HO Scale Coal

[maxman]

doctorwayne

A bucket's-worth or-so, somehow collected in the cuffs of my overalls, many years ago, and I discovered it only after I got home....well. that's my story, anyway, and I'm stickin' to it! Whistling

Reminds me of the story about the guy working in the Gulag who left everyday with a wheelbarrow full of saw dust.  The guards always searched through the sawdust looking for stolen property.  Never found any.

 

Someone asked the man what he was doing with the saw dust.  He said "oh, I just dump that.  I'm stealing the wheelbarrows".

[doctorwayne]

maxman

Now that almost everyone has been drawn in, where does one purchase “coke breeze”?.....

I'm actually hoping that I can buy a bucket of it from the steel plant where I worked before retirement, but I think it's probably a longshot.

Basically, it's simply the "fines" from coke, which is made by burning coal in an environment with limited oxygen.
 
A bucket's-worth or-so,  somehow collected in the cuffs of my overalls, many years ago, and I discovered it only after I got home....well. that's my story, anyway, and I'm stickin' to it!

Wayne

[riogrande5761]

doctorwayne

riogrande5761 Dang, sucked into an 11 year old necroed topic! Me too!  After your post, I went back through the entire thread, just to make sure that I hadn't already replied with the same info shown above. Wayne

Fool me once, shame on you (whoever necro'd this topic).  Fool me twice, shame on me!

[maxman]

Now that almost everyone has been drawn in, where does one purchase “coke breeze”?

(and I don’t wish to hear at the Acme on the shelf next to Diet Coke, Pepsi, and ginger ale.)

[doctorwayne]

ndbprr

...A really good substitute and is under $5.00 for a 50 pound bag is a grit blast media called Black Beauty.....

I did a 44 car train of Athearn 2-bay hoppers loaded with Black Beauty - trailing tonnage was 22lbs - you'll need some good motive power...one of these...

...at a weight of just over 33oz.....

...and with two motors...

...couldn't quite get the entire train up an "S"-bend on a 2.8% grade.

However, two of those locomotives made very short work of it.  I had lots more "coal", but no more hoppers.

ndbprr

...It is an aluminum oxide material...

Actually, it's coal slag, and does have some magnetic material within it.  The steel plant where I worked used in lieu of sand, for traction in their locomotives.

Here's one of those Athearn hoppers loaded with Black Beauty (8oz total weight)...

...and a similar car loaded with coke breeze (total weight about 4oz. and rather dusty to handle)...

Most of my open cars use "live" (loose) loads, and while the coke breeze is more suitable in appearance for supplying the road's coaling towers and the electric generating plant, the various coal dealerships on the layout receive carloads of both types, the coke breeze representing bituminous (soft) coal, and the shiny Black Beauty a stand-in for anthracite (hard) coal.

riogrande5761

Dang, sucked into an 11 year old necroed topic!

Me too!  After your post, I went back through the entire thread, just to make sure that I hadn't already replied with the same info shown above.

Wayne

[riogrande5761]

Dang, sucked into an 11 year old necroed topic! 

Here I was reading the first several posts and then felt a disturbance in the Schwartz!  Who are these names I never saw for years.  Then I saw Jeffrey Wimberly and it dawned on me.  Here we go again.  Someone brought an ancient topic back from the dead.

*Sigh*

[Mark R.]

Eleven year old thread ! The OP hasn't been here in ten years ! Wonder if he ever found his coal .... or is even still in the hobby ? 

Mark.

[BigDaddy]

SpaceMouse

Carbon is #6 on the periodic chart. It's going to be lighter than the same volume of water

Water is heavier.  It has to do with the dinosaurs stomping on the the palm trees turning them into coal making them denser than the carbon that chemists play with.  Diamonds are also the same carbon, more dense, heavier and too expensive to buy by the pound.

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

Some have used ashtray sand, a.k.a. Urn Sand. It is used in public ashtrays and can be found in bulk.

