Eastern Railroad Discussion > Coal Trains Moving on CSX from Cumberland, Maryland

In watching Virtual Railfan today, there are still coal trains coming down into Cumberland, Maryland on the former B&O Railroad (CSX now) and moving south.  Obviously, the Curtis Bay Coal Facility in Baltimore is now out of service because of the disaster with the Francis Scott Key Bridge being destroyed by that large cargo ship.  We all know that everything is now being done to get the Port of Baltimore reopened ASAP as the Army Corp. of Engineers along with the Coast Guard are working to get demolition equipment and crews to the scene to remove the fallen structure and the debris from the shipping channel.  Meanwhile, does anyone really know where these coal trains are now heading?  My guess is down to Newport News, Virginia, but does anyone actually know if this has started?  Thanks.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

According to a CSX statement:  "CSX currently has capacity to dispatch additional trains to CSX-served coal terminals in Baltimore before reaching pile space limits."
So it wouldn't surprise me if these are indeed headed to Curtis Bay. If you know the symbol that might help identify the destination.
CSX also states that "The company curently intends to keep its Curtis Bay Coal Pier facility operational but will continue to assess the circumstances to determine appropriate actions moving forward."
/Ted

Discussed here:
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,5839091
They of course can't get any ships in or out but the coal receiving at Baltimore is open for business.
 

CSX train symbols  - coal destined for Curtis Bay:

• From Grafton, WV - C768, C769, C780, C782, C784, 85, 86,87, 88, 89, C792, 93, 94
• From Danville, WV - C670
• From Coal Run, KY - C686
• From Newell, PA - C767, C783
• From Rockwood, PA - C790

PCBill

Curtiss Bay has limited on ground storage but the Consol facility has enomous capacity. If they were reach capacity before the Patapsco Channel is reopened I guess they could store (tie-down) loaded coal trains until they could be unloaded, thousands of stored coal hoppers could be recalled but track storgae space is limited, and if it really gets bad shut down the coal mines. I doubt we'll see that.
There is a huge demand worldwide for US coal and the answer lies in getting the port opened, not to limit production.
This may be a little tough on the R&N which supplies nearly if not 100% of the Anthracite in high demand. They export through Baltimore and also some through Kinder-Morgan at Fairless, PA but I believe that is barged exclusively to Canada and the facilities there are limited, although much space for ground storage is available.
Gonut

Just saw coal train go east on Shenandoah Junction camera, second one in about an hour.
Wonder if any coal trains will come south on NS?

Re: R&N coal trains....

Is the Anthracite being 'mined', old style, from underground,
or is it being reclaimed from the monstrous "culm-banks"?

​W.


 

south on NS from where?


holiwood Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just saw coal train go east on Shenandoah Junction
> camera, second one in about an hour.
> Wonder if any coal trains will come south on NS?

Posted from Android

Listen to the Potomac scanner feed and see which way they're going at Point of Rocks. Old mainline or Met sub

twl

Posted from Android

Listen to the Potomac scanner feed and see which way they're going at Point of Rocks. Old mainline or Met sub.

twl

Posted from Android

wcamp1472 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Re: R&N coal trains....
>
> Is the Anthracite being 'mined', old style, from
> underground,
> or is it being reclaimed from the monstrous
> "culm-banks"?
>
> ​W.
>
> All of the Anthracite mining in Pennsylvania is surface strip mining although there maybe a very few underground hand mines for local use. Nothing commercial underground.

The culm piles are burned for power generation in Pennsylvania. Not export.

Corrections welcome.
>  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/24 11:45 by CP8888.

> The culm piles are burned for power generation in
> Pennsylvania. Not export.

Why couldn't they do that when the culm was new?

CP8888
Timz
Most of the easily reclaimed culm is probably gone by now. 
Culm was generally worthless compared to pure Anthracite until the oil shortages of 1970s. Then it was a commodity.
Culm was the coal and rock granules that were sifted out of the dry coal itself before it was washed to float the remaining coal dust and rock out. There were mountains of this when I was kid in the Fifties!
Some “culm” was the Anthracite floated off during washing, (coal floats, not rock) it was worth enough for downstream companies to remove it as silt in the late 1880s and early 1900s but not for home heating the primary end user of Anthracite then. I'm not sure where they sold it, I'm re-reading that book now!
In the Sixties power companies went to turbine boilers burning pulverized coal (as a Boy Scout we visited a local power station where they showed us this as well as two old hand fired boilers used during winter peak season) Culm which also contains rock, when pulverized, burns mid-air like fuel oil, the ashes and rock all go away with the ash.
​Today Anthracite is strip mined over and through previously deep-mined seams.
Gonut

This is a much abbreviated response as I wrote a much more detailed answer but it was lost when I apparently bumped a "hot key".
Damn I hate typing stuff to be lost to cyberspace with no undo.
 should be smart enouh to write in a safe place (like Word) and then cut and paste to T.O. or other stupid online locations. 
Arggh!
Gonut
 

AAAARRRGGGG!  I know what you mean Gonut ....... But, getting old is better than the alternative.