Newcastle IR project part 3

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The railroad was an important part of the mining operations and the town of Newcastle, as it was at other coal mining operations in the state. It provided the important function of transporting the coal to the market, and the connection to the outside world. Orginally built as the Seattle and Walla Walla, it was Seattle's first railroad and eventually connected all of the coal mining communities in King County, including Franklin, Black Diamond, and Renton. It later became the Columbia and Puget Sound, then the Pacific Coast Railroad, reflecting its purchase by the Pacific Coast Company.
Turntable pad IR
This is all that remains of the turntable which was used to turn locomotives at the Coal Creek end of the railroad, just a concrete pad with some bolt sticking out of it. There was another larger turntable at the Seattle end of the railroad.
Coal Creek Bunker Foundation IR
These are the footings that supported the bunker which was used to load coal cars to transport the coal to Seattle.
Ford Slope Hoist Foundation
This concrete foundation supported a large hoist that hoisted coal carts out of the Ford Slope Mine, so that the coal could be hauled by electric locomotives similar to the one pictured at the Roslyn museum in my previous post to the bunker, where the coal was washed, sorted, then loaded on to the train to be hauled to Seattle.
Gearbox IR
This object, which was located in Coal Creek until recently, was the transmission of of a White Truck, according to a former coal miner that is a member of the Newcastle Historical Society. After Pacific Coast quit the coal mining business, and the railroad was abandoned, coal was hauled to market by trucks until the coal mining stopped in the 60's.

That's all for now on Newcastle. Comments are always welcome. Thanks for reading!

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