It is made from silica sand. Beware there are some that are magnetic and should not be used on model railroads.

I Googled it and came up with many different suppliers.

Most are available in five-pound bags for less than $10.00, some with free shipping.

Hope this helps.

 

[STEVEN L NELSON]

Namerifrats

Anybody here know of anywhere online where a large quantity of HO Scale Coal can be bought for a reasonable price? Looked around earlier and just seen the same things most hobby shops have for roughly the same price + shipping. I'm looking for enough to fill about 50 coal hoppers.

 

You can buy a 50lb bag of coal slag that is used as a blasting abrasive at Tractor Supply for about $9.00.  It is HO Scale and looks great.  If your modeling N Scale that have a finer grade in a Red Bag.

[Lillen]

I guess light and heavy is a relative term. Carbon is #6 on the periodic chart. It's going to be lighter than the same volume of water or gold. On the other hand, a kilo of coal weighs the same as a kilo of sugar.

 

That is true but it assumes that the object being weighed also has the denisty of solid carbon.  charcoal has tremendous proposity which reduces the density and in turn the weight. It  is the equivalent of saying a pound of cream weighs the same as a pound of whipped cream (which it does).  However a spoon full of cream will weigh more than the equivalent volume of whipped cream due to the air taking up space. 

 

Which is the precise reason I asked about a litre of coal. Assuming of course the kind Spacemouse is referring to. A litre of charcoal is very light, but I assume that anthracite is a lot heavier. But as I said, I do not have a clue! Having never seen the stuff in real life.

Who would have ever know that I would be interested in having someone sending me a bucket of coal. Had I said so two years ago I would have had my self committed! 

 

Magnus

[ndbprr]

I guess light and heavy is a relative term. Carbon is #6 on the periodic chart. It's going to be lighter than the same volume of water or gold. On the other hand, a kilo of coal weighs the same as a kilo of sugar.

 

That is true but it assumes that the object being weighed also has the denisty of solid carbon.  charcoal has tremendous proposity which reduces the density and in turn the weight. It  is the equivalent of saying a pound of cream weighs the same as a pound of whipped cream (which it does).  However a spoon full of cream will weigh more than the equivalent volume of whipped cream due to the air taking up space. 

[peterjenkinson1956]

why not try B B Q briqettes    put them into a bag or container and break it up...  remember to size your coal to the correct size  very old steam engines and home heating coal was quite large   modern steam engines with auto stokers used smaller coal so as not to damage the stoker    modern coal trains usually have coal of small size  usually 2 to 3 inches maximum   this is the correct size to blow the fuel into the power station furnaces..  i get my coal from work   i am a coalminer and get it from the methane bore holes  it is the right size   ...  i wash it first to remove the dust  then i dry it then i sieve it with a fine kitchen strainer  for older coal hoppers  40 fot  it would be ok to fill the car   however modern cars may end up too heavey if fully filled     ...  remember also to look at photos of the type of cars / loads / era   you will be modelling  modern coal trains are mostly flood loaded and usually have a flat top  not peaked load    thanks peter

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Back when I had my coal mining layout I used charcoal that I had broken up on a concrete block with a hammer. I didn't have to hit it really hard, just enough to fracture it. After that the smaller peices broke up easily.

 

Do charcoal look good as coal that comes from a mine? I have never seen "real" coal in my life. As I said, we do not have any coal in Sweden? If so that is great!

 

Magnus

Looked real enough for me. I was a detail modeler back then so the coal had to look like coal. If in doubt mix in a little thinned black paint and let it dry in a warm place.

[Lillen]

I guess light and heavy is a relative term. Carbon is #6 on the periodic chart. It's going to be lighter than the same volume of water or gold. On the other hand, a kilo of coal weighs the same as a kilo of sugar.

I will check it out and get back to you. However, I realized after I sent my offer that the coal we talked about is sitting under a blanket of white stuff. It will probably be a month and a half before I can do anything.   

