The Coal Industry - Draglines
last updated: 10/09/04
all text and photographs
on this site are
© 2000-2004 Dave Honan
unless otherwise noted
David.Honan
@Rose-Hulman.edu
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Illinois
| Marion 7400 Fairmount Stone Quarry Fairmount, IL |
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These two draglines are in aggregate use at Material Service Corporation's Yard 16 (Fairmount Stone Quarry), located a couple miles west of Fairmount, IL. The second photo indicates how close the active pit is to productive farmland (witness this soy field). (Thanks to Jeff Solley for identifying this dragline.) (August 22, 2004) |
Indiana
| Bucyrus-Erie 3270-W Ayrshire Mine Elliot, IN |
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Two views of the idled Bucyrus-Erie 3270-W that once worked Amax's Ayrshire Mine northeast of Evansville; the dragline is rumored to be for sale. Just to the south of here is reclaimed mine land that has been transformed into the Bluegrass F&WA. (September 04, 2004) |
| Bucyrus-Erie 2570-W Farmersburg Mine Farmersburg, IN |
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During September and October of 2001, Black Beauty Coal Co. moved this Bucyrus-Erie 2570-W dragline from the deactivated Midwest Coal Co. (formerly AMAX) Chinook Mine in Riley, IN, to Black Beauty's Farmersburg Mine in Farmersburg, IN. The journey covered some 18 miles in 40 days, crossing three state highways, three pipelines, a canal, a fiber-optics line, and the CP Latta Sub mainline. A large complement of men and machinery was necessary to aid the dragline's movement, which averaged about a half-mile daily. Note the size of the workers relative to the dragline! (For more information, read Peabody Energy's April 2002 Pulse.) These images were captured on the northeast side of Blackhawk, IN. (October 03, 2001) |
| Bucyrus-Erie 1250-B Hawthorn Mine Pleasantville, IN |
Hawthorn's BE 1250-B lies near the southwest corner of the idled
Peabody Coal Co. strip mine. As of this
writing, its old pit is in the process of being reclaimed. (Photos from mine property courtesy permission and oversight of a mine employee.) (September 20, 2004; September 26, 2004; October 02, 2004)
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| Bucyrus-Erie 2570-W Hawthorn Mine Pleasantville, IN |
Hawthorn's BE 2570-W rests alongside CR 700E in the northwest corner of Hawthorn Mine. The
dragline has a 300-foot boom and a (roughly) 100 CY bucket (which is substantially larger than a
Ford F250). (Photos from mine property courtesy permission and oversight of a mine employee.) (September 20, 2004; September 26, 2004; October 02, 2004)
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| Marion 8900 Hawthorn Mine Pleasantville, IN |
Sadly, the Marion 8900 at Hawthorn is being scrapped by Peabody. The huge dragline, or
what's left of it, lies in a pit adjacent to the boundary between Peabody's Hawthorn Mine and
International Coal Group's Kindill 3 Mine. This series of photos will grow to depict the progress
of the scrapping operations. (Photos from mine property courtesy permission and oversight of a mine employee.)
September 20, 2004 September 25, 2004 
September 26, 2004 
October 02, 2004 
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| Northwest Engineering Co. (model unknown) Hawthorn Mine Pleasantville, IN |
This Northwest Engineering Company dragline (s/n 023493) was erected in 1965 in Green Bay, Wisconsin,
and swings a 2-3/4 CY bucket. Today, the unit is slowly rusting away near the southwest corner of
Hawthorn Mine, alongside CR 1100S east of Carlisle. (October 02, 2004; October 03, 2004)
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| Bucyrus-Erie 2550-W Kindill 3 Mine Pleasantville, IN |
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Kindill 3 Mine (formerly of Horizon Natural Resources Co. and now owned by International Coal Group Inc.), originally Amax's Minnehaha Mine, has only one operating dragline remaining from the four that were once in service. This BE 2550-W is pictured sitting idle the day Horizon closed the mine. (Pleasantville, IN, September 25, 2004) |
| Bucyrus-Erie 1150-B Lynnville Mine Stanley, IN |
This series of photos depicts a Peabody-owned BE 1150-B on reclaimed Lynnville Mine land, a couple
miles southwest of the hamlet of Stanley. I posed my car in a few of the photos to provide a sense
of scale, so you can attempt to comprehend just how truly massive this beast is. Even more impressive,
the 1150-B is smaller than most of the other draglines on this page. (August 31, 2004; September 04, 2004)
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