Now and Then, Hanna Coal Offices

As a companion to Wordless Wedneday #96 and inspired by a comment from Jeff S, here's what the Hanna Coal Co's Office & Maintenance complex looks like in 2012.

Remains of the Hanna Coal Office and Maintenance buildings, looking north. 12-12-2012 Chris Ellis Photo.

Remains of the Hanna Coal Office and Maintenance buildings, looking south. 12-12-2012 Chris Ellis Photo.

There's not much of anything left now, just a few piles of rubble and empty pads of concrete.

Here's another view from past looking south.

Hanna Coal Co. Offices and Maintenance Buildings, looking south. Gem of Egypt fan page Facebook.com

Updates on JJ Young Jr's Flickr Page

If you haven't been over to JJ Young Jr.'s Flickr page lately, get on over there and check out all the NKP Wheeling District Steam action that's been uploaded over the last week or so.

There are some really fantastic views of the places I will be modeling and others I hope to one day given a larger basement! Sadly leaving comments have been disabled on his photos now, as it was nice to identify the places for other viewers. Many photos are from Martins Ferry/Terminal Junction, Mingo Junction, Dillonvale/Pine Valley Yard, Adena (wye bridge!), Kenwood, Warrenton, and Yorkville. Shoot me a email or message if you want to know where a certain photo was located.

One of my favorites so far is this view of Adena Yard. It looks to be a cool, rainy early/late winter day. The smoke and mist obscure even the hills that rise from the valley. The Maintenance building on the left doesn't yet have it's addition that possibly replaced the small train order office to the right. I've never seen a photo before of this building minus the office addition that will take up the spot where the truck is parked. The Safety sign hung on the side of the building is news to me as well. I knew of the "Thinking Prevents Accidents" sign propped up against the old depot as seen on my Blog Title Photo, but not this second sign.  I wonder what it says beyond the obvious "Safety" at the top?

Another favorite is the two photos of Berkshire 712 heading out westbound on a mine run. The first picture has the 712 crossing bridge 192.13 which happens to look like this today.

Toledo Division Bridge 192.13 Adena, OH 4-09-2014 Chris Ellis Photo

What's neat to me is that signal in the background, I didn't know there was one at that location. A closer read of the 1956 NKP Wheeling Division Timetable would've revealed it's existence on it's list of ABS signals. This makes two signals at either end of the Adena wye which will introduce me into the complex world of engineering a model railroad signaling system! Yay?

That second photo of Berkshire 712 is the going away shot from bridge 192.13 as it heads westbound into the Adena Tunnel. Cool stuff!

There are so many others I could mention but take a look and find your own favorites!

Also mixed into the middle of the most recent NKP stuff are some great photos on very late PRR/early Penn Central action on the Horseshoe Curve and other Pennsy areas.

Don't forget there's more NKP after the Pennsy photos!

Update 5/25: 6 more photos of NKP action posted sometime today. More shots in Yorkville at the Mill, Mingo Jct Yard taken from the P&WV bridge, the 943 probably at Dillonvale and a Berk getting orders at Warrenton. 

The Must See Photo Collection of J.J. Young Jr.

When I was searching for a new modeling location for my Nickel Plate Road interests, it was an article by J.J. Young Jr. in the January 1979 issue of Railfan & Railroad that sold me on the idea to model the coal mining brachlines of the Wheeling District. As a W&LE employee from 1946-48, he worked as an operator and agent in places like Adena, Dillonvale, Warrenton, Mingo Junction and Terminal Junction. His experiences and photos in that article provide the foundation on which I hope to model the Adena Branch and the AC&NA lines out of Adena.

Each J.J. Young Jr. photograph is practically a story unto itself, and since reading his article I've eagerly sought out his photos.  Every photo helps open a window into past of daily operations and atmosphere of railroading in the Ohio Valley.

J.J. Young Jr. passed away in 2004 but in 2014 his widow Liz allowed access to his vast collection of negatives. Mr. Young's son, J.J. Young III and another photographer Sam Botts have so far scanned hundreds of negatives and uploaded them to a Flickr page.

For a long time the photos being added were railroad subjects around Binghamton, NY where J.J. spent considerable time teaching photography until 1995. However this past spring the action shifted to the B&O around West Virginia and SE Ohio. Finally a few tantalizing photos of the 1950's Nickel Plate on the Wheeling District and elsewhere got upoaded! Then nothing and later a return to the D&H and EL railroads with upstate New York as the backdrop.

Then in December the floodgates opened.

The past couple of weeks have seen his Flickr site come to life with a slew of updates with tons of Nickel Plate Road steam action on the Wheeling District and a few from his travels to Fostoria, Cleveland And Bellevue. Lately every couple of days a few images are added showing us new views of the Nickel Plate at work around Adena, Pine Valley or even a few unknown locations. Every photo brings delight to my son and I as we find new details or figure out what might have been going on in each picture.

If you are a fan of the Nickel Plate Road or of railroading in the coal mining areas of eastern Ohio then click the link below and enjoy the images!

J.J. Young Jr. Flickr Photo Collection

Thanks again to J.J. Young III and Sam Botts for sharing these incredible images with us!

I hope the pile of W&LE and NKP negatives is a big one!


If you'd like to read more about J.J. Young Jr. a brief article about him can be found here at the Archiving Wheeling website and the Flickr archive announcement at Trains Magazine.