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Hauling coal in HO scale (Also N, O, etc.)

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Posted by NorthBrit on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 12:07 PM

Coal Hoppers UK style Smile   1979  built locomotive with 1910  style  Private Owner hoppers.    Really I should run my steam locomotives to be correct,  but  'a daft half hour'  anything goes.  Big Smile

Most of the hoppers have real coal in them.

 

 

 

David

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Posted by azrail on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 1:55 PM

Downtown Albuquerque in the early 50s. For those who model downtowns, notice the large amount of signage and canopys

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Posted by gmpullman on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 2:47 PM

Heartland Division CB&Q
Please be careful ..... Stay on topic, please. 

Thank you, Garry.


 

Some "clean-up" work being done around the breaker:

 Bucket1 by Edmund, on Flickr

Cheers, Ed

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Posted by John-NYBW on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 6:15 PM

richhotrain

 

 
Track fiddler

I remember that day at Terry's beautiful home off the lake in rural Wisconsin.  Yes, a basement completely filled with an HO train layout.  I remember running them both.  The loaded coal drag and the empty one.

The layout was continuous around the whole perimeter of the basement with separate sections and bays of railroad activity modeled after different towns in his area.

What was so cool about Terry's layout was how the train would go into a tunnel and then go under the layout to a separate staging room just off the bottom of the stairs.  Then another train could be started under the layout to suddenly appear out of a tunnel on the other side.  Or vice-versa depending on which way the trains were faced.  That's how I remember it.

He had a whole separate room dedicated to staging.  There was enough trains lined up in there to sink a battleship. 

 

 

I have never had true staging on any of my layouts. Instead, I just line up completed trains in the yard ready to run. But, lately, I have thought a lot about staging, hidden staging. To me, it makes a lot of sense to include hidden staging on the layout - - lots of it.

 

By the way, I took a YouTube tour of Terry's layout. Wow, quite a ride. Beautiful layout and quite realistic.

Rich

 

Staging yards are like storage space. Nobody ever said they had too much of either. The more staging you have, the more trains you can run. As I was constructing my basement sized layout, I was accumulating and building freight cars. I thought I had plenty of staging in addition to a very large classification yard but when I commenced operations, I realized all those freight cars I had accumulated were exceeding the capacity of my layout. I find I have to rotate freight cars on and off the layout in order to use them all and only one of my two staging yards has easy enough access to do that. When I finish construction of my branchline, I am giving serious thought to completely revamping the two staging yard to increase capacity but it's going to require some major surgery that will shut down the layout for months (if it goes well). 

Getting back to coal trains, I've tried to steer clear of the political discussions regarding coal vs. green energy. My layout set in 1956 is a respite from our politically correct world. I can happily run as many coal trains as I like and not worry about upsetting anyone. Plenty of gas guzzling cars too. 

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 6:37 AM

richhotrain
I have never had true staging on any of my layouts. Instead, I just line up completed trains in the yard ready to run. But, lately, I have thought a lot about staging, hidden staging. To me, it makes a lot of sense to include hidden staging on the layout - - lots of it.

Me too.  I have too many trains and that's one way to get most of them (hopefully) on the rails.  I managed to squeeze in 11 tracks ranging from 17' to 24' in length.

 

Lastspikemike
They evidently haven't done the maths.

Or the math.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 8:54 AM

gmpullman

 

 
Heartland Division CB&Q
Please be careful ..... Stay on topic, please. 

 

Thank you, Garry.


 

Again, this thread is about Sharing Pictures of how you model coal hauling freight cars and coal operations on model railroads.

It is not for discussing energy, mathmatics, or anything else.

Per the opening post:

Heartland Division CB&Q
If you would like to add pictures of hauling coal on your layout, feel free to do that.

Please Stay On Topic, and share pictures of your coal cars.

Here is another of mine. This one was built from a Funaro And Camerlengo resin kit. This specific hopper car was obsolete by 1954, but I modeled it with AB air brakes and updated appliances to represent a car that might have been updated.

I would love to see modeling examples from those who seem to only post words.

-Kevin

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 9:06 AM

Lastspikemike
I'm a Limey. British logic you know.

