Coal - How many of us have held and burned it?

[michaelstevens]

QUOTE: Originally posted by LightBender
Not bloody likely. It was a right royal pain, filling scuttles in the freezing coal shed of a morning, emptying ashes, cutting kindling.

On top of that -- think of all the noxious fumes (CO etc.) we were exposed to, in our own houses !!

Then there were the mining hazards -- black lung, repetitive canary deaths, permanent skin blackening !! -- and "Oh mi god, why do they sing so much ?" and -- "you're surely not going to let your daughter marry one ??" (e.g. Burton/Taylor)

LB's right -- we shouldn't give in to our delusional, romantic memories -- I mean;

"Let's not have a sniffle -- let's have a bloody good cry
Just remember the longer you live -- the sooner you'll bloody well die !!"

Coal sucks !!

[8D]

[Anonymous]

Ah the warm dancing flames of a bedroom fireplace. Sitting around the soft glow of embers in the kitchen toasting crumpets on long forks. Roasting chestnuts on a coal scoop by the living room fire on a cold winters night. Doesn't that sound romantic? Not bloody likely. It was a right royal pain, filling scuttles in the freezing coal shed of a morning, emptying ashes, cutting kindling. I much prefer to push a button to keep warm.

The demise of steam is all very sad but I doubt many engineers regretted losing the romance as they sat back in their comfy heated diesel cabs.

[Anonymous]

I'm 53 years old, I guess this makes me an old timer for this question! We used to burn coal in the fire place when I was a kid in the 50s and 60s. It was my job to fill the scuttle and bank the fire with ash, so it would last most of the night. I remember Dad having a hard time finding coal towards the end. This was a processed coal, which was formed into briquets, similar to charcoal. This was in northern Minnesota at the lake when we were there during the fall and spring. Yes, it had a different smell than charcoal

[Anonymous]

I have two 10lb bags of coal that I use for scenery on the layout or for making loads for hoppers. Got it at a mine in Black Diamond Washingon. Cost me about 5 dollars ;)

The guy was really nice and only filled the bags with the smallest particles so I didn't have to do too much to it.

Warren

[Anonymous]

I don't fit any of the above responses!

I use to do some blacksmithing, so I have held it and burned it, even if I don't have any now in the train room. Love the smell!

[bluepuma]

Thanks, Guys. Interesting responses, all. Expected some people grew up around plenty.

Moving to IL 4 years ago, was surprised to see the slag piles from the coal mines in North Central IL, Mark, Standard, tales of the Cherry Hill mine disaster, never remembered hearing about coal mines in IL. The slag piles I knew were from Copper, Gold or silver mines in the west.

Never realized there was coal in the Rockies along the Utah Belt or Denver and Rio Grande. but apparently would be shipped to the West coast for home heating before natural gas. Plenty of oil wells in Long Beach in 1950, local natural gas, oil burning steam. Had not heard of coal in the west until the find in Arizona around the '80s. I think heating before natural gas was kerosene. Another story there, before Coleman
stoves, lanterns. :)

Angeleno in...

[Anonymous]

I've got a coal fire at home, so yes, I've held it, burned it, dealt with the ash and dust! Coal fires are still popular over here, even in the days of central heating - mainly because there's something satisfying about creating heat rather than just flipping a few switches I suspect. Also, a lot of older houses already have fireplaces and chimneys installed, so if you have it, why not use it?

[Anonymous]

[xx(] not only have I got some, just like every other year I managed to get some in my Christmas stocking again this year!
Also burned it in fireplaces in Richmond for several years in place of wood.

[ndbprr]

All three types - anthracite, bituminous and metalurgical.

[ReadingBob]

Heck, up until I moved to sunny Florida four years ago I lived in the heart of coal (hard coal that is) country near Pottsville, PA. My house was heated with coal. We were close enough that you could feel the house shake when they were blasting over in the "strippin's" a couple miles away. We burned "rice" coal in our house. What fun, the joys of keeping the hopper full, getting coal delivered (means getting someone to move their car that's parked in front of the house on the street), taking out the ashes and living with the coal dust that seems to find it's way everywhere.

