This is the only remaining McMyler Coal Unloader in the New York/New Jersey area. It is located in Port Reading, NJ on the water way known as the Arthur Kill. The Reading Railroad built it in 1917 but sadly it has not been used since 1983.
72 ton hopper cars full of coal would roll by gravity down a ramp where a “barney” (a wheeled post driven by cable) would push the car up the ramp seen on the right into the McMyler to position it for unloading. Through a mind-boggling system of drums and cables, the McMyler would then turn the car completely upside down and dump the coal load into the triangular hopper seen in the middle of the structure. When ready, the coal would flow down into a barge for delivery somewhere in the New York port. Once unloaded, the empty car would roll down the missing ramp on the left, until it passed a spring switch and up a fourth and final ramp to then roll back to the yard on the track seen in the foreground. Then it would be returned to the mines to start the process all over again.