 

I got that white stuff over here to.

 

Don't worry about it taking time. I'm in no hurry, it would be fun if the shipping isn't to much.

 

Thanks again,

 

Magnus

[SpaceMouse]

I guess light and heavy is a relative term. Carbon is #6 on the periodic chart. It's going to be lighter than the same volume of water or gold. On the other hand, a kilo of coal weighs the same as a kilo of sugar.

I will check it out and get back to you. However, I realized after I sent my offer that the coal we talked about is sitting under a blanket of white stuff. It will probably be a month and a half before I can do anything.   

[Lillen]

Magnus, 

I use Pennsylvania coal on my Pennsylvania layout. There's a Buffalo and Pittsburgh track about a 1/2 mile from my house through the woods and the daily coal drag doesn't keep it all in the hoppers.

You pay postage and I'll ship what ever you want.

It'll be quite the conversation piece.

 

Thanks for the offer. How much does coal weigh? As I said I do not have a clue about what real coal is like? It would be quite good and actually fun to have. Say, how much would a litre of coal weigh? Since shipping would be rather high if it's heavy. Could you check how much shipping would be on say a few litres? I might be mad but I always imagined coal to be rather light.

 

Magnus 

[bogp40]

Sand blasting grit, "Black beauty", can be bought in bulk and actually scales out to look like coal as good or better than the real thing. A previous club member who does all sorts of loads professionally now, uses this in the different sizes for his Motrak Loads. I would like to show these, but it is an Ebay link to the store.

You need to be careful with the weight of the load. It sounds like you want to fill the entire hopper. Any of the methods described already will weight the hopper plenty. Too much weight will not only make the train too heavy to pull ,but you will wear out the trucks in no time.

[SpaceMouse]

Magnus, 

I use Pennsylvania coal on my Pennsylvania layout. There's a Buffalo and Pittsburgh track about a 1/2 mile from my house through the woods and the daily coal drag doesn't keep it all in the hoppers.

You pay postage and I'll ship what ever you want.

It'll be quite the conversation piece.

[dehusman]

You can buy bags of sandblasting grit that is black if you need 20-50 lbs of it.

Black aquarium sand also.

If you use something out of the ordinary, be sure to bring 3 things to test it:

A magnet - magnetic particles will get sucked up into the motors.

A ohmmeter - electricly conductive particles will short out the track.

A bottle of water - it can't dissolve in water.

Dave H.

[Lillen]

Back when I had my coal mining layout I used charcoal that I had broken up on a concrete block with a hammer. I didn't have to hit it really hard, just enough to fracture it. After that the smaller peices broke up easily.

 

Do charcoal look good as coal that comes from a mine? I have never seen "real" coal in my life. As I said, we do not have any coal in Sweden? If so that is great!

 

Magnus

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Back when I had my coal mining layout I used charcoal that I had broken up on a concrete block with a hammer. I didn't have to hit it really hard, just enough to fracture it. After that the smaller peices broke up easily.

[Lillen]

There is no coal(except charcoal) in Sweden so I was forced to get the Life like but I think it looks OK in hoppers.

 

Magnus

[smart]

use crushed charcoal

[Lillen]

I bought ten packs of life like coal when it was on sale. That way i can fill my hoppers cheap.

 

Magnus

[wedudler]

In earlier times I crashed real anthracite. Now I use Walthers coal:

Wolfgang 

[Wikious]

What you could do is the already mentioned styrene sheet topped with coal powder/bits but add a weight to the car to make it heavier. This way you can get the weight you want and the coal you have will go that much further.

[DavidBriel]

 I would like to know how many packages of Life-Like or Woodland Scenics coal is required for the Walthers O. L. King and Sons Coal Yard. Do you have this coal yard on your HO layout as a destination for your hoppers.

[aav]

          Namerifrats,      i don't know how long of coal drags your going to have, but i'm wondering if it is possible to make the cars too heavy.