industry info from the 1920's

[timthechef]

I'm modeling a fictional Western Maryland town from the 1920's and since I'm not old enough to remember how things where done back them I'm looking for good sources of information. The main thing that I need to know right now is how small industries that used coal (canneries, steam driven mills, anything with a coal fired boiler) handled the coal. Did they have a pit under the track that the hopper dumped the coal into? Or did they unload the car with a conveyer and pile it up? I have searched online and in library but I haven't found much on this. Anyone have any ideas?[?]

[coalminer3]

The answer to all of your questions is yes. Books in series such as the Images of America often have pictures of towns and industries from the time period you are modeling. Also, you might want to check with local historical societies as they are great sources of information regarding the way things were back then. I understand that your are free-lancing, but there's nothing like the "real thing" to help you get a feel for the way things were done. Both the B&O and Western Maryland have historical societies which have lots of info.

Hope this helps

work safe

[Anonymous]

I believe houses had coal heat. A truck will show up set a conveyor belt to the basement and deliver coal to the bunker below. One of the inhabitants usually got the dirty job of stoking the boiler and keeping the bunker neat.

With World War Two, Oil replaced Coal as heating for houses. Some coal dealers probably had a small trestle to dump coal which then is conveyed into trucks or stored until needed.

Industrial customers probably had it discharge into a large hopper which then fed into a "Leg" a endless belt with buckets which then hoisted the coal into the boiler. Keep in mind the boiler probably not only provided power but also hot water, heat etc. It is quite possible that the "Black Gangs" were to hand load the boilers and keep them operating in tip top shape. Such as happened in the Navy during that period.

Best of luck!

Lee

[Anonymous]

Coal was often sent into houses via a coal chute directly to a storage bin. Coal may have been delivered by truck in more "progressive" communities, but was also hauled by horse & wagon into the 1930s.

One thing to remember is not to underestimate how much work was done by hand. There were a lot more labourers around in those days than today. And if your era creeps into the 1930s (during the Depression) a lot of men would be available for physical labour - type jobs that might otherwise be automated in some fashion. Many people would assume today that, for example, ash pits must have some sort of mechanism to clean them out. In reality, it probably was one guy with a shovel, and a gondola or flat with wood sides parked nearby...

Just think about the hand fired steamers - a switcher like an 0-6-0 might go through 8 tons of coal during an 8 to 12 hour shift - all shovelled by hand! By one guy! Rain or shine! In the heat of the cab! Holy moly! It was truly a different kind of life...

Andrew

[Anonymous]

Tim:

You have a decision to make. Do you want to learn to do research or do you simply want a small number of specific questions answered? If its the latter then just post in forums here.

If you want to do a bit...considerable honestly...research, then I suggest you fix on two or three areas to use as a prototype reference for your freelance line. Once you have an area in mind check to see if it has a county or municipal historical society? Likely there will be one, perhaps well organized and housed in its own facility. Check the local library. There you will be looking for: pictures, plat maps, business records, insurance surveys etc. At the central county library have a look at the census records for 1920 and 1930 and for any special surveys which were done between the once a decade national census'. They are indexed by state and county as well as by special topic. Also check for industry publications: Iron and Steel Age, American Petroleum Journal, Sunset Magazine (begun as a marketing aid by the Southern Pacific RR) for example. Most were well illustrated and the editorial leaders are instructive as to what issues industry thought important in the period. The Standard Oil company house journal, The Lamp has served me well as a source of period building ideas.

Get out into the field. The current Model Railroader has a brief article on researching period structures. A good place to begin. When you run across a factory structure you like check to see what happened to the business records. If you can locate them you will find that business in that period kept everything. You should be able to mine it for considerable useful material.

All this may sound too detailed for what you have in mind, not to mention time consuming and boring. It may be. Eventually you will open a box of photos or turn a page and there it is: EXACTLY THE RIGHT IDEA. You will know it when you see it.

Good Luck and have fun

Randy

[timthechef]

Thanks for all the info. I have gone through many historical picture books but I never thought about old trade magazines. I live in the town of Frederick MD and there are many old buildings that I get my insperation from but unfortunately I haven't found any that still have their old power houses. I will have to pay a visit to the local historical society and see what they have. As for doing the research, it has been one of the most enjoyable thing about modeling this period.

[Anonymous]

tim,

Go to the Maryland School for the Deaf on Clarke St. You will find a Powerhouse which is used today to heat water for the boy's and girl's dorms. It will be off the N. Market St. Entrance and I think if you follow the alley on towards the water tower in the back, you will find the plant the 2nd building on your right.

