N&WHS Beckley Convention - more from the Sophia Laundromat
I would have photographed more of these panoramic pictures, but my ride was leaving. Next time I’m near Beckley I will take the short hop from I-64 down to Sophia to check it out further.
1. Lillybrook Coal Co. mine #2 was located out on the end of the VGN Winding Gulf Br. at Fireco. Not much of railroad interest in this scene. Several years ago I drove out to the end of the Winding Gulf Br. Being on top of the Beckley Plateau it was pastoral countryside, but NS is inactive and the mines gone past Pemberton. Sophia Laundromat.
2. The #1 mine was at Lillybrook on the Stone Coal Br. at the head of the creek. Both were listed as drift mines into the Fire Creek Seam, but I can tell you there is a considerable difference in elevation between Fireco and Lillybrook (about 200 ft.). I drove on down to East Gulf that day, and there were no identifiable communities left of this once thriving coal producing area. The railroad was gone above East Gulf. Flattop, WV, 1:62,500 quad, 1932, USGS.
3. Panoramic view of Stotesbury. The jointly served tipple was on the VGN. The C&O is on the right. E. E. White Coal Co. owned the poperty. Sophia Laundromat.
4. Sophia Laundromat. Stotesbury.
5. C&O flag stop sign in front of the company store. Sophia Laundromat. Stotesbury.
6. Back of store (left) and recreation building (right). E E White Coal. Stotesbury WV.
7. Recreation building. E E White Coal. Stotesbury WV.
8. Stotesbury tipple served mines into the Beckley, Pocahontas #3 and #4 seams (48”). The tipple was equipped with shaker screens and picking tables. Sizes shipped included run-of-mine, slack, nut, egg and lump. The operation had 400 employees, used 22 trolley pole locomotives and had a daily capacity of 2,200 tons. E E White Coal. Stotesbury WV. 1915.
9. USGS Flat Top quad, 1:62,500 scale for 1932. Shows Stotesbury and Helen. Mullens, WV, 1:62,500 quad, 1927, USGS.
10. Steeple of Stotesbury Community Church and refuse dump for Keystone 4 mine. 06-29-1974. C&O
11. Inactive Eastern Associated Coal Keystone 4 prep. plant on 10-27-1987. Looking east on NS Winding Gulf Br. C&O came across the creek to reach the joint supply tracks on the right. C&O . RSW & WG. Stotesbury.
12. C&O 4223-3877-3875 come through Stotesbury on 10-28-1985 bound for Stone Coal Jct.
13. Pusher 2311-2304 with caboose 903568 on the same evening train. C&O RSW & WG Stotesbury.
14. Lower end of Stotesbury looking toward Raleigh and Gulf Switch on the C&O. 10-29-1985.
15. View from the highway of the church on 10-29-1985. NS is in the foreground. C&O Stotesbury.
16. Inactive Keystone 4 prep. plant with NS in foreground. C&O’s access to the load tracks comes in from the right and joins NS’s. That’s my 1977 Toyota Corolla parked in the shot. 08-27-1985. NS. Stotesbury. EACC.
17. NS 8716-8673 pass by Stotesbury on 10-26-1995 with the “Piney Turn” heading to Elmore.
18. C&O-VGN joint territory. Winding Gulf.
19. C&O joint mines. New River. 1929.
20. This map refers to the road – C&O, VGN or KGJ&E – that owned the sidings to the joint mine. On the Winding Gulf C&O and VGN shared the joint tipple sidings. New River. 1929.
21. View of Helen in 1947 with the No. 9 prep. plant of Eastern Gas & Fuel Associates up the hollow on the left. VGN reached the mine by crossing the C&O at a manual interlocking out of view on the right. See Appalachian Coal Mines and Railroads In Color, Volume 3: Southern West Virginia page 105. Sophia Laundromat.
22. The large building on the left was formerly the store and offices of the East Gulf Coal Co. whose name was above the middle top three windows. VGN loads stored on the siding. According to author Mary Legg Stevenson in Coal Towns of West Virginia, A Pictorial Recollection, Helen was named after the daughter of C&O president George W. Stevens. East Gulf Coal was supposedly affiliated with Western Pocahontas Fuel Co., long a C&O subsidiary, and probably how the community got its name. Sophia Laundromat. Helen. 1947.
23. USGS Mullins WV quad, 1:62,500 scale for 1927. Mullens, WV, 1:62,500 quad, 1927, USGS.
24. NS shifter U9M pulls CSX 596-350 into the siding at Helen on 03-22-2007. CSX had abandoned the Raleigh Southwestern & Winding Gulf SD, and NS handled CSX’s business in and out of the East Gulf Mine.
25. Some ex-Conrail tubs are mixed in the 70-car train. U9M’s crew ties down the train. I think a CSX crew handled it to Raleigh or Quinnimont. CSX 596-350. Helen. 03-22-2007.
26. I scanned this photograph from the West Virginia Department of Mines Annual Report 1916. There were only a few photos in the book, but all were from mines in the New River field. The Glen White tipple served shaft mines #1 and #2 which brought up coal from the 63” Beckley Seam. The operation employed 350. The tipple had a capacity of 1,800 tons per day, shipped run-of-mine and was equipped with picking tables (hand sorting the rock from the coal). This was very rudimentary even at that time. Stotesbury was more efficient. As I noted on the previous post, this was a joint mine for C&O and VGN, but it was served by VGN’s Shockley Branch. E E White Coal Co. Glen White.
Images used by permission of Everett N Young