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As of July 24, 2014, the Silliman head frame and hoist drums just north of Mahanoy, PA (also known as Bowmans) have been dismantled. This is what the site and head frame looked like: SDL Demolition from Orwigsburg, PA did the work. After the hoist house came down, here's what the drums looked like: After separating the drums, which were too wide to fit on the truck as is, the main component of the hoist drums was loaded onto a flat bed truck. This section weighs 12.5 tons.
SDL did a great job taking the headframe down. The sheave wheels came down first, weighing in at 2.5 tons each. The head frame came next.
The steel will not be scrapped. A consultant was hired to map and label the parts so the head frame and hoist assembly can be reconstructed. The parts will be trucked over to the Pioneer Tunnel Museum in Ashland, PA. (Thanks go to SDL for donating equipment and manpower to move the parts.) Many thanks also go to the property owner, Pagnatti Corp for donating the structures to Pioneer. DEP Abandoned Mine Reclamation department also coordinated the project.
The Pioneer Tunnel is anticipates reconstruction in 2016 or so. It is a great day when a piece of our history is preserved!

Per the Republican-Herald newspaper (ashland Pa paper) the first load is expected to arrive at the Pioneer Tunnel today.

Love to know where they were cast. Pottsville shops perhaps?

hophead wrote:Love to know where they were cast. Pottsville shops perhaps?

Me, too. The structure was surprisingly in more or less decent shape for how long it's been exposed to the elements. It is so heavy that I don't think it was made that far away. I didn't see any foundry marks on the head frame, but there were part numbers on the gears of the hoist assembly.

I could almost hear Fred Dibnah oohing and ahhing over those winding drums. I'm glad they will be preserved.

The truck arrived in Ashland Pa. and unloaded the first two trips from the mine. You can't appreciate the massive size of this equipment until you stand right next to it and touch it

I was at the Higher Up park in Ashland yesterday when I heard a semi struggling to get up the hill. Granted hearing a big diesel around Ashland is not unusual but what is unusual is to hear one coming to the Higher Up park. It turned out to be the semi transporting the second load consisting of the majority of the framework.

I waited till he got parked and unloaded the bulk of his load and heard the engine shut down. All I had with me was my cell phone so the pics aren't the greatest.

I put my hat in some of the frames to give size perspective. On the photo with the bearing surface for a winding drum I put a quarter to give you some perspective. The driver told me that the Board of Directors for the Pioneer Tunnel have designated $30K toward reassembly and expect to start next year. Meanwhile it sits as you see it. I will follow the project and when they start the assembly I'll try and catch it and photo document the work.

Thanks, Rev Larry. It's nice to hear someone else's reaction to the Silliman Shaft components.
I've been tagging and archiving them since February of this year, and you're right about how impressive the sheer weight and mass of the drum wheels are. I can't wait until they are reassembled for all to see!

BTW, here's the link to the Republican-Herald story:
http://republicanherald.com/news/company-to-donat ... -1.1918716