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 Post subject: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 1:37 pm 
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Group,

I stumbled across an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal a couple of days ago. They have been running a series on coal. They mentioned a huge (and underground) mine at Carlisle, IN that I was not aware of. It only dates to around 2005. Has anybody heard of this mine?

They had a picture that caught my eye. The shot was of a miner sitting on what looked like a locomotive to me but I couldn't tell for sure. The caption under the photo said something like "Miner at the Sunrise Company's Carlisle Mine ready to get another load of coal" or words to that effect - that's not actually a word-for-word quote.

The next day (yesterday) they had another picture of a miner walking near one of those "continuous miners". The back was high enough for the guy to walk around in a standing position so evidently it must have a pretty deep coal seam.

Has anbody seen this? Does the Carlise Mine use some rail haulage for things?

Regards,
Fred M. Cain


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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 8:44 pm 
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:16 pm
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Location: Anthracite Region of PA
Fred,
Try this:
http://sunrisecoal.com/

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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 10:29 pm 
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Location: SW Indiana
99.999% Sure Sunrise does not have tracks.

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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 10:41 pm 
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Location: SW Indiana
Sunrise is a few miles up the road from me. Coal here is Steam Coal, underground is roughly 300 feet deep, with seam thickness around 7 feet. Plus we have a lot of surface mines.

Over time we have went back and forth between underground and surface. Underground seems to be gain as a lot of the shallow coal has been mined.

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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 10:57 pm 
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Location: SW Indiana
Indiana has tons of maps and information online.

http://coalminemaps.indiana.edu/


Attachments:
Sunrise Detail.jpg
Sunrise Detail.jpg [ 188.1 KiB | Viewed 69409 times ]

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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:03 am 
Could you please explain the map? If the railroading thing doesn't work out, I want to be a mining engineer.


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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:44 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:41 pm
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Location: Hard coal region, PA
I have a sweet shirt from a certain IN resident with the mine logo on it. 8)

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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:09 am 
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Miner Dave wrote:
Could you please explain the map? If the railroading thing doesn't work out, I want to be a mining engineer.


Dave,

What do you mean "If the railroading thing doesn't work out,..."? Are you having trouble hiring on or did you get on and just plain don't like it?

What I've heard is that you have to be willing to completely give up your life and dedicate yourself 100% to railroading. If I were your age, I'd consider doing that for a few years. Save your money then go back to school and try and get a degree that will let you get into RR management.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain


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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:39 am 
Well, I still have to graduate from HS, and then go to a nearby Tech school for machinist/welding training. The local shops are hiring, and I see that as a stepping stone. I want to work around the equipment before I decide to become an engineer. I wnat to know if that is really what I want to do.


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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:45 am 
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Doug wrote:
99.999% Sure Sunrise does not have tracks.


Doug,

Like I said, the picture in the WSJ article really looked like a miner sitting on a locomotive *BUT* if it was a locomotive, was it really at the Sunrise Carlise Mine? Maybe not. The news media can be pretty loose sometimes with what they regard as "artistic license". Another poster provided a URL to Sunrise's website (which I'd already seen) but no information is given on rail haulage.

There is one "frequently asked question" on the site as to how they do their underground mining and down at the bottom there's highlight wording that says "read more" but when I clicked on it, the URL was broken.

So, who can we contact Sunrise to find out for sure? I don't think they use rail haulage in the mine to remove the coal, that's probably done by conveyor, but they might be using it for something else.

Another thing I can say about the WSJ article is that their series made very clear that there IS a future for coal. Right now, the Illinois basin (along with Indiana) is doing quite well, thank you, even as the Appalachian area suffers.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain


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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 11:09 am 
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Miner Dave wrote:
Well, I still have to graduate from HS, and then go to a nearby Tech school for machinist/welding training. The local shops are hiring, and I see that as a stepping stone. I want to work around the equipment before I decide to become an engineer. I wnat to know if that is really what I want to do.


Dave,

Well, yeah, I mean you for sure need to graduate from high school to get just about anywhere. As far as working around equipment, I'd go around bugging short line operators after you graduate and make it clear you'd want a job with them and would even be willing to make sacrifices on pay or hours to gain experience. But try not to come across too much as a "foamer". Just show dedication and work ethic, that's all. Once you can show you have experience, you can always go knocking on Class 1 doors later.

You know, I can tell you a personal story. When I was in high school many, many years ago (in the 1960's, in fact), I wanted a career in railroading in the worst way imaginable. My mom had a very close friend whose brother worked for the SP as a brakeman on the road at Tucson, Arizona. (This was still 4-person crew days). I was like "Oh my gosh! I HAVE to meet the guy!".

So, we were invited over for the evening one time and his father was also there who was a switchman in the yard in Phoenix. It was a most enjoyable evening and they told me a lot of neat railroad stories. When it was time to go home, the guy told me, "When you turn 18, give me a call and I'll get you on. I know people". But then tragedy struck. I had some health issues that made this impossible. The health issues were fleeting and I never had another problem after I turned 19 but, of course, I didn't know that at the time.

So, I was encouraged to go to college and get a degree so that I could get a job later in RR management. Yeah, that sounded good, I thought, but it only took ONE semester of freshman economics to change my mind about that! Then disaster struck again in the 1970's with the Penn Central bankrupty and all that other negative stuff that was going on at the time and I became discouraged. Over the years I forgot about pursuing a career in railroading. Then by the 1990's, a rail revival got underway and I began to think about it again. But by then, sadly, I was too old. In spite of my age, I interviewed for a conductor's position at Conrail in Elkhart. Nothing ever came of that but it was a wierd experience, that's for sure!

Then, I got a new idea. With the railroads coming back, maybe a better way to participate in that would be by buying stock in them. So, that's what I did. I now feel like I am a part of this industry but I have none of the disadvantages of working on the road. Life has indeed been good to me.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain


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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 11:23 am 
Don't worry about me being a "foamer." I'm only interested in steam era stuff. I have a great work ethic, but I suck at paperwork.


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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:27 pm 
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Location: SW Indiana
Fred,

I sent the Safety Director there a link to this thread, hoping for a comment, but I haven't heard back. As I said, I'm very certain there is no rail underground.

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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:32 pm 
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@ Banks- While that one and it's twin. will always be bootlegged.... I did see what I assume to be a ligit one on the street.

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 Post subject: Re: Sunrise Coal Co. Carlisle Mine - Got Tracks?
PostPosted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 4:23 pm 
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Doug wrote:
Fred,

I sent the Safety Director there a link to this thread, hoping for a comment, but I haven't heard back. As I said, I'm very certain there is no rail underground.


Thanks, Doug. You're probably right. I also e-mailed the company directly. They did not respond. In fact, I rarely get a response from a mining company after submitting a question.

Regards,
Fred M. cain


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