Yes, soon to be a thing of the past. Great shot of a showing how tuff mining life is. I've dropped a many cars under the Glen Alum Tipple like this. One long hot summer of this work and I drove back to College.
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| Posted by on October 21, 2008 | |
Man, that's nothing! In the real "old days," they didn't use the safety harness, and didn't wear hard hats. In addition to mine employees "dropping" cars like this, the coal roads with scales and classification yards were all "rider hump" operations---such as Clifton Forge, for example, on the C&O. A single rider might take four or five heavy loads at a time from the top of the hump, winding the hand brake as quickly as possible to control the cut, and get off before they crashed into the standing cut of cars on their destination track. These guys then walked back up for another ride---dodging other cuts of cars being dropped down. OSHA? Back then, never heard of it! Very nice shot, however...
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| Posted by - on October 21, 2008 | |
Intriguing display of the human element of railroading! The expression on the brakeman's face makes this photo very nice, too.
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A new favorite and a fine bit of documentation. This fella looks like he's on the business end of one too many hard days, long shifts, and lousy climates. There is so much story oozing from this capture with many echoes from the past.
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Excellent! This goes in my top spot for PCA.
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Absolutely railroading at its finest!!!!
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I am a coalminer and also a Car Dropper by profession. In the photo the employee is performing his job as required. And also by WV State and OSHA Standards. He also is dressed in Reflective clothing. The mans wages are probably like mine well over $55.00 hrly.
By the way the next time you turn onthat light switch thank us coalminers because without us you would be living in the dark. West Virginians are Coal People and proud of that fact.
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I took the pic and those are my sentiments exactly. Thank God for coal and the people that work it.
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Workday Appalachia at its best!
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