Keystone #1 Prep Plant

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Keystone #1 Prep Plant is a coal preparation facility located in the incorporated town of Keystone, WV. The Elkins creek flows between the town and the prep plant. The plant is located at the NS station of the same name.

About the Plant

Keystone #1 Prep Plant is a older coal preparation facility operated by Second Sterling Corporation of Beckley, WV. One of the unique features of this prep plant is the thermal dryer. It is nearly impossible for new plants to obtain a permit for thermal dryers and they are becoming quite rare.

Another unusual feature about this plant is the steel storage silos.

Because the plant is relatively close to a main highway (US 52) and because both the road and the railroad curve to flow the creek, it is a relatively easy plant to photograph. However, it is worthwhile to understand which features of this plant are unique and which one a common and can be assumed to be present at less accessible plants.

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Layout Design Element.

This LDE is still under development.

Pictures


This picture shows an overview of the Keystone #1 Plant. There are three main complexes that make up the plant: thermal dry complex at the left, main processing complex, and the storage silos at the right.	The thermal dryer complex is the most distinctive feature of this plant. There are two stacks that are part of this complex. Also, there is a tall corrugated metal building.	This picture shows the details of one stack. Note that it is supported on a frame above the ground.

This picture is taken from nearly the same angle, but the details of the dry building are more visible.	The main building complex houses much of the sorting and washing equipment. This picture provides an overview of the shape of the processing building. Gravity is used to aid the sorting and washing process, thus most prep plants look like the are build of cubes stacked to differing heights.	This is a view of the mainline side of the prep building. Note the open door at the top of the plant. It is equipped with a hoist to remove large machinery from the prep building.

In addition to the main prep building there are various support buildings. The coal is moved by conveyor between the different buildings. Unfortunately, I cannot discern what operations are done in this building.	Water is used to clean impurities from the coal as part of the operations in the prep building. Therefore, most plants have a settling tank for the water. I believe, the steel structure in this picture is the walkway and pipe-way for the settling tank, which places the tank between the mainline and the prep building.	Cyclones are frequently used as the first phase of coal drying operations. Cyclones use centrifugal force to separate the coal and water. I believe this picture is of a cyclone dryer; however, it might be just a storage silo for coal that has not completed the prep process.

Once the coal has completed the prep process it is transferred to a storage location to await loading in coal trains. Prepping coal is by nature a continuous process, while trains are loaded intermittently. Therefore large storage areas are needed. This picture show two storage silos for the Keystone plant. These silos are unusual because they are steel; most are concrete.	The prep process separates the coal from other rock and impurities that cling to the mined coal. The solid impurities are called tailings and must be disposed. The keystone plant is one of the few that still use a tramway to carry the tailings back up the mountain for disposal. This picture shows view of the tram cable and tram head at the top of the mountain.	These pictures show the build that I believe is the lower tram building. The picture on the left shows the support structure for the lower end of the tram cable.

When the train arrives it is time to load the processed coal from the storage silos. The coal is transferred to the loader by conveyor. This picture appears to be the loader; however it was further away from the storage silos than I would have expected.	Older method for coal loading operations is to move and load each car individually. Typically this operation relies on gravity to move the coal cars. Empty cars are pushed up a slight hill so the cars are above the loader. Then cars roll down hill into the loader. Once loaded they roll further down hill into another area for storage until the next train arrives. This method requires sufficient tracks to store twice the number of cars to be loaded, so the tracks extend well beyond the plant. This picture shows the loaded car siding for Keystone.	A number of these pictures, including the one to the left, were taken from a bridge over the Elkhorn creek to the south of the plant. This picture shows the view on the opposite side of the bridge.

References

1. Keystone - Coal Camp USA website

2. Keystone, WV - Wikipedia website

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