# Adventures of a crusher fine day



## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Since no one has ever photo documented a trip to a crusher fine plant to pick up this stuff we call ballast, I thought I'd share my experiences with you that I had today.

There are many crusher fine plants within just a 100 mile radius of where I live in N. Va. This one is about 7 miles away and has, like all the others, a large open-pit mining operation.

They call the stuff "slurry" for some strange reason. And a 22,000 lb big bucket load is $30. Used to be $19. That's about 16 wheelbarrows full and it took 2 trips in my itsy bitsy Tacoma pickup.

The plant is called Luck Stone Corporation, Fairfax Plant, right beside the Manassas Battlefield, where Union troops got whupped twice during the War between the states.

They probably were not keene on me taking photos, but didn't stop me. Probably battlefield or "green" nuts want to shut down plants, but I was taking the pictures for you.

When you arrive at the office, you get a lecture on staying in your car with seatbelt fastened and following a prescribed route.

The person who drives the big machine knows how much to put in your truck as he watches it settle. You can see me following him in the pictures and the tires on that monster were higher than my truck.

If you got out of your car, you could be liable to be run over by all the construction trucks, or get buried by a landslide of slurry, or fall way down in the quarry and that wouldn't be good business for the quarry if you gave up the ghost.

So what am I doing with all this slurry?

Replenishing my ballast that disappeared and forming a gravel company for my railroad, which I'll post at a later date. The hounds like this stuff as it makes ideal media to bury bones and valuable shop tools that they steal.

So here's the photos in no particular order, except I tried to get the loading and arrival home last.


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## tj-lee (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for posting the pictures! 

Best, 
TJ


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice pics! 

I went through MSHA training three years in a row. One thing they kept pounding in to our brains was this notion that in our regular sized cars, we are virtually invisible to a haul truck operator. Here's a pic that shows a Chevy Blazer with a medium sized haul truck:









This is hopefully a staged shot, since that truck operator is never going to see or feel that blazer... And that's definetly a supervisor in his truck!

Here's another not-so-nice one:









And a link to an MSHA fatal-gram: 
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...0%26um%3D1

Glad to hear the company gave you instruction and an escort. Shows they are responsible!


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Some times they don't even play well with each other.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Good point, one of the little known fact is about 50% of the highway construction workers that are hit by vehicles and killed on the job are hit by the site's construction equipment/trucks/etc. and not John and Jane Q. Public. 

Surprised they did not run you off for taking pix, a lot of places would.


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## Cougar Rock Rail (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for the pics! 

I've been in the aggregates and road building business all my life, and have seen pretty much every kind of disaster first hand. 
My own Grampa had a bad habit of pulling up and parking his car right behind the loader at the crushing site. He had it backed into three times! 

Keith


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