It no longer uses coal but the structure may assist you with what to expect with a power plant. The school library may contain historical data since at one time Deaf Kids were sent by rail there. To the old yards over the hill which is on the same area as the GreyHound Bus Station. (That building was actully a depot too)

The Enoch Pratt Librarry maintains a historical database on the second floor. I am not sure if it has been moved or not but someone there can point you in right direction.

I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Tim,

Me again, I believe the Bethesda Naval Hospital had a dedicated power plant at one time. The Engine that served the plant I think is now at the B&O museum. If not the naval hospital then another one which I cannot remember the name of. It was a sanitarium I am thinking of. Best of luck with your research.

Lee

[Anonymous]

Look for a book from the Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society. "Appalachian Coal Mines & Railroads" by Thomas W. Dixion Jr.ISDN 1-883089-08-5 and Library of Congress Number 94-60231

You may learn all you ever want to know about how coal is handeled.

[Anonymous]

Tim:

Just had a smallish brain wave.

I don't know who made the automatic stoking machinery for locomotives, but I'm willing to bet they also made stationary stokers and coal handling machinery as well.

If you can find a firm name, likely you can get an illustrated catalog for the appropriate period complete with typical instillation photos or diagrams.

Once you have a firm name, request a catalog from a university interlibrary loan office, its their specialty. You will need to be either a current student, graduate or have someone who is run the request for you.

Good Luck and let me know how it turns out, this particular search interests me for my own use,

Randy

[jrbarney]

Tim,
If you haven't yet used it, the C. Burr Artz Public Library's Inter Library Loan service at the information desk on the second floor has obtained railroad related books for me several times. That includes some from the Enoch Pratt Library listed in another response (saves a trip to Bal'more). You do have to fill out a form and state the maximum fee you would be willing to pay, if the lending library does charge a fee.
Bob

[leighant]

I have used Sanborn's Insurance Fire Rating maps from as far back as 1900. The ones I used had 1" = 50' maps, building by building showing the construction of each section of the building (stone, wood frame etc) that affected its fire rating, height of structure and indications how heated, storage etc of combustibles. I wasn't looking for coal chute info etc but there would be a good chance to find it there.
The public library in my city has microfilm from several different years of the Sanborn maps FOR MY CITY and other cities on the same reel. Also some original Sanborn's map books (2 feet square). Also the city zoning and building department has the Sanborn's map books but I doub thtye have the old ones. You might try to public library AND the city building inspection dept in the town in question. Some older maps may be available from Library of Congress I have heard though I have not attempted this.

[timthechef]

Thanks again for the Info. Highiron, it sounds like your from this area? I'll have to take a field trip to the Deaf School and see what I can see. I may check to see if I can find a catalog of products from Frederick Iron and steel, one of their best selling products was supposed to be a Coal stoker for furnaces. I also see a lot more time in the library for me! Thanks again.

[CBQ_Guy]

I live a few blocks down the street from the old Westclox factory in LaSalle, Illinois. A friend of mine used to work there. He said something about a trestle for coal deliveries which had a small enclosed structure built over it so that the coal could be thawed before being able to unload it. Of course, this would in the winter when apparently the coal would all freeze together in the car. I don't know but ASSume some sort of steam heat was used in the process.

Others have mentioned home coal deliveries. When I was a kid in Chicago, we lived three house down from my grandmother and she had a coal furnace she had to tend in the basement - this would be in the early 1960's. I remember the coal man coming out in his old wood sided truck, and sliding a wooden chute off the back and into the basement window for the "coal room". He would shovel the coal onto and down the chute by hand.

[timthechef]

I was in the library the other day and I was looking at pictures from Fredericks history and I saw a picture of a brush manifacturing plant in town and for their power house the picture showed the coal just being dumped on the ground in a pile next to the power house. Then I guess that someone had to shovel it into a wheel barrow and take it to the boiler? How much coal would a place like this use?

[Anonymous]

Tim,

I was raised in the Baltimore area and spent 4 years at MSD. There happens to be alot which I had forgotten about in Frederick over the years; however railroads served Frederick quite a bit in the day.

Arkansas is my home and it is a easier life than was back east. Good Luck with your investigations.

I do not know the answer to your questions about "How much coal?" however, in researching for the Domino's Plant based on the prototype in Baltimore for my future railroad, I found numerous references to coal being used at approx 40 tons in a 8 hour shift per boiler. I think today's Power Plants such as found at Spring Garden (BG&E) possibly burned about 4 hopper cars worth of coal an hour today per boiler.

A small company using a pile of coal a day may seem right. You can always deliver more coal he he.

