Railroad Depot in Viola, Illinois. 1963
Richard Fiedler shared

David Kennedy: At the time of this photo, are the tracks removed? I am guessing that is either the photographer's car or the agents? Thoughts

Dennis DeBruler commented on David's comment

 It was not abandoned until 1986 according to a comment by Kevin Huggins on a post: https://www.facebook.com/groups/161019811058897/posts/1848405125653682/

But this topo map shows that the depot used to have a house track. That is probably the abandoned RoW that the car is parked on.

1953 Viola Quad @ 24,000

Street View, Jul 2013

Anthony M Miranda posted
CB&Q Viola, IL. depot in August of 2013.
Tomas Whitt shared

Dawn Cianci posted six photos.

Marvin McGill Jr.: Back in the 70s when I worked for BN I was a head breakman I remember picking up cars here I moved back to Galesburg il 5 years ago stopped here did some walking down money land talked to the guy that owns this neat story behind the way car use to be on top of a hill over looking the old ATSF transcon out side of Knoxville il he bought it it was in bn green he moved it all this way repainted to the original car number and paint and logo I jad been gone about 30 years

Dick Reiners: Where is this?

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Dennis DeBruler commented on Dick's comment
West of 18th Street and a little North of 17th Avenue.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Dick's comment
The track remnant north of the depot was the mainline and the track remnant to the south was part of the house track.
1953 Viola Quad @ 24,000

4 of 5 photos posted by Michael Mannino with the comment: "Stopped in Viola on a beautiful day and took a couple pictures.  Can someone tell me when this line was decommissioned?"

Ron Hatch: This segment, Alpha to Joy, abandoned mid to late 80's. It was the last segment of a route that originally came off the CB&Q's Galesburg-Chicago mainline at Galva, crossed the Galesburg-Savanna line at Alpha, and ended at New Boston on the Mississippi River. A few miles east of New Boston was a junction (Arpee) where another branch went south, crossed the M&StL at Keithsburg, then joined the Galesburg-Burlington main at Gladstone for the final lap into Burlington. This was at one time a doodlebug run that the locals called "the Dolly"

Robert Sullivan: That red paint was distinctive on CB&Q small stations and buildings. Almost all are long since torn down.

Richard Fiedler shared

Kevin Huggins: 1986 is when it was abandoned

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Kevin Huggins commented on Richard's share
1984, at Viola

Dennis DeBruler commented on Michael's post
1902 map, https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/.../knx_rail/id/298

The grain elevators in the foreground have been replaced by a modern building. The facility in the left background is Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Street View, Jul 2013

The replacement:

Street View, Sep 2022

Street View, Aug 2011
The old elevators were gone by Oct 2013.

Street View, Aug 2011

The "house track" was also the grain elevator siding. It passed just north of the old wood elevator. We can still see the base of the loading spout. The small bin sits on the RoW.

Street View, Jul 2013

Back when the old elevators were still standing. the intersection is 17th Ave. and 18th St.

Google Earth, May 2012

The skeleton of a boxcar.

Street View

Pontiac, IL: Grain Elevator and the Danger of Engulfment

(Satellite)

