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The Old St. Nicholas
Breaker, located just outside of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, was
constructed in 1930 and began operating in 1932. Half of the village of
Suffolk was relocated in order to create room for Reading Anthracite's
Old St. Nicholas Breaker, the largest coal breaker in the world.
20 miles of railroad track were laid, 3,800 tons of steel and more than
10,000 cubic yards of concrete were used. A mile and a half of conveyor
lines, 25 miles of conduit, 26,241 square feet of rubber belting,
118 miles of wire and cable and 20 miles of pipe were installed. When
the breaker was constructed it was divided into two sides. Each side
could be operated independently, producing 12,500 tons of coal a day.
Once the raw coal enters the production process within the breaker it
took just 12 minutes to pass through the entire breaker. For 31 years,
the Old St. Nicholas Breaker prepared all sizes of famous Reading
Anthracite for the markets of the world. |