I used to work for a Bank that had a branch in Centralia, PA. For those unfamiliar with the plight of Centralia it's a small town in PA that has the misfortune of having a vein of coal run underneath it that's been on fire for 30+ years now. A big portion of the town has been abandoned because of it (including the branch of the bank). It's a strange sight to drive throught there at night or in the winter. The trees/bushes are burnt, you can see the steam rising when it snows/rains and in some places you can see the blue flame at times where it's reached the surface.

To top it off, my grand father was a coal miner (back before strip mining). I've been down in a "deep" mine once. There's an old mine open to tourists in Ashland, PA (right around the corner from Centralia).

[jfraymondpa]

There is no choice for me either. I heated my home from 1986 to 1993 with coal. I stopped when we moved to a new house. Also as a teen I stoked furnaces, kept buckets full for the cook stoves and hauled ashes from homes for spending money. Coal heat is great, my wife loved it for raising bread and dry ing the laundry.
We live in NE Pennsylvania near the hard coal region.

-- John Raymond
Bearridge RR (BRR)

[cacole]

You don't have a choice that fits my category -- when I was young we heated our house with a coal-fired furnace in southern Illinois, and we also had a cook stove in the basement that burned coal that we used in the wintertime. I remember my father buying coal by the ton, and it was a hand-fired furnace that had to be tended to several times a day. I'm talking about the late 1940s and early '50s here. Southern Illinois had a lot of coal strip mines back then, so coal was plentiful and cheaper than bottled gas (there was no natural gas available then) or electricity for heating and cooking. There was a water coil in the furnace that even heated the hot water in the wintertime. In the summertime, we had a small coal-fired water heater that had to be fired when hot water was desired. Ummm, is my age showing? [:D]

[Anonymous]

I answered yes to four of the categories. I've seen coal off loaded at a coal dock for a power plant, I've seen coal trains (Cape Breton) I've seen coal used for heating and cooking (Scotland), I've taken the kids fossil hunting in coal is present in the seams at Joggins. And yes I have chunks of coal on the MESS.

[Anonymous]

I see many coal trains on the Mopac (UP) passing through St. Louis, MO.

I have seen coal burning in the firebox of SLSW 1630 at the Illinois Railway Museum and in N&W 1218 at the NRHS convention back in 1990.

I have operated coal burning Live Steam locomotives where the engineer is also the fireman (12 inch gauge).

And yes, I have a bucket of coal for use on my model railroad.

I have never seen it used for cooking or heating in homes like was done many years ago.

Dale B.

[michaelstevens]

[8D]
I voted "have seen coal on train" since it was the only applicable option.
However, I grew up in England (in the 50's and 60's) where most families still had coal fires for heating their houses.
[:)]
And Yes ! -- I actually used to "cop rides" and "fire" (stoke with coal) real steam engines.
[:D][:D]

[orsonroy]

Growing up in Chicago, I never really ran into the stuff, until I started participating in two hobbies: steam railfanning and Civil War reenacting. Since then, I've seen, held, felt, burned and otherwise used coal on a regular basis. I've shoveled it into steam engines, burned it for heat, stoked it for blacksmiths, and used it as loads for mdel hoppers, gondolas and tenders. I've even smelled coal smoke coming out of houses that still use it for heating, up in central Pennsylvania.

Of course, I'm probably an exception, especially considering I'm only 33. I'm sure most "normal" people don't really know what coal looks like, let alone have ever touched the stuff. I pity "normal" people; their lives are so sheltered and lacking in texture!

[bluepuma]

Wondered how many of us have held coal, touched it, burned it. Growing up in Arizona and California after 1950, we never burned coal, never saw it there, just at my granparents in Tenn. where in '53, Grandmother cooked with it and heated the kitchen, baked with it in a potbelly stove. In Illinois our local power plant burns it in Hennepin. But, a lot of us have not touched coal in many years, so I wanted some and got it for Christmas. Neat feel, touch, like wood or very hard wood, not like rock, not cold. Thought it might be good to share coal experiences.