Michael Brand posted
Grain Engulfment!
Bob Bowerman: Michael Brandt I actually participated in a grain engulfment rescue. It was at the (then) Bunge grain loading station just north of Pontiac Illinois in the early '80's. This was before they perfected the equipment needed for an extraction and you just used what was available. I was a jr. buyer under Dave Hastings who was mgr/head buyer. Dave slammed the phone down and shouted "grab your (hard) hat!!!" and ran out the door like he was stealing home and headed off toward a big, million bushel bin we were emptying. These bins are huge and the floors are flat, so if you were doing a complete cleanout, you unbolted a huge door in the side and drove a big articulated diesel powered frontend loader and a couple large skid steers (all with spark arrestors) and they pushed the remaining corn to the unload holes in the floor. Everything is jumbo size in these terminals. The beltveyor under the floor was wide enough you could drive a vw van down it. The holes in the floor that the grain dropped through could swallow a wheel-barrow with ease. When we got inside, 3-4 employees were frantically shoveling corn away from a summer intern who was up to his lower chest in corn. The intern was holding it together but barely. We tried a variety of ways to free him none of which did anything more than leave him now almost to his neck in the corn. In all seriousness, all of us were in dire straights. We're up to our knees and he's up to his neck in corn, at the lowest point in the bin and we are surrounded by mountains of corn that is "hung-up" and if it broke loose and avalanched down on us the intern would surely suffocate and probably take a few of us rescuers with him. We eventually extricated him by driving boards from wood skids we broke up into the grain around him to form a dike and then hand scooping the corn out from around him. In the big bins those avalanches can 3-5' high and contain 10,000+ bushels. You never-ever turned your back on grain that was hung up. And you never-ever allowed yourself to get between hung-up grain and the drain hole. Nowadays they have training and specialized extraction kits, but back then not-so-much. bobb
Kurt Altmann: that’s why it was so important to put lids back on the bins after checking bins.
Therese Ryan-Haas: Don’t remind me. I moved out to corn county. This is a reality. Happens more than than it should. Last death was just a few weeks ago.
Bob Bowerman: Michael Brandt It has only been since I started sharing the photos, have I understood just HOW dangerous mill/elevator jobs were back then. It wasn't so much that we were reckless as it was working in an environment whose very components carried mod/high risk and not having/implementing the accompanying safety program. Think of it as getting folks to store their gunpowder and matches in "cool, dry, sealed containers"...but not mentioning it is best if they are in SEPERATE containers. When I was young, the number of one-armed men was a good indication of what percent of a church's membership were corn farmers. Cornpickers were notorious for not being able to differentiate between ears of corn and arms of farmers. Neurological diseases run through my family it seems. Does the fact we had 3 generations working the feed mill/elevators have any bearing on this? Yes, you had training, gov't approved/mandated respirators and gloves, but I tell you this; You spend your day wading a zig-zag course through mountains of bone dry corn, where with each step you sink to the top of your work boots, in flat storage bins big enough to cover your high school's entire football complex, bleachers and all, humping a 60+ pound backpack sprayer full of weevilcide, which you mixed "a little stronger than "extra-strength" because to it doesn't kill weevils worth a damn at label rates". Spray nozzles plug, hose connections drip, hose clamps fail. At the end of your shift you drive home with a pounding headache, step into the laundry room, strip to the buff and throw your work clothes in the corner, if they are "clean enough to wear" you will wear them tomorrow, if they "need washing" your wife will throw your underware and socks in with the family's, your worn-out jeans and sleeveless workshirt will get washed separately, but if she's just a little short of a full load of family jeans it's just as likely your jeans will get thrown in with the family's. Before you leave to watch your son, Ryan, play football against the school arch-rival, you pop a couple of aspirin to counter the flu-like symptoms you are experiencing. You chase it with some Benadryl to stop the itching on your forearms and stifle the persistent dry cough you have developed. You repeat the dosage at bedtime and awake refreshed but stiff in the joints, ready to tackle another day. That's just the way it was. Some may protest and say it was different where they worked, but in my experience, what I just described was the SOP outside of the big grain terminals. A white male born in 1950 had a projected lifespan of 66-67 years.
Dennis DeBruler: Bob Bowerman For decades, I knew grain dust explosions were a hazard in grain elevators. (My Dad was a tax accountant for Central Soya, and he explained why some of their elevators would blow up.) A few years ago I learned about the danger of engulfment and suffocation. Now I've learned that toxic chemicals were also a hazzard. We should also add to the list: falling from a significant height.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's comment
Thanks for the insight including driving equipment into the bin to clean it out.
Was this the elevator?
 https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
Bob Bowerman: Dennis DeBruler Yes although they have added considerable more storage over the years. I think it was the east-most large steel bin. Memory fails me if it was bought by Weston Grain which morphed into Prairie Central or whether they were already PC when they bought the Bunge location. If I remember right Dick West ran Weston Grain at the time I was at Bunge. Whoever it was, they were a formidable competitor in originating grain.