You study and use "mathematics" so the abbreviation needs to be plural. Nobody does "mathematic". But then Americans use the lazy man's spelling for  aluminium, but oddly not for uranum. Using the singular for mathematics is very French.

I thought you were a hoser aka Canadian Kanuk, not a Brit.  That said, my wife of 10 years is a Brit so I hear her say maths, and aluminium.  I also not on the BBC they call it sport rather than sports.  Go figure.

Not sure where the French got in; maybe up the Mississippi river?

Anyway, no Bob's your uncle and we are done and dusted, aye?

Staging is an interesting idea. In a hobby with insufficient space to represent prototype convincingly some prefer to hide the lack of space completely. Certainly saves on scenery work! 

Well, the idea of staging in many of the Model Railroader articles is you are representing regions off stage with staging.  You can stage scheduled trains in staging and during an operating session, the appear from off your division and run across it and back off again into staging, thus representing trains running through the visible part of your layout representing a portion of a RR.

Some trains may simply run east to west or visa versa.  Some may drop off blocks of freight cars in a division yard to service local industries.  etc.

With sufficient staging capacity, you might be able to run a realistic representation of a real RR day.  For example, the D&RGW was a bridge route, so x number of freight trains may cross the system in a given day.  I am planning to loosely model Grand Junction CO.  TOFC trains would drop blocks of trailers there to service some local companies, like for example City Market grocery stores.  Also passenger trains would make a stop at the passenger station in Grand Junction.  Some trains may just pass through east to west or visa versa.

Keven, you know the deal here at MR forums - veering off topic is modus operandi - just saying whats good for the gander is good for the goose.  

But, for topic content - the D&RGW ran coal trains east from the Sunny Side coal mine or off of the branchline.  Another coal train ran west and was handed off to the Union Pacific to service Kaiser in CA.  There were any other operations that operated down the Front Range and to customers in Texas, Indiana as well as "local" Colorado customers.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 9:14 AM

riogrande5761
Keven, you know the deal here at MR forums - veering off topic is modus operandi - just saying whats good for the gander is good for the goose.  

In the case of this thread, the OP was very specific about what the purpose was for this thread, and he has made appeals for it to stay on topic.

It is only right to respect the wishes of the OP, especially when they have made it clear that they want their thread to stay on topic.

If the OP participates in the conversational drift, that is a different circumstance.

This is a unique STRATTON AND GILLETTE coal hopper:

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by ROBERT PETRICK on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 9:29 AM

SeeYou190

Again, this thread is about Sharing Pictures of how you model coal hauling freight cars and coal operations on model railroads.

Per the opening post:

If you would like to add pictures of hauling coal on your layout, feel free to do that.

Happy to oblige . . .

Here's a photo from quite a while ago when the landforms and scenery of the layout were in their very early embryonic stage . . . nevertheless, a 24-car coal drag. N scale.

Robert

LINK to SNSR Blog


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Posted by gmpullman on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 9:44 AM

The tail end of a B&O coal drag clears the diamonds:

 Holding at the Diamond by NAPM Model Railroad Club, on Flickr

 

Later, a set of Baldwin helpers are added:

 Shark Attack by NAPM Model Railroad Club, on Flickr

Cool Coal Stuff! From the North American Prototype Modelers.

Cheers, Ed

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Posted by Harrison on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 9:55 AM

Enjoying all the photos and info, Yes. Although I'm sure coal traffic is declining, last Wednesday and Thursday when I was railfanning on the CSX Cumberland Subdivison I caught 4 coal trains (2 in each direction). To me, that seems like a lot.

Although you can't see the cars, here's a loaded coal train crossing the Potomac river in Harpers Ferry, WV.

IMG_5320

 

Harrison

Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.

Modeling the D&H in 1978.

Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"

My YouTube

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Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 6:30 PM

John-NYBW

 

 
richhotrain

 

 
Track fiddler

I remember that day at Terry's beautiful home off the lake in rural Wisconsin.  Yes, a basement completely filled with an HO train layout.  I remember running them both.  The loaded coal drag and the empty one.

The layout was continuous around the whole perimeter of the basement with separate sections and bays of railroad activity modeled after different towns in his area.

