The mine and coking plant 'Anna' used to be a wonderful place. A stinky place, yes, but also a fascinating and beautiful one. The air was filled with smoke and the rhythmic music of the steam locomotives moving tonnes and tonnes of coke. The light of the coke illuminated the beautiful silhouette of the plant at night.

All this came to an end when the last coke was pushed out of the ovens in September 1992. Soon the demolition of what was once Europe's largest coking plant commenced and left just a few unrelated fragments.

Anna is gone.

I do really miss that dirty stinky place, and still feel a bit like back home in Alsdorf, when I smell the fumes of a coking plant somewhere.

The following photographs of 'Anna' show the works during the last years of it's active life and the sad end of one of the most important historic coking works in Germany.

coking plant 'Anna'	coking coal silo	pushing coke	coking plant 'Anna'
coking plant 'Anna'	mine locomotive Anna 1	mine locomotive Anna 1	mine locomotive Anna 3
coking plant 'Anna'	coking plant 'Anna'	coking plant 'Anna'	the last coke
abandoned coke ovens	coke oven battery	coal mine Anna: substation	coal mine Anna: engine house 'Hauptschacht'
coking plant 'Anna'	grinding and mixing operation	conveyor tower and cooling towers	break
coal silo	conveyor bridges and coke battery (coke side)	coke oven battery with coal silo (coke side)	coke side
coke oven crown with coal silo	window of a conveyor leading to coal silo	window of a conveyor bridge	coke pusher
coking plant 'Anna'	by product plant	cooling tower	water tower
coking plant 'Anna': water tower	mine locomotive Anna 8	coking plant 'Anna': engine house 'Langhaus'