 

Facebook reel

In addition to a couple of really big bins, they have two locomotives. All of the bins make the original concrete silos look puny. I wonder if the long building holds more than all of the bins combined.

Satellite

FS posted an article on seven steps for safety for entering a bin
Martin S Hubbard: I was once a member of a team that recovered bodies out of grain bins. These were the result of people getting into Grain bins during or after some of the grain has been removed. Do not enter a grain bin that part of the grain has been removed. I would not even try it with a body harness and lanyard!

Delphi Fire Department posted three photos with the comment: "This morning, Delphi Fire Department rescue truck 526 was requested to respond with manpower to assist Camden Jackson Township Fire Department on a grain bin rescue. The victim was successfully rescued using specialized grain bin rescue equipment and a technical rescue rope system. The victim was turned over to Carroll County EMS for evaluation and care. Other agencies on scene were Flora, Burrows and Rockfield Fire Departments and Carroll County Sherriff’s Department."

The Farmer's Life shared with the comment: "Glad one of our local departments had the right equipment on hand today. Not sure who it was for, but good to know there got out."

Pamela Dowdy: Glad rescue was successful, I lost my husband to grain bin entrapment. Terrible loss to family, it has been 13 years ago, but still hurts.

Kyle Pfledderer: All carroll county fire departments are equipped with grain bin rescue tubes and auger thanks to the FFA at carroll high school. We had a successful rescue due all departments that was called for manpower. Top-notch group of guys.

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[I think of ladder trucks reaching up, not out. I'm surprised that the outriggers could handle this large-radius load. I used street view to look for tall buildings in Delphi. I couldn't find any.]

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kwqc via post
Grain bin entrapments on the rise, experts say accidents are almost entirely preventable
"Dr. Salah Issa, an assistant professor and extension specialist at the University of Illinois, said the first recorded case of grain bin entrapment happened in 1964, and the accidents have continued since then. The fatality rate remains high despite rescue training improvements. “Historically, the fatality percentage was higher,” Issa said. “It used to be up to 70% fatal historically, but strong efforts in training for rescue personnel have contributed to the reduction of the severity, but still, 50% is pretty bad, and 20 to 40 people every year.”"
https://standup4grainsafety.org/
https://grainsafety.web.illinois.edu/

Evan O'Donnell: They’ve got a robot now that you just lower in and it tills the grains or corn to take out the air pockets that cause this

Wyoming, MI: (near Grand Rapids, MI:) Lamar Tower: CSX/PM vs. Aban/PC/LS&MS

(Satellite, not only is LS&MS abandoned, but Wyoming Yard has been extended and covers the crossing)

Tom Carter posted
Here's Lamar Tower as C&O GP7 5717 and its freight passes over the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern (later New York Central) line at the southwest end of the C&O Wyoming yards near Grand Rapids, Michigan, in February of 1965. The tower was located a few hundred feet northwest of Chicago Drive between Greenfield and Byron Center avenues, and that bridge way down there between the tower and train is the Chicago Drive ramp over the tracks to the then-new freeway. You can see the LS&MS tracks running side-to-side right behind the tower.
I've included a 1975 city map in the replies that shows where the tower was as well as where the LS&MS line continued into town across what's now the Kent Trails bridge over the river. The last train on the line and last to cross the bridge was in 1976.
C&O electrician Dick Blakely captured the 5717 going by as he and crew were working on nearby signals.

Tom Carter commented on his post
Here's the map of the area showing where the tower and tracks were.

