Looking for an industry from 1950's which would have had coal as a necessary material and some other Output product. Have a coal mine and want an industrial building. With two sidings-each on nopposite sides of buiding
There's two good choices, either a steel mill or a power plant.
Also, back in those days many industries would have had coal furnaces for things such as heating or steam generation for on-site machinery of various types. The father of a good friend of mine was a boiler inspector 80 years ago and was kept quite busy inspecting steam plants in a lot of industries in northern New Jersey.
Certainly, many were in the process of switching from coal to fuel oil but it didn't happen overnight.
So, you've got quite a few choices!
Thnks. Steel sounds better. obvious coal and other aggregate ores piled on one side and a few 6511 pipe cars and maybe a gantry crane on the other side.
A lot of things are made from coal derivatives. Including ammonia, nylon, even peppermint. An interresting old film you might get a kick out of: https://youtu.be/ABiabMVrHco it's called "The Power Behind the Nation" and was produced by the Norfolk and Western.
Same me, different spelling!
On the maritime end of things, a lot of ships were still coal fired during that period, and a lot of coal was exported.
fifedog On the maritime end of things, a lot of ships were still coal fired during that period, and a lot of coal was exported.
In the '50s? Not as many as you might think, in fact as far as ocean-going vessels were concerned they were the exception, not the rule. Post-WW1 ocean steamers began a wholesale conversion to oil fueling, it was a lot easier for all concerned. By WW2 most coal-fired ships were history.
It WAS different on the Great Lakes however. Coal firing lasted much, much longer.
Certainly true about coal being exported though. It's exported to this day.
how about breweries or brick factories?
stuartmit how about breweries or brick factories?
Breweries are a definate possibility. I'm not sure about brick factories. Certainly bricks have to be fired as part of the production process but I'm not sure how it was done in the 20th Century. You might have to do an on-line search for the history of the modern brick industry.
I found a precedent: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Brick.html
"The majority of kilns in the United States use gas as a fuel source, though a third of the brick currently produced is fired using solid fuels such as sawdust and coal."
Ok. I like them better than a steel mill, I think!
Just remembered...
Kingsford Charcoal receives shipments of coal and wood chips to make grillers happy. It's an easy industry, which won't take up a lot of space. I drive by the facility in Beryl, WV all the time.
BigAl 956You cant go wrong with a city retail coal yard. In Chicago where I grew up, coal was used in residential furnaces into the 1970s.
Good idea! Here in Richmond VA a lot of homes in the Fan District still had coal furnaces in the 1980s. Working in the city every once in a while I'd see a coal truck, which shocked me at first until I found out what it was about.
By the way, Tractor Supply sells bagged anthracite coal.
I watched a lot of loooooong coal trains on the PRR mainline during the Fifties, and most of the coal was headed for power-generating plants.
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