RCF_2135-DeNoiseAI-severe-noise
April 12, 1985: Interstate Railroad's Fourth Mine Run crew was working the tipple at Roda, Va. The original wooden tipple structure had been demolished a few years earlier and replaced with a more modern and efficient structure feeding coal to four tracks. The coal at Roda came from a contract operator working for Westmoreland Coal. The raw coal was destined for the transloader at Appalachia, Va., where it had to be washed through the facility's preparation plant before being blended with other coal and loaded into unit trains. All of the hoppers in this rotation had been pulled from interchange service and used in the shuttle operation between various mines and the transloader. This was early in the days of Norfolk Southern, so the N&W hoppers were older cars with solid bearings. These "yellow ball" cars in dedicated service were not in top-flight condition, so the pool of hoppers was always in flux as older cars were derailed, bad ordered for heavy repairs, and ultimately scrapped. Roda was very steep, so there was a runaway track just below the tipple that was always lined for that route. If a car got away from a car dropper, it would head up the runaway track and usually turn over at the steep end. A scrap company crew would appear on site, cut it up, and most of the coal reclaimed with front end loaders to go into another car.
RCF_2135-DeNoiseAI-severe-noise
April 12, 1985: Interstate Railroad's Fourth Mine Run crew was working the tipple at Roda, Va. The original wooden tipple structure had been demolished a few years earlier and replaced with a more modern and efficient structure feeding coal to four tracks. The coal at Roda came from a contract operator working for Westmoreland Coal. The raw coal was destined for the transloader at Appalachia, Va., where it had to be washed through the facility's preparation plant before being blended with other coal and loaded into unit trains. All of the hoppers in this rotation had been pulled from interchange service and used in the shuttle operation between various mines and the transloader. This was early in the days of Norfolk Southern, so the N&W hoppers were older cars with solid bearings. These "yellow ball" cars in dedicated service were not in top-flight condition, so the pool of hoppers was always in flux as older cars were derailed, bad ordered for heavy repairs, and ultimately scrapped. Roda was very steep, so there was a runaway track just below the tipple that was always lined for that route. If a car got away from a car dropper, it would head up the runaway track and usually turn over at the steep end. A scrap company crew would appear on site, cut it up, and most of the coal reclaimed with front end loaders to go into another car.