Nostalgia & History > PRR coaling tower

June 93
A few miles north of Marion,Oh is this coaling tower over the main lines.
Built and used by the Pennsylvania Railroad , the line itself was sold to the N&W in 1964.
Looking at Google, it is still there.

Gary

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/20 12:34 by gcm.

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Now that's a fair-sized piece of history!

Thanks for the image. I remember seeing it just to the west driving into Marion on US 23 a few years ago to attend Summerail. Completely unexpected, and an interesting encounter at the start of a fine weekend. As I'm sure is the case for many of us, I am hoping that next year can become one in which such activities can safely and comfortably resume. It would be nice to once again pass that coaling tower on the final lap cruising into Marion for a great weekend of Summerail presentations, and other related activities. Let's hope!

gcm Wrote:
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> A few miles north of Marion, OH,
> is this coaling tower over the main lines.
> Built and used by the Pennsylvania Railroad,
> the line itself was sold to the N&W in 1964.

Marty Bernard posted some shots by Roger Puta several years ago of the N&W #1218 running on this line under said tower in 1987: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3881707

Rainier_Rails Wrote:

> Marty Bernard posted some shots by Roger Puta
> several years ago of the N&W #1218 running on this
> line under said tower in 1987:

Thanks - those were great shots of the 1218 at the tower !
Gary

My last time by there, it was still intact.
JB

As long as the structure is still sound and it will clear stuff like trilevel autoracks and double stacks it should be around for awhile.
Even using "controlled demolition" where the debris fell clear of the tracks you're still looking a couple of days where those tracks would have to be closed.
And the Lowest Operating Ratio possible crowd just hates route closures because it requires them to actually think.

Truly built to last.
Bob

This structure that was once an intregal element of steam railroading is now a monument to its history.
Excellent and interesting photo posting; thanks much.
ALLEN
 

There are many shots of that coaling station in use in videos we have produced over the years, even a scene of the coaling station operator with his pet raccoon.
-JH

This location is known as Harvey.   The structure is known as Harvey Coal Dock.

If they tried to build a cement stucture like that today..It would probably fall down in a decade with the cheap cement they use today!!!!

These things were built like the Pyramids! Pretty cool that it is still around. If only they could speak, the stories they would tell. Very nice!

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

Excellent shots, Gary. I like your perspective on these two slides. --Kelly