Eckman Strip Tipple

About the Tipple

The tipple is located adjacent to county road 52/09. It The tipple is located on a spur named "Dans branch". The spur is single track, with no other industries located on the spur. Coal is brought to the tipple via truck. It is possible that there is a near by prep plant; however, I believe that the coal is coming from nearby mines, as the trucks were coming from different directions.

Operations

Dans Branch is located adjacent to a small yard and Eckmian Sidng Tipple and near Keystone Prep Plant. Therefore, I believe the operation is for main line trains to drop empties (MTYs) in the yard. At the same time a switching locomotive collects the loads  below the tipple and moves them to the yard for pickup. Once the loads have been moved to the yard, the MTYs are pushed above the tipple.

During the loading, which I observed, three people were working the loading operation. One person was in the control booth to control the loader. Two individuals were moving the MTYs into place. The branch was on an incline with the MTYs above the loader. To move the cars the two handlers would climb up to the hand brake and release it just enough to start the car moving. Then the brake would be partially tightened to limit the speed. The car would be placed underneath the loader and loading would begin. Once the coal was piled slightly above sill height, the car would be moved 5 to 6 feet and loaded again. This process would be repeated until the car was full. The hand brake would be released and the car would coast downhill away from the loader. Then the second handler would repeat the process with the next car.

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