The Rockport Station in Rockport, West Virginia, once housed three 1,000 HP twin tandem double-acting Cooper gas compressor engines. Nearly a century old, these may have been the last of these engines to be used in such a station. At least, that is until September 2013 when the engines were shut down for good and eventually replaced with two Caterpillar engines which could be remotely started and monitored, thereby eliminating all the station employees. Today, videos like this are, most likely, the only way to see this team of engines running in its rightful place.
For more on the 1,000 HP Cooper-Bessemers, look for our upcoming February/March 2015 issue, in mailboxes and newsstands January 13. There you’ll find an article by Paul Harvey, founder of the Coolspring Power Museum, sharing his personal account of the engines’ final days.