The Shannopin mine railroad: A trip to photograph the Monongahela Railway yielded a day with the usually-busy Waynesburg Southern side of the MGA dead due to scheduled track work. The only activity was to be a light engine move on the “original” Monongahela from Brownsville to Rivesville. There, the crew would pick up empties and deliver them to the Loveridge mine. We headed south to explore the line in advance of the movement. As we passed through Poland Mines, PA, we saw a train from the road. It was part of the Shannopin mine railroad, a 3 – 4 mile industrial line that ran from the mine in Bobtown, PA to the processing plant along the Monongahela River. This operation was part of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company.
This train of empties has just departed the processing plant to return to the mine. The processing plant can be seen in the background. From here, all coal went to other Jones & Laughlin Steel facilities via the Monongahela. The overhead conveyor crossing the mine railroad tracks carries coal to a loader on the Monongahela railway; while, out of sight to the right is a facility to load coal barges on the Monongahela River.