What was so cool about Terry's layout was how the train would go into a tunnel and then go under the layout to a separate staging room just off the bottom of the stairs.  Then another train could be started under the layout to suddenly appear out of a tunnel on the other side.  Or vice-versa depending on which way the trains were faced.  That's how I remember it.

He had a whole separate room dedicated to staging.  There was enough trains lined up in there to sink a battleship. 

 

 

I have never had true staging on any of my layouts. Instead, I just line up completed trains in the yard ready to run. But, lately, I have thought a lot about staging, hidden staging. To me, it makes a lot of sense to include hidden staging on the layout - - lots of it.

 

By the way, I took a YouTube tour of Terry's layout. Wow, quite a ride. Beautiful layout and quite realistic.

Rich

 

 

 

Staging yards are like storage space. Nobody ever said they had too much of either. The more staging you have, the more trains you can run. As I was constructing my basement sized layout, I was accumulating and building freight cars. I thought I had plenty of staging in addition to a very large classification yard but when I commenced operations, I realized all those freight cars I had accumulated were exceeding the capacity of my layout. I find I have to rotate freight cars on and off the layout in order to use them all and only one of my two staging yards has easy enough access to do that. When I finish construction of my branchline, I am giving serious thought to completely revamping the two staging yard to increase capacity but it's going to require some major surgery that will shut down the layout for months (if it goes well). 

Getting back to coal trains, I've tried to steer clear of the political discussions regarding coal vs. green energy. My layout set in 1956 is a respite from our politically correct world. I can happily run as many coal trains as I like and not worry about upsetting anyone. Plenty of gas guzzling cars too. 

 

Same here, modeling 1954..... Steam locomotives, smokey ALCO diesels, long coal trains.

Sheldon

    

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 10:51 PM

This scene is on the Country Roads portable HO scale sectional layout:

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by NorthBrit on Thursday, May 13, 2021 2:26 AM

Scene at Clarence Dock.    on on Leeds Sovereign Street  &  Clarence Dock layout.

 

 

David

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

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Posted by doctorwayne on Thursday, May 13, 2021 4:07 AM

Some more coal on the move...

...and the pusher...

...70 hoppers, at 8oz. each...35lbs., not counting the three locomotives and two cabooses.  I have lots more coal, but that's it for hoppers.

Wayne

 

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, May 13, 2021 10:12 AM

Wayne... that was an impressive series of pictures!

I have 6 of these Kadee two bay hoppers loaded with coal that I painted for my railroad, but it seems I only have this poor picture of one of them. I have lots of pictures of my 3 bay hoppers, but I guess I never got my old ones out of the box when I was taking all those pictures.

This is one of the first pictures I took after dismantling the Spare Bedroom Layout. I was experimenting with ideas for a small photo booth that eventually became my 30 by 30 photo diorama project.

The picture was inside a cardboard box with light diffusers built into the sides to prevent shadows in the scene.

All the results were sub-par, and other ideas were explored.

I guess that after this picture was taken, the two bay hoppers were packed away, and have not been out since.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by doctorwayne on Thursday, May 13, 2021 12:11 PM

Thanks for your kind words, Kevin.  I didn't attempt to run the train at all, as a derailment would have created a real mess.  Had I used more locomotives, spaced strategically throughout the train, it might have been okay, but I opted not to take the risk.

SeeYou190
The picture was inside a cardboard box with light diffusers built into the sides to prevent shadows in the scene. All the results were sub-par, and other ideas were explored.

I'd have to disagree, Kevin:  I think that photo's rather nicely-done, and the backdrop helps to supplement that controlled lighting.

Wayne

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Posted by John-NYBW on Thursday, May 13, 2021 4:56 PM

Harrison

Enjoying all the photos and info, Yes. Although I'm sure coal traffic is declining, last Wednesday and Thursday when I was railfanning on the CSX Cumberland Subdivison I caught 4 coal trains (2 in each direction). To me, that seems like a lot.

Although you can't see the cars, here's a loaded coal train crossing the Potomac river in Harpers Ferry, WV.

