Berwind Hoppers

NW Modeling List nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org
Sun May 4 15:26:58 EDT 2008


The New River and Pocahontas Consolidated coal company was incorporated on May 25, 1905 in New Jersey by Harry A. and John E. Berwind.

Berwind-White had major coal mining properties in Pennsylvania. In 1905 they bough tthe New River properties of the Joseph Beury estate. They had been buying properties in Southern McDowell County WV for a number of years until they amassed over 24,000 acres. They built eight mines on the Dry Fork and Jacobs Fork Branch. I probably need to check the facts a little closer but these are close:

They shipped the first coal from Berwind in 1906 and shipped coal from MInes No. 1 through No. 5 until 1960. Mines were located at Berwind, Hartwell and Canebreak on the Dry Fork. They shipped first coal from MInes No. 6 and 7 at Newhall on Jacobs Fork in 1916 and continued to ship coal until 1960.

Berwind-White bought the Jed MIne at Havaco (Tug Fork Branch) in 1913, renamed it No. 9 and shipped coal from 1913 into 1960. They also chnaged the name of the community from Jed to Havcao.

Berwind-White bought the Central Pocahontas MIne at Caples in 1928 and shipped coal from it from 1930 into 1960. They had over 15,000 acres of coal land at Caples that extended into Wyoming County.

The company shipped nearly 74 MIllion tons of coal from McDowell County some of which was manufactured into briquetts from their two briquette plants at Berwind.

I assume the name New River and Pocahontas Consolidated came from the New River and Pocahontas coalfields. The Berwinds were very independent from the other operators and wanted to own their own properties rather than lease anything which is probably why they built their own hopper fleet. I saw the occassional Berwind Hopper being loaded on the Tug Fork, but never a fleet of hoppers. The 2 or 3 pictures I have seen of Berwind always show N&W hoppers but they are N&W photos.

With as many mines and as much tonnage as the Berwind mines shipped I think it is a safe assumption that the hoppers at least appeared occassionaly on the Berwind properties in the Pocahontas coal field.

My new book will include definative information on Berwind mines. I just haven't written about the Dry Fork yet.

Alex Schust
----- Original Message -----
From: NW Modeling List
To: NW Modeling List
Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2008 3:59 PM
Subject: Re: Re:Berwind Hoppers


Jim:
Thanks for the great insight on these cars! What time period would these have run?

Stephen Rineair

----- Original Message -----
From: NW Modeling List
To: NW Modeling List
Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2008 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: Re:Berwind Hoppers


Stephen, according to an article in the March 1987 C&O Railway Historical magazine (the monthly C&O HS magazine), the New River and Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company was incorporated on May 26, 1905 as a subsidiary of the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company. When West Virginia mining operations started, the first mining town formed was Berwind, near Iaeger, on the N&W Dry Fork Branch. Although this article deals with operations on the C&O Railway, it sounds like these hopper cars in question also operated on the N&W. Hope this helps answer your question. By the way, if you can get your hands on an October 1986 issue of Railroad Model Craftsmen (I can't find my copy.), there is a very good article about these hopper cars in that issue.

Jim Moseley
----- Original Message -----
From: NW Modeling List
To: NW Modeling List
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 7:36 PM
Subject: Re:Berwind Hoppers


Does anyone have any knowledge about the Berwind 55-Ton coal hoppers Lettered for the New River and Pocahontas Coal Company?
Would these hoppers have run in a N&W consist? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Stephen Rineair
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