SoupyFor all of you modeling coal operations, do you remove the loads to show the empties returning or do you have a separate set of empty cars in a staging area?
I do not model mining, or end users on my layouts. Coal loads and empties are all just passing through.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Soupy For all of you modeling coal operations, do you remove the loads to show the empties returning or do you have a separate set of empty cars in a staging area?
For all of you modeling coal operations, do you remove the loads to show the empties returning or do you have a separate set of empty cars in a staging area?
Soupy ... Thanks for your excellent question. On my layout , I would like to convert all coal hoppers so they have removable loads. Then I could have more realistic operations.
Until then, I return loaded cars to the mine after the operating session is completed. Same with empty cars to be returned to coal receiving industries.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Gotcha
TF
Track fiddler Heartland Division CB&Q Please, let's not digress into an off-topic converation about long term trends regarding coal vs. other energy sources. Well I beg your humble pardon Garry. I will refrain from other things as well. TF
Heartland Division CB&Q Please, let's not digress into an off-topic converation about long term trends regarding coal vs. other energy sources.
Please, let's not digress into an off-topic converation about long term trends regarding coal vs. other energy sources.
TF .... I was not talking about you at all. Your post is appreciated!
I was hoping we would not digress into a conversation about coal being replaced by other energy sources.
This comment from somebody else could lead to unwanted conversations: "Enjoy it while you can. Coal is going the way of the Dodo ...... " .... Next, somebody might spout off about fossile fuels, and politics might be after that.
I just want to show and talk about model train operations in this thread.
Ed: .... You are welcome. Your coal mine scene is awesome.
Kevin .... You are welcome, too. Your S&G hoppers look great.
Bear ... Thsnks for sharing a beautiful picture.
riogrande5761 ...... Very nice D&RGW train. Thanks for posting it.
Rich .... Thanks for your kind remarks.
JohnNWBW ..... Thanks for explaining your coal operations.
David North Brit. .... Yes, most layouts represent a certain era.
kassakaboose .... Thanks for commenting about the photos.
TF ..... Thanks for your comments and for the photos. Actually, I also have an ore train. It runs from my staging yard to the steel mill.
Rick ..... Thanks for the very nice photo of the PRR coal train with a 2-10-2.
Last Spike Mike ..... I agree N Scale is good for long unit trains.
One of my favorites, a Pennsy N1s 2-10-2 hauling coal to one of the ports on Lake Erie that will be shipped by boat to somewhere on the upper great lakes. On the return trio these cars will be loaded with iron ore for the blast furnaces in Pittsburgh.
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Thanks.
Good morning
Well I've said it before but I'll say it again. Beautiful modeling on your layout Garry! You too Ed! It was fun looking over the coal mining operations on your layouts over coffee this morning.
It was a toss-up for me to decide whether to model coal or ore on my layout since both are prevalent to the area up here. The satellites from space that discovered huge deposits of coal near the Powder River Basin area in Montana shifted coal mining operations into high gear a while back.
Driving across the plains in North Dakota to go visit my son I've seen very long coal drags with lead locomotives, a center and a pusher. You can see the whole train from some focal points driving down the highway as Judy would smack me on the arm as I was bouncing off the shoulder of the road watching
BNSF doesn't like to add radius dragging coal. They charge right through the middle of the small lakes to keep going straight. Too bad a train wasn't on the mound while I took the picture.
The decision I made was to model ore. Since Duluth was in-between the two places I grew up in St Louis Park and then Voyageurs National Park, the ore modeling won the debate. DMIR, DWP, GN, then BN, Green Machines
Not a huge difference between modeling coal or modeling ore. Just a lot of smaller Bins hauling a lot of weight down the rails
P.S. There's the Bear's Viaduct again
Great photos! Hard to tell of the scene is reality or a model.
I have a coal effort on my layout. Fun fact: about 70% of train operation in VA is coal. Let's see how that changes.
BEAUSABRE Enjoy it while you can. Coal is going the way of the Dodo -
Enjoy it while you can. Coal is going the way of the Dodo -
If one is modeling a railroad of a time when coal trains run, then coal trains will run.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
John-NYBW Coal might be in decline but until there is an alternative means of producing the energy we get from coal, it's going to keep getting mined and moved by rail. That day is a long way off. I don't expect to see it in my lifetime.