One more tidbit... on the History Channel, it is stated that the United States has enough coal down underground to last us at least 250 years, the problem lies in how to get to it.

Good Luck

Lee

[timthechef]

Thanks again. I still haven't had the chance to investigate MSD's boiler house, we've had some snowy weather here as of late.

[coalminer3]

Here's another suggestion; get to a large library (generally with an engineering or mining collection) and go through back issues of Coal Age. In the day, it had lots of articles about mines and mining and applications of coal. Also, the former National Coal Association had lots of publications which may be in a large library. There was also a series of books called Mechannual which dealt with all sorts of issues relating to mechanization and coal; not just mining equipment but also industrial and domestic stokers. These articles had pictures of "new" installations - fascinating stuff! Let me know if you need specific citations and I'll see what I can find for you.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Tim:

In reference to the above post by Coalminer, you might want to have a look at the metals industry trade publication: Iron and Steel Age. Any library having one likely has the other. What you are looking for is the issues from about 1910 forward. As I recall from my research on Standard Oil from the period they were well illustrated.

Good Luck and please keep us up to date, as you can see there is considerable interest in your progress.

Randy

[timthechef]

Thanks again. Yes there does seem to be considerable interest in this. I have receaved many good ideas and as soon as the weather breaks and work allows me I will be in the library and I will let you know what I find.

[Anonymous]

Masonjar, hit it on the head alot of this work was done by hand,back,and sweat.Larbor at this time was dirt cheap,why stick money into highpriced machines,when the avg.pay was $.15 to a big quarter an hour,bennies unheard of. Workers com? what you hurt your back sorry theres the door, next.

[Anonymous]

Hey Tim:
Yes, here's another thread on coal. When I was a lad, we heated our house with coal. There was a coal bin in the basement and when we needed some we would call the dealer. He was so conscientious that he "washed" his coal, right in the truck just before he weighed it. Of course you got to pay for the water too... The truck would come up the driveway, the driver would stick a metal chute into the window of the coal bin and let 'er rip. Thank God it was only a ton. The noise was terrific. My aunts' house sat on top of a 6' high terrace and no driveway!!!! The poor driver would get out his wheelbarrow, put a plank up the steps and literally run up the plank with the barrow full of coal. He would then dump the coal down the chute into the coal bin. Can you imagine what a job that was ???[:(][:(][:(][:(] In the town I am modeling, I'm going to plagerize a scene I saw in one of the mags. Stores usually had a manhole chute in front where the driver could deliver the coal. I'm showing the truck with the bed raised and the driver standing on top of the load. Somewhere nearby will be the body of an OSHA agent. He saw the scene and had a stroke on the spot!!!!!![:D][:D][:D][:D][:D] One of the Marine Corps bases I served at had what we called a steam plant. It was a huge place with three or four large boilers and the steam that was made there was piped all over the base, used for heating the barracks and for cooking etc. in the mess halls. Coal was delivered by gondola, dropped through a trestle into a large circular pit and loaded into the power house with a bulldozer. Just a few suggestions for you. have a [:)][:)][:)][:)] day

JR

[Anonymous]

Wonderful! Wonderful! One must wonder about how to drop a gondola off a trestle to unload it =)

I am very pleased with your discription of how coal is weighed. I dont think the water is an issue but,....

Are you SURE they dumped the water from the truck before weighing it? I did not want to start a converstation too far off topic but I had to ask.

I remember a flat car from a train layout on a show that had a lump of coal about as big as a fist strapped to it (HO Scale flat car) with several "Worker" figures standing about trying to figure out how to get it down the feed chute of the power supply boiler.

Tim,

I remembered that in the Camp David Area is a National Park near a place called "Cunningham's Falls" and "Camp Greentop" should be what is called the "Kilns" they did not exactly use coal but created Charcoal perhaps this may provide you with some insight.

Best of Luck

Lee

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the "washing" was a requirement (government or just common sense) to keep the coal dust under control. It is highly explosive in certain situations, and you probably wouldn't want one of those situations to be your basement...!

Seriously, can anyone provide more info?

Andrew

[Anonymous]

masonjar,

The only washing of coal I am aware of comes when a mine sprays "oil" onto the coal to keep the dust down. It did not affect it's ability to burn in any way.

Modern day treatment of coal in compliance to modern day "Clean fuels" my also be simply oil sprayed coal. Keep in mind that coal leaves alot of ash which needs to be removed periodically.

[timthechef]

Again, thanks for the info! never did I think that my little thread would garner so much interest! One of the reasons that I chose the 1920's to model is I love history and I facinated by the way things were done before we had so much mechanization.