Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 14, 1994                   TAG: 9412140140
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COAL LOADER TO BE FIXED QUICKLY

At the present rate, the coal loader should be back in operation by Monday rather than the end of next week as first was expected, said NS spokesman Bob Fort. The estimated cost of the repair is $170,000.

The fire, which disabled one of two loaders at the coal pier, came as a busy period for coal loadings is beginning. This week and next, 19 ships are expected to be loaded at the pier, and the railroad plans to load 2.6 million tons for export for the month.

NS has increased the use of the second loading machine, operating it around the clock. No backup of coal traffic is expected between the coalfields and the port, Fort said. One of NS' yards in Roanoke is used to collect coal export shipments.

NS should make up the time lost to the fire by the end of the month, Fort said.

The coal loaders are rail-mounted towers that move alongside the coal-carrying ships, called colliers. The towers are equipped with booms that extend over the ships' cargo holds and feed coal into them by conveyor belts.

Roughly 23 tons of coal was to be dumped into the Korean-owned collier Innovator when the fire broke out. The fire department arrived within 10 minutes, and the fire was under control within half an hour, Fort said.

The cause of the fire was determined to be a bearing failure in the loader's conveyor machinery. An automatic fire suppression system on the loader acted exactly as it was supposed to and limited the damage, Fort said.

The suppression system was installed after a more damaging fire in 1993, which spread to the hold of the ship being loaded. The Coast Guard joined in fighting that fire.

Export coal loadings at NS' coal piers are beginning to pick up after several months of recession-induced doldrums. NS will export roughly 25 million tons of coal through its Norfolk piers this year, the same as last year.