How large are coal pieces in a tender?

[wabash2800]

My old Wabash conductor freind Clarence Montgomery as interviewed for my Railroading on the Wabash Fourth District book is in a agreement with Larry. He said the Wabash mixed "screening" and "lump" coal together in its coaling towers in a ratio of two hopper cars of screening to one car of lump coal.

Victor A. Baird

Fort Wayne, Indiana

[BRAKIE]

Coal was bought on the cheap and thus ungraded and there could be large lumps of slag,dirt and coal..Even with a mechanical stroker a fireman still had a rough job and it got worst closer to the end of steam.

I chuckle at most modelers nice and tidy coal in their tender's coal bunker.. Lots of prototype photos will show just the opposite if one cares to do the research.

As a side note some times firemen would need to clean clinkers from the firebox grates.. A steel rod with a hook was used for this task and it was not uncommon to have to stop to do this job..

[peahrens]

I didn't study the size carefully.  These have a layer of Arizona Rock & Minerals "medium" coal glued on.

 

[ndbprr]

The anthracite users tended to use the fines that had no other use. A special wide firebox called a Wooten reduced the velocity of air so it wouldn't carry them out the stack.

[RDG Casey]

Overly huge random pieces happen though, especially in hand firing at a great inconvenience. If it drops down it will plug up the opening to the tender floor where you have to try to pry it out and then smash it up with a hammer. This sort of thing might happen more regularly on a short line or in my experience a tourist operation.

[ACY Tom]

Coal sizes varied somewhat, depending on the source and the preferences of the railroad.  When I visited the bituminous-hauling Buffalo Creek & Gauley RR in 1962, my dad, who had formerly been in the coal business, asked what they used in their hand-fired Consolidations.  The response was that they used Egg (2" to 5") and Nut (1-1/4" to 2") size, from the Rich Run Mine at Widen.  Many roads saved money, at least in the short run, by buying ungraded coal, straight from the tipple.  Stoker Coal is 3/4" to 1-1/4". This should not be interpreted as meaning all stoker-fed engines used that size, because the stoker's auger could be relied upon to pulverize the coal as it moved from tender to firebox.  Other common bituminous sizes are Lump (5"-8") and Run-of-mine (8+"). 

Since this is not a "one size fits all" question, it would probably be best to look closely at steam-era photos to get an idea what size is most appropriate for your prototype railroad.

Incidentally, I understand the nomenclature for Anthracite may be a bit different.

Tom

[mlehman]

A hammer, a substantial bag of cloth or something similar, and a lump of coal can produce what you need, although you'll have to do your own screening.

For added authenticity, I use coal picked up along an old narrowgauge ROW in Colorado.

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

I use products from Conway Coal Company. It's actual coal and looks great!

They are also a great source of info.

Hope this helps.

[CandOsteam]

Blind Bruce

OK, I am makeing a few coal piles for my steamers to use. In HO, how large are the individual pieces as well as the whole pile? Should they be to scale or oversize for visual effect? I have a bag of HO "cinders", are they correct in size?

Thanks folks,

 

 

See http://www.steamlocomotive.com/appliances/stoker.php

 

For locomotives with mechanical stokers, 1-2 inch pieces, for hand-fired locos, 4-6 inches.

As far as height of the load, depends what you want to depict, just coaled (see prototype pictures for shape, in between (a V-shaped area near the stoker screw or where the fireman shoveled out coal), or close to depleted.

Cinders is not coal but is classified as pyroclastic rock that is left after coal is burned in the firebox.  RRs accumulated tons of this stuff from their coal-burning locomotives and used it to ballast low traffic track, such as yard tracks, some sidings. 

So, I would only use this for ballasting track, not coal loads.  Look for stoker coal or for the larger size, mine run coal in your scale.  There are a number of commercial sources from a Google search.

 

Joel

[Blind Bruce]

OK, I am makeing a few coal piles for my steamers to use. In HO, how large are the individual pieces as well as the whole pile? Should they be to scale or oversize for visual effect? I have a bag of HO "cinders", are they correct in size?

Thanks folks,