Coal might be in decline but until there is an alternative means of producing the energy we get from coal, it's going to keep getting mined and moved by rail. That day is a long way off. I don't expect to see it in my lifetime.
Yep. This push for electric cars will, ironically, increase the demand for coal needed to make the electricity.
Rick
John-NYBW My own coal operations are quite simple. I didn't have space for either a coal mine or a coal consuming industry, other than two coaling towers. I have matching sets of coal hoppers, one for empties and one for loads. 15 cars per train (HO). My schematic is loop-to-loop but I have bypass tracks for the coal trains so they are running on an oval in opposite directions. Loads in one direction, empties in the other. I run my coal trains as extras so whenever I feel like it, I can send a coal train onto the visible part of the layout.
My own coal operations are quite simple. I didn't have space for either a coal mine or a coal consuming industry, other than two coaling towers. I have matching sets of coal hoppers, one for empties and one for loads. 15 cars per train (HO). My schematic is loop-to-loop but I have bypass tracks for the coal trains so they are running on an oval in opposite directions. Loads in one direction, empties in the other. I run my coal trains as extras so whenever I feel like it, I can send a coal train onto the visible part of the layout.
Rich
Alton Junction
BEAUSABRE Enjoy it while you can. Coal is going the way of the Dodo
Enjoy it while you can. Coal is going the way of the Dodo
Great photo sequence, Garry.
What a great way to show operations on a layout.
SeeYou190 I feel honored to be sharing a thread with Garry and Ed.
I feel honored to be sharing a thread with Garry and Ed.
(Just kidding JaBear)
BEAUSABREEnjoy it while you can. Coal is going the way of the Dodo
You'll indulge us then as we enjoy a bit of nostagia.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Enjoy it while you can. Coal is going the way of the Dodo - there was an article on the decline of the Powder River Basin in Trains in the past coupla months. Stored locos and cars that may never roll again, UP ripping up tracks laid down a decade ago for traffic volumes that never came. This is serious stuff, it's no coinkydink that railroads started as a way to efficiently move coal and other bulk commodities from point A to B and bulk traffic remained the backbone ever since. One hundred car trains of one commodity - what's been described as "wholesale" transportation. Trucks took away the far more lucrative "retail" traffic - what used to be LCL is now LTL. What, if anything is going to replace coal is a really big question - we may well see rail fading into a even lower percentage of the transporartion business without it.
To be less gloomy, IIRC, CB&Q used 2-10-2's and the its fleet of 2-10-4's to haul the Illinois coal back in the day. Always liked the looks of its Baldwin built class M-4 and M-4A Colorado types,
https://steamlocomotive.com/whyte/2-10-4/USA/photos/cbq6313-navari.jpg
https://steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=USA&wheel=2-10-4&railroad=cbq
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Heartland Division CB&QIf you would like to add pictures of hauling coal on your layout, feel free to do that.
Here is a picture of a string of STRATTON AND GILLETTE coal hoppers running on the beach route.
Thank you for starting this thread Garry. I really enjoyed the "train chasing" presentation of your pictures. I hope to see lots of pictures of trains hauling coal.
Thanks for starting a coal-hauling thread, Garry
Here's an overview of my company houses and the screening and washing house:
IMG_7349_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
IMG_7345_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
The CB&Q hauled coal originating in the southern Illionis coal fields. I am trying to simulate some of those coal operations.
These photos show coal being handled on my Heartland Division of CB&Q (fictional division) . My trains haul coal from the mines to the steel mill and to the power house in the city. Also, some industries receive single carloads of coal.
Hoppers switched at the mine by a GP7:
Train with two SD9's leaving the mines.
Coal train moving down the line.
Rolling through the country.
Arriving in the City of Heartland.
Baldwin switcher moving hoppers at the power plant.
Another pair of SD's is picking up empty hoppers at the steel mill.
If you would like to add pictures of hauling coal on your layout, feel free to do that.