Southern Indiana Coal Mining Images!

[Lexy]

Everyone, I hope this finds you and your family doing well. My wife and I drove up to Southern Indiana this past weekend to see what was happening up there. I wanted a picture of a really rare beast up there. It's the Bucyrus Erie 1360W Walking Dragline parked on the old Lynnville Surface Mine land. It's equipped with a 325 ft. boom and 50 cubic yard bucket. The bucket is really an odd size for dragline buckets but regardless....There were only two of these machines ever built and the second one, this was the first built, went to Alberta, Canada. I think it even had a boom failure up there, but was fixed.

I managed a BUNCH of pictures of it and pictures of Peabody Midwest's Sommerville Surface Mine (formerly "Black Beauty Coal"). Peabody is utilizing a single Bucyrus Erie 2570W Walking Dragline (Lot #1) named "Big Kate" to get to the coal at this surface mine. "Big Kate" is BIG, sporting a 100 cubic yard bucket and a 310 ft. boom. She's one of three BE 2570's in Indiana. The other two are up further north close to the new Bear Run Mine. Only one of those two are suppose to actually go to work with the other serving as a parts machine.

For a complete tour, I encourage you to take a look at my pages on Flickr. They can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perspectivephotography/

But for those who just have a passin' fancy for these kinds of things, here are a few photos from the trip!! I appreciate your time and thanks for taking a look!!

 

[poclainshovel]

wonderful . you shall go to the anthracite feild so we can have some decent photos

 

[Alan]

wonderful . you shall go to the anthracite feild so we can have some decent photos

Hard to tell if you are praising or being sarcastic. I would prefer to think the first but your history here would indicate the second.

 

[Lexy]

Hard to tell if you are praising or being sarcastic. I would prefer to think the first but your history here would indicate the second.

I'm with you on that. I'm not sure how to take that.

 

[poclainshovel]

:notworthy:notworthy

 

[EGS]

Lexy You have some interesting pictures.

I like those big machines. I would sure like to see those big girls up close. Keep 'em coming.

 

[AmerIndependent]

Lexy, you should enter this contest: http://www.craneblogger.com/featured-articles/the-great-crane-photo-contest/2010/01/26/

 

[Lexy]

Thank you gentlemen!

AmerIndependent, if I entered that contest, what would a Dragline fall under??

 

[AmerIndependent]

:beatsme I just happened to see that contest and thought about your pics.

Sorry, I guess I've got my terminology a bit off. Not very familiar with those beasts out here in California. ops

 

[craneblogger]

Photo Contest

Hey Lexi,

You CAN enter the contest on craneblogger. Just submit the photo for wildest crane project. I have a strong feeling you will win. Those pictures are crazy!!!

http://www.craneblogger.com/crane-photo-contest/wildest-crane-project-photos/

 

[RHIT02]

I remember in 2002 going out after classes in Terre Haute, IN to watch the move of "Big Kate" down to the mine. They physically walked the machine like 20+ miles or something. It was impressive to see it moving across roads and through corn fields.

At first they were very open to us riding along on the machine talking to the operator etc.. but then it got stuck, drew a bigger crowd and they made us watch from a distance. One of those things though I probably will never see in my life again.

Then again I may have the wrong dragline and mine.

 

[Autocar]

Great pictures , I believe in North Dakota between Bismarch and Minot on I 83 there is a huge coal surface mine. There are conveyers crossing the road and when the crane was working close to the road his boom was across all four lanes. Pretty cool to see that as I was heading north. It also was electric

 

[95zIV]

Great pictures , I believe in North Dakota between Bismarch and Minot on I 83 there is a huge coal surface mine. There are conveyers crossing the road and when the crane was working close to the road his boom was across all four lanes. Pretty cool to see that as I was heading north. It also was electric

There is actually 2 draglines working there, I drove through there on the 17th and there's one beast of a machine, and there's a smaller one working closer to the highway. I didn't have a decent camera or time to stop. And that's just route 83 up there.

 

[Autocar]

I was thinking that it was four lanes isn't it ? Dosen't make any differenc I guess but for sure a good road to make time on. This year I came down 85 along the state line. I run that road every other year on my way to Camrose Alberta.

 

[95zIV]

I thought I'd give this a try, a picture of Kate from the sky, and a picture of the mine up in North Dakota:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...371,-87.352424&spn=0.004304,0.009645&t=h&z=17

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U....430366,-101.139321&spn=0.007418,0.01929&z=16

And the machine in Lynnville:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...835,-87.257696&spn=0.001078,0.002411&t=h&z=19

 

[Lexy]

I thought I'd give this a try, a picture of Kate from the sky, and a picture of the mine up in North Dakota:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...371,-87.352424&spn=0.004304,0.009645&t=h&z=17

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U....430366,-101.139321&spn=0.007418,0.01929&z=16

And the machine in Lynnville:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...835,-87.257696&spn=0.001078,0.002411&t=h&z=19

That's indeed Kate! All that land you see disturbed in that Google Earth image has now been reclaimed. It's amazing how far along they've come with this! I know up around the Terre Haute area, you'll be seeing a bunch of draglines once Peabody Coal gets the Bear Run Surface Mine up and running. It should have 4 or 5 draglines all working at once at one mine. The Bear Run Mine is suppose to be the largest mine east of the Mississippi River and is a staple in the resurgence of Illinois Basin Coal again. Thanks alot gentlemen for the nice words!! I do appreciate that alot!

Here's a map I made of where Kate is stripping now, or atleast when I got pictures of her a couple weeks ago. This is right next to a small town called Buckskin, Indiana. Just shows how far along Kate is.

The yelllow lines are roads. Red outline is the pit, blue active part of spoils, black haul roads. And the green outlined areas are reclaimed land. You can see the bench that Kate was sitting on in the pit at the time I caught her.

 

[archibald]

these are great pics, what age is this dragline ?

 

[Allgood]

I live in that area and have been involved with some of the operations. My father spend his life's work in that area running some of that equipment. I enjoyed it so well and like the area so well, I bought a few hundred acres of land in that area that had been mined in the '30's. I've dug up some really old equipment parts over the years. I have to assume that way back then they just left old stuff where it sat or just buried it.

As odd as it sounds, I actually like the portions of the property I own that had been mined way back when as opposed to the generally flat wooded areas that hadn't been mined. Nice pictures!

 

[Lexy]

Thanks gentlemen! Well, the dragline was Lot #1. So let me see, she was erected in 1971 and went to work that same year at Old Ben Coal's "Old Ben #1 Mine" which is the same mine she is shown working at. Peabody gained ownership after Old Ben shutdown. But 1971 is the year she started working. That makes her right at 39 years old and right at the age most machines have been retired at, give or take a few. Now, that means that this mine is nearing its productive age as well. I haven't heard about what will happen to Big Kate after the Somerville Mine closes, but the new mine northwest of the Somerville Mine will have no use for her and that mine is still a good distance away. I say she will be shut down and cannibalized for parts because Peabody Midwest will be operating a couple of BE2570W's at their Bear Run Mine when it's running 100%.

 

[980C]

There is actually 2 draglines working there, I drove through there on the 17th and there's one beast of a machine, and there's a smaller one working closer to the highway. I didn't have a decent camera or time to stop. And that's just route 83 up there.

I've been trying to figure out what machines they have working there, but haven't been able to get close enough. Been by there many, many times, though.