coaling towers

[NW Mailing List]

Perhaps they should receive historic monument status!

Regards from across the pond

Phil Mortimer

-----Original Message-----
From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of
NW Mailing List
Sent: Saturday, August 6, 2016 10:14 PM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: coaling towers


> I also wonder why they leave them standing? Just too expensive to take
down?


Expensive and difficult.  They do remove most of the metal parts, but the
concrete portion, especially on the larger towers, some as much as 2000
tons, is like blowing up a small mountain.  They were extremely well built;
I heard of one example, on Conrail I believe, where they were going to knock
one down, but the demolition crew underestimated the strength of the tower
and just collapsed on the main line.  Even a correct demolition would
produce tons of concrete debris that would need to be removed.

Marty Flick


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