I just got an assembly kit for the Lionel 6-12736 Coaling Station, and I was wondering if anyone could explain what kind of prototype it's modeled after and how it's supposed to work.
This is the building kit that looks like three buildings cobbled together. There's a brick base about two stories high with a wooden frame building on top of it that hangs out on one side far enough to run a single track under it. (It's supported on the end by what are supposed to be steel girders.) Meanwhile, the brick part has another wooden frame building at a right angle on the side sitting on top of what look like concrete slabs. A chute of some kind comes out of the top of it at an angle and goes into the side of the wooden building on top of the brick base.
The idea is that cars go under the wooden upper part, and coal drops down from it into the cars below. So, where is the coal supposed to come from? Would this be used to load coal into steam engine tenders, or just into hoppers? The instructions with the kit tell how to put it together, but they don't really explain how the building is supposed to function.
Seems like that might make a good CTT article - do a round up of all the coal related accessories, explain what they correspond to in the real world, then offer suggestions on how to use them separately or together on a layout. There's probably not that many of us around who remember what it was like when coal was king and this kind of stuff was commonplace.
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