IMG_5320

 

 

Harper's Ferry is one of the historical sites on my bucket list. It is of course where a contingent of Marines commanded by Robert E. Lee captured John Brown. The final assault was led by JEB Stuart.

I'm curious as to what New Yorkers consider upstate New York. Is the southern tier in western New York considered upstate?

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Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Thursday, May 13, 2021 5:01 PM

John-NYBW

 

 
Harrison

Enjoying all the photos and info, Yes. Although I'm sure coal traffic is declining, last Wednesday and Thursday when I was railfanning on the CSX Cumberland Subdivison I caught 4 coal trains (2 in each direction). To me, that seems like a lot.

Although you can't see the cars, here's a loaded coal train crossing the Potomac river in Harpers Ferry, WV.

IMG_5320

 

 

 

 

Harper's Ferry is one of the historical sites on my bucket list. It is of course where a contingent of Marines commanded by Robert E. Lee captured John Brown. The final assault was led by JEB Stuart.

I'm curious as to what New Yorkers consider upstate New York. Is the southern tier in western New York considered upstate?

 

I spent a whole summer in Harpers Ferry as a teen, running a hobby shop, and helping build an HO diorama depicting the events of Jonh Brown's raid.

That was 1972......

Been there many times before and since, spent the honeymoon with the first wife there.....

During that stay in 1972, there was a derailment on the bridge and in front of the passenger station one night. Just 20 minutes before the derailment, my coworker and I had been sitting on the station platform bench, watching trains........

Sheldon

    

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Posted by BigDaddy on Thursday, May 13, 2021 5:13 PM

Harpers Ferry is almost a shortcut for me, traveling between my old home in Annapolis and the Shenandoah Valley.  I am noticing all sorts of walking paths next to the tracks, that I didn't know were there.

I did not know of the connection to the deposed statue people.  The second marine in was killed.

I remember a lot of gnats when I toured the armory.

 

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

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Posted by richhotrain on Thursday, May 13, 2021 5:21 PM

John-NYBW

Harper's Ferry is one of the historical sites on my bucket list. It is of course where a contingent of Marines commanded by Robert E. Lee captured John Brown. The final assault was led by JEB Stuart.

Ahh, good ole J.E.B. Stuart. Things didn't work out so well for him at Gettysburg.  Embarrassed

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by John-NYBW on Thursday, May 13, 2021 5:58 PM

BigDaddy

Harpers Ferry is almost a shortcut for me, traveling between my old home in Annapolis and the Shenandoah Valley.  I am noticing all sorts of walking paths next to the tracks, that I didn't know were there.

I did not know of the connection to the deposed statue people.  The second marine in was killed.

I remember a lot of gnats when I toured the armory.

 

 

I was just reading up on the assault and that Marine was shot in the face almost immediately. The man who shot him was immediately skewered with several bayonets. John Brown was hacked three times with a sword which left him bloodied but the wounds were not considered life threatening. He begged for medical attention but Robert E. Lee was very much unsympathetic to his plight. 

Robert E. Lee was in Arlington on leave from his Texas command when he was ordered to take a train to Harper's Ferry to take command of the situation. That's why the troops who stormed the firehouse where Brown was holed up were Marines and not Army. He first wanted a militia force to take Brown but their commander refused to order them to make the assault. 

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Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Thursday, May 13, 2021 6:41 PM

richhotrain

 

 
John-NYBW

Harper's Ferry is one of the historical sites on my bucket list. It is of course where a contingent of Marines commanded by Robert E. Lee captured John Brown. The final assault was led by JEB Stuart.

 

 

Ahh, good ole J.E.B. Stuart. Things didn't work out so well for him at Gettysburg.  Embarrassed

 

Rich

 

During those three days, the cavalry star was on the other side, John Buford, who's actions are likely what turned the tide of the war. Buford, and a school teacher from Maine the next day, two of the post pivotal moments of that war.

Sheldon 

    

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Posted by BigDaddy on Thursday, May 13, 2021 7:44 PM

Living so close to Gettysburg, I did not realize how much of a National Destination it is, until i visited the Eisenhower home and the ranger asked where people were from.

Sickles whose leg resides in a museum, was an incompetent politician/general who was not a hero, but earlier, the first, to be acquited of murder of the son of Francis Scott Key by reason of insanity, while a congressman.

