Eastern Railroad Discussion > Consols Bailey Mine is Doing Well

Early this past Wednesday morning after a haitus of 2 years we decided to go down near the Bailey / Enlow fork mine which is located north of Waynesburg, PA. We wanted to see what was going on. For one thing Marcellus Gas drillling in the area has increased since the last visit. New well pads have sprung up. We also noticed that another over head conveyor system is in its final stage of construction. I have been told that the recently installed second load-out shaves 15 minutes of loading time off a 100 car train. I have also been told that Consol has a firm order for 7 million tons of coal destined for India & China. N21 was close to being loaded and I was able to get a few pictures of it as it was my first catch of an 80 MAC leading a coal drag here. I also got a decent video of N21 at the summit of its climb out of the mine.

1. The Bailey helpers drift down to couple onto the rear of N21 which is almost done loading. In the Background is a Marcellus Gas drilling rig. A recent addition to the landscape. For those familiar with the area this picture was taken from the new junction of Martin and Valley Church roads. Martin road has been recently moved. I assume due to the gas activity in the area.

2 & 3. The new overhead conveyor system that spans Valley Church road. In photo #2, the conveyor is headed to the load-out area.

More to follow...........

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Thanks for the pictures, John.  The conveyor looks pretty impressive.  Do you know if the export thermal coal is going by way of Baltimore?  Seems like most met and thermal coal exits that way.

Good to see gas and coal jobs continuing to benefit southwest PA residents and railroads.

4. N21 with NS# 7217 leading heads north to Shire Oaks yard with 130 loaded coal hoppers. Location is near mile 4 on the Manor Branch

5. N21 has just passed mile 1 on the Manor Branch. Only about a mile away from Waynesburg, PA.

6. Video of N21 climbing up from Bailey mine and cresting the summit. Then it is downhill. Towards the end of the video the train will pick up some speed. A few miles from here the train will stop and the Bailey helpers will cut off the train, install the EOT and head back to their staging area. I had to remove some of the video to post as the file size was too big. 130 cars at such a slow speed resulted in almost 7 minutes of video for the whole train to go by. On small goof up on my end. I forgot to focus manually and the autofocus went a little whacky on me throwing the rear of the train out of focus after the locomotives went by  : (

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the post.

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i am glad to see this mine doing well.

i was watching a business channel this morning that had concerns about the higher cost of gas and renewable energy compared to that of energy from coal fired power plants.....

66

Nice coverage John.  We’re so lucky to have such big time railroad action like this practically in our back yard.

Nice udate John guess it's time for a tri down there again!

goneon66 Wrote:
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> i am glad to see this mine doing well.
>
> i was watching a business channel this morning
> that had concerns about the higher cost of gas and
> renewable energy compared to that of energy from
> coal fired power plants.....
>
> 66

Here's the Energy Information Agency's July report and short term outlook.   Lots of natural gas exports to Mexico, more than I would have expected.

https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/natgas.php

Between Cape Charles and Bay Bridge anchorages, there are 29 ships tonight. Probably almost all of these are colliers awaiting coal loads at Baltimore or Hampton Roads. Takes to long to check them all at this hour. Coal from Bailey via NS almost certainly goes to Baltimore Canton. The loops there are limited to 130 cars. If CSX has access to Bailey, by the agreements associated with the Conrail split 19 years ago, their trains could go to either Baltimore (Consol pier at Canton) or their own pier at Curtis Bay. OR, they could route down via the ex-RFP to Richmond then east to two coal terminals on CSX at Newport News. I've seen them numerous times on the Ashland railcam.

JLinDE Wrote:
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> Between Cape Charles and Bay Bridge anchorages,
> there are 29 ships tonight. Probably almost all of
> these are colliers awaiting coal loads at
> Baltimore or Hampton Roads. Takes to long to check
> them all at this hour. Coal from Bailey via NS
> almost certainly goes to Baltimore Canton. The
> loops there are limited to 130 cars. If CSX has
> access to Bailey, by the agreements associated
> with the Conrail split 19 years ago, their trains
> could go to either Baltimore (Consol pier at
> Canton) or their own pier at Curtis Bay. OR, they
> could route down via the ex-RFP to Richmond then
> east to two coal terminals on CSX at Newport News.
> I've seen them numerous times on the Ashland
> railcam.

Thank you for the info. CSX does indeed load at Bailey mine as well as at Blacksville #2, Loveridge as per the shared agreement you mentioned. Also at Federal #2 but it has been shut down for several months. I hear rumors of a possible new suitor but right now nothing concrete.
John

How steep are the grades from Baileys to the yard?

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Great video. Last time i stood at that location was for a B&P coal train with 3 EMD SD40-2's.

Randy

Offhand guess: the climb away from the mine is a bit over 1%.
When did the mine open-- 1970s?

timz Wrote:
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> Offhand guess: the climb away from the mine is a
> bit over 1%.
> When did the mine open-- 1970s?

I believe you are correct about the grade. A tad over 1%. After the climb out of the mine, easy going to Shire Oaks yard.
John



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/18 10:39 by jmbreitigan.

The 1989 chart shows two miles of 0.96%. Doesn't say compensated-- would they have built it uncompensated? The chart doesn't show elevations, so can't tell.