Dennis DeBruler tried commenting on Tom's post
It appears that this cartographer included a rectangle for this tower. That is not typical.
1967 Grand Rapids West Quad @ 24,000

Helena, AR: MoPac-IC Ferry and MoPac Depot + Freight House

Depot and Freight House: (Satellite)

Railroad Ferry Dock: (Satellite, a grain elebator has repurposed the river front)

Helena On the Mississippi posted
As this photograph proves, the railroad ferry that served Helena was in existence well into the diesel locomotive era. In this photo, the "Pelican" ferry stands by as the train moves off and rolls into Helena.
Al Haraway: That trestle was on wheels and the ferry would push into it to raise it to the correct level for the train to drive off. I watched it several times while playing along the levee with friends, John Tappan and Jim Topp.
Paul Jevert shared
Illinois Central's Navy, the Pelican
Memphis to Helena AK on the Mississippi !

Yazoo & Mississippi Valley became part of the Illinois Central.

1961 Latour Quad @ 62,500

Street View, Oct 2013

David Shepard, Oct 2016

Given the doors along the side, the single story part of the building was obviously a freight house. But the two story part must have been a depot because the interior is way too fancy for a freight house.

John Hedrick, Mar 2019

When you see that it takes a 4-tower cantiliver bridge for the road to cross the Mississippi River here, one understands why this railroad ferry ran so late into the 20th Century. Now there is no railroad crossing in the area.

John A. Weeks III via Dennis DeBruler

Betty Davidson via pinterest
Side view of the Pelican train ferry at Helena, Arkansas 1950

Technically, it is a sidewheeler even though the wheels are near the stern. It was built in 1902. "She worked at Vicksburg, Mississippi as a car ferry until the bridge was built in 1929. She then went to Helena, Arkansas where she was a railroad transfer ferry between Trotters Point, Mississippi and Helena. She did that until 1960 when her superstructure was removed and the hull was used as a transfer barge." This page has a photo of it being dismantled, but the copyright doesn't permit copies even for non-profit educational use. [Wisconsin-library]

"Helena is the only downtown on the Mississippi River for the 300 miles between Memphis and Vicksburg, making it the perfect launching point for any river adventure." [VisitHelenaAR]

Helena On the Mississippi posted
1960: Believe it or not, this photograph was taken in the winter of 1960 by Ernie Deane of the steam ferry "Pelican" at Helena, Arkansas. The Pelican appeared to be the last steam powered train ferry on the Mississippi River. It carried railcars and locomotives between Helena, Arkansas and Lula, Mississippi. Deane, who passed away in 1961, was a well known Arkansas journalist who was a frequent visitor to Helena in the late 1950s and early 60s. (Arkansas History Commission Archives)
[A comment indicates that in the early 1950s it was one of 5 train ferries operating in the US.]
Gregg Cook: The Pelican was pushed by a barge after a failed diesel refit up into the early seventies. At least that's what my research said.
It was stated that a tug pushed it across the river after an early 60s failed refit.
Alice Robertson: My favorite was being on one of the ferries and passing the Pelican. We used to go watch it unload while we were waiting on the other side! When we moved from Mississippi to Arkansas, our furniture was loaded on a train car in Webb and came across on the Pelican. [An example of the impact of trucks on the railroad industry. Can you imagine any furniture being shipped in a train car today?]
Doug Taylor: The Pelican was something very special: Can't tell you how many times back in the 1940's & early 50's growing up in Helena that I went down to the Levee to see the Pelican load & head for the Mississippi shore of The River; Its specifications, slightly more than a football field in length, that, to the mind of an old man, is impressive even to this day! It would be to the detriment of all, especially future generations, not to see the history & importance of Helena's history preserved for future generations.

 

Gary Chamness commented on the above post
Pelican at work in the Helena Harbor....
[Note that it is being unloaded  by a steam locomotive instead of a diesel.]

EncyclopediaOfArkansas, Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville
"The Pelican, which ferried trains across the Mississippi River between Trotters Point in Mississippi and Helena (Phillips County). It was the only crossing the Illinois Central Railroad had into Arkansas."