There were other heros Joshua Chamberlain and "Paddy" O'Rourke and probably dozens more who will never be remembered.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, May 13, 2021 9:34 PM

doctorwayne
I think that photo's rather nicely-done, and the backdrop helps to supplement that controlled lighting.

Thank you for the kind response.

I am also happy with the way the backdrop was lit. My main problem with the pictures I took with that set-up was the dark black void that was created underneath the freight cars. With the solid sides on the box, the only way to alleviate the issues was to use the built-in flash on the camera, and then I had shadows on the backdrop!

I like to see the details underneath the coal hoppers.

-Kevin

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Posted by OldEngineman on Thursday, May 13, 2021 9:52 PM

"I'm curious as to what New Yorkers consider upstate New York. Is the southern tier in western New York considered upstate?"

Look at a map of New York state. Locate Poughkeepsie. Now imagine a horizontal line through Poughkeepsie going in either direction. Above that line is "upstate" to most New Yorkers.

Depending on how "down state" they are, some might move that line south to Newburgh...  Wink

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Posted by John-NYBW on Friday, May 14, 2021 2:34 PM

ATLANTIC CENTRAL

 

 
richhotrain

 

 
John-NYBW

Harper's Ferry is one of the historical sites on my bucket list. It is of course where a contingent of Marines commanded by Robert E. Lee captured John Brown. The final assault was led by JEB Stuart.

 

 

Ahh, good ole J.E.B. Stuart. Things didn't work out so well for him at Gettysburg.  Embarrassed

 

Rich

 

 

 

During those three days, the cavalry star was on the other side, John Buford, who's actions are likely what turned the tide of the war. Buford, and a school teacher from Maine the next day, two of the post pivotal moments of that war.

Sheldon 

 

Buford's heroic action stalled the Confederates long enough for the main body to reach Gettysburg and take the high ground along Cemetery Ridge. However, all that would have been for naught if not for the hesitancy of General Ewell to take Culp's Hill on day one. If the Confederates had taken that hill, they could have flanked the Union line along Cemetery Ridge from the north.

One day two the Confederates could have accomplished the same thing if not for the heroic stand by Joshua Chamberlin in holding Little Round Top. If that had fallen to the Confederates, they could have flanked the Union line from the South. 

Those two failures pushed Lee into ordering the suicidal Pickett's Charge at the Union center on day three against Longstreet's better judgment. Had the Confederates been victorious at the crossroads town of Gettysburg, they would have had a clear road to attack Washington from the northwest or move against the major cities along the eastern seaboard. There would have been great pressure on the Lincoln administration to capitulate. 

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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Friday, May 14, 2021 4:04 PM

I want to thank all who particpated in this thread with photos and discussions about hauling coal on model railroads.

 

 

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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Posted by richhotrain on Friday, May 14, 2021 5:52 PM

A Chicago & Northwestern coal train at Council Bluffs, midway between the Powder River Basin and Chicago.

Rich

P1020774.jpg

P1020775.jpg

P1020776.jpg

P1020773.jpg

P1020777.jpg

Alton Junction

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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Thursday, May 20, 2021 10:04 AM

Rich ..... The C&NW coal train looks good. 

...

I made some coke loads as I said I would do. 

 

I have six Walthers coke cars which I have been running empty from the coke oven to the blast furnace. Adding loads was long overdue. Also, I am using a side dump car as a substitute for a quench car. I still intend to scrap build one. 

Below is a picture I took last night at the coke oven. 

Next you can see coke cars being shoved onto the high line behind the blast furnace wher ore is also delivered. 

I made the loads myself. I started with a styrene piece cut to fit inside the car. I used material in the scrap box which was too thin, and so I reinforced it with a plastic beam glued lengthwise to the bottom. I made humps with consturction adhesive. 

 

 

The next step was to paint everything flat black.

 

FInally, I glued coal scenic material with white glue. To my knowldge, they do not sell coke color. I tired to change the coloring, but what I ended up with will have to suffice. 

The loads can easily be removed from the cars with a dental pick inserted between the side of the car and the edge of the load. 

 

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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