I am new to railroading and came across some pictures of coal sheds sitting next to older grain elevators. What is the purpose of these, and how are they filled?
Any input is appreciated.
If you can find a picture online that you could post a link to, it would be helpful.
Grain elevators were/are largely seasonal in nature, so were only really busy part of the year. Especially in smaller towns with locally owned elevators, they often diversified by selling other products that they could sell year-round, like lumber or coal. That might be what you saw, a grain elevator company that was also the local coal dealer (back when homes burned coal rather than gas).
If that's the case, then unless they had a dedicated coal dock to dump the coal out of a hopper car, the coal would probably have been delivered in drop bottom gondolas. These were preferred for small operations, since the way the hatches opened caused the coal to spill out to the side of the track, rather than straight down onto the track. That made it easier to move into the coal shed or bins without having to clean out under the car.
Hello All,
LHV_TRAINSWhat is the purpose of these(?)
There are many structures associated with railroading that use the generic term "shed."
What you are describing could possibly be a wooden (later made of concrete) coaling tower that provides coal to the locomotives or a coal loader that fills the coal hoppers for delivery.
Although both structures "load" coal, their functions are very different, and one would not be substituted for the other.
However, some coal loaders could have had a track and a tipple (bin) loaded with coal specifically for locomotives servicing the facilites.
Coal is usually sorted before being loaded into hoppers.
Each tipple might hold a specific size range to satisfy the customer's needs and loaded into hoppers bound for specific destinations.
LHV_TRAINS...how are they filled?
Coaling towers to service locomotives often had a bucket loader; either a single bucket or multiple buckets- -conveyor style- -to fill them.
These were filled from a coal pit, often covered by a "shed" on the side of the loader where loaded coal hoppers would dump their contents.
A Coal loader- -to fill strings of hopper cars- -could use a series of conveyor belts (mechanical) to lift the coal into the tipples.
Or, the coal loader could be located below the mine and the conveyor belts would transport the raw coal for sorting down to the tipple.
Other methods such as an Archimedes Screw or man-power; using shovels and wheelbarrows, could have also been employed depending on the size of the facility.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
Thanks for the help.
Here are some examples:
It's unlikely a grain elevator in a small town would have an engine fueling facility as part of it; based on the picture, I think I was right in guessing what you're talking about is a shed for coal sold commercially as a side-business of the grain elevator company. (I think it's too big to be coal stored just for the use of the elevator.)
LHV_TRAINS
That is kind of a classic look for coal sheds and note that the other side of the building has a higher roof line than the side facing the photographer. If you could see the other side you'd likely see a series of trhee square openings rather high up on the wall with hinged shutters. The coal would most likely be shoveled through those openings by a man with a shovel standing on the gondola that delivered the coal.
The side we see with the ground level sliding doors would be the "retail" side where purchasers would get their coal, likely also to be shoveled into a wagon or truck.
It was mentioned that coal was a common side business for a grain elevator owner, because there is so much of the year where NOTHING is happening (that makes any money that is) at the grain elevator.
Another common second side business for coal dealers was ice back when ice was used in iceboxes before the advent of actual refrigerators in homes and restaurants. What my dad remembered is that your Ice & Coal dealer would give you a cardboard sign, one side for ice and one side for coal, and each side was divided into four quadrants stating what quantity of the product you wanted. You'd put that sign in your window so the dealer would know what to deliver if nobody was home to tell them. The house's coal chute was opened from the outside so nobody needed to be home for the right amount of coal to be delivered thru the chute into the bin in the basement.
Not so sure about ice delivery if nobody was home but it could come in 25 lb, 50 lb, 75 lb or 100 lb blocks depending on need. Few homes would need the big blocks.
Dave Nelson
Thank you for the photos to clarify your questions.
I agree with the other responders that what you have posted are most likely retail coal operations to supply coal to consumers.
These facilities were most likely stocked by manual labor; shovels and wheelbarrows, in conjunction with mobile conveyor belts from the coal hopper cars.
By the size of the buildings it seems they would only hold a single hoppers worth of coal.
Another way these could be stocked would be by truck.
The trucks could be filled at a nearby, larger coaling facility, and then dumped into the retail operation adjacent to the grain elevator.
As has been posted grain elevators also attracted other businesses from coal to ice.
Modeling a facility like this would provide plenty of rail traffic without having to model extensive buildings with a footprint too large for the existing space.