Local Coal Deliveries

Greetings Alan

As an ex brit in Canada, I am probably the least qualified to answer, but my solution to the same problem as yours was the Goldenflame Kit from Walthers...

Walthers Goldenflame Kit

Don't know if this is correct, but its certainly what I have used in N

Regards

 

Can be as simple as using composite side drop bottom gondolas, forty footers, or all metal units also usually drop bottom. Off loading was done on a raised spur, often over the top of concrete bunks, open on one side for access by front end loader. Could also be over a closed hopper type bunker with enough room to station a truck underneath for gravity loading, or along side for chute loading. Most of these were found in a small cmpound of a local feul dealer who would also have feul oil tanks.

Simpliest form was nothing more than a raised trestle with a board walkway along the side to access the dump mechanism of the cars with the coal being dumped in a pile below through the trestle ties. Generally it was around 15 feet high to 20 feet, just enough room to get a Farmal tractor with a front bucket or a front end loader under the trestle. Loading into trucks could be as simple by the armstrong method, shovel and a strong back, to using a small conveyor belt rig on wheels that could be positioned where needed to load a truck. Some of these were permanently positioned with a hopper at the low end loaded by the tractor or front end loader.

Car capacity of the trestle section could range from one car to six cars with the average at around two.

Small coal unloader at what used to be Shreve Oil in Falls Church Va had a spur that came off of a section of elevated track into the dealers yard. Since the dealer was located below grade adjacent to the main no trestle, or ramp, was needed on the spur to gain elevation. It then simply ran across a series of concrete walls that formed the bunks, similar to bridge piers, only with a back wall. Capacity was about four-five cars with a short section at the end to hold an empty or two allowing enough room to have a few more cars in the delivery, or allowing six to seven cars to be in the cut and as the first couple were dumped they were shoved past the bunks out on the blind end allowing the remaining cars to be spotted over the bunks.

 

My Grampa and Uncles used to run a little coal company in the 40's, 50s, and 60's, here in Canton, OH. A hopper or two would be delivered to the yard and set over a pit. A conveyor, or giraffe as we kids called it, was set in the pit, and the pile of coal would be loaded into dump trucks for delivery to the homes that still used coal for heat. There was an office building, with attached garage for vehicle maintenance, another garage to store the dump trucks, and of course, the yard with a working conveyor and one or two other conveyors, either as spares or in need of repair.

Having told you this, I am inspired to resurrect the old Ross Coal Co. on my soon to be built N scale layout.

So, many thanks for the question and the inspiration.

 

There was an article in a fairly recent copy of Model Railroaders or Railroad Model Craftsman about a coal dealer in Pennsylvania who is still in business. The article discussed how that business operated, including its inbound rail shipments, during the 1950's and 1960's. The couple of other replies seem to have the general concept correct. Coal was delivered by rail, stored in some piles (possibly in a covered shed) and trucked to homes and other customers. The article also has some good scale drawings.

 

Alan:

The JJJ&E which depicts the 1950's has a coaling facility which is the major industry of the JJJ&E:

Here are some photo's:





















Stay cool and run steam...

[ 19. November 2004, 00:37: Message edited by: Powersteamguy1790 ]

 

Alan, The artical mentioned above is very good and is in the Sept. 2004 issue of Model Railroader!!

 

Don't forget to have several small children picking up the coal that has fallen from the hoppers. We, I mean they, would then take it home to use in the coal-fired, steam boilers in the basement.
Also, many of the homes that received coal deliveries had no access from the street to the basement coal chute. The delivery man had a canvas sack that held 50 to 70 pounds of coal. He'd fill it from the truck, sling it over his shoulder, then walk to the small basement "window" that covered the coal chute and dump it. He made quite a few trips back and forth to the truck, or would make a trip EVERY day to drop off enough to last overnight.

 

Take a look at the "Otis Coal Company"
by Woodland Scenics.
http://www.woodlandscenics.com/
DP.

 

Alan:

I would move the coaling siding about an inch to the left where the siding ends.

That my opinion FWIW..


Stay cool and run steam....

 

Alan, Another choice you have is the Quick's coal co. from Campbells scale models. You can see a picture of it on the Walthers web site, just go to Campbells and scroll to the right kit. I have one on my Milw. Road layout and it is a very nice kit, it also loads the tipple from track level with a cable and bucket system so you don't need any elevated track. It also comes with scale and scale house office building. One thing to mention though, it is a very detailed wooden kit so if you are looking for a fast placement this one will take you some tiome to build. To me it was well worth it!!

 

Alan, thats why I mentioned the Quick's coal, it unloads from track level. Try www.valleymodeltrains.com they should have one in stock, thats where I purchased mine!! It's even a lot cheaper than Walthers.

 

I just love structures! My favorite part of the hobby.

 

I put a "rock wall" casting into an embankment and used a couple of trestles to support the track passing over it.



This is an old Mantua hopper, with operating clamshell doors. There is an actuator on the trestle which opens the doors as the car passes over. The pile of coal below the trestle has a hole in the center, kind of like a volcano, and coal from the hopper drops into a box below the layout.

 

Adding to this now very old thread, below in an image of a small local coal dealer as represented on my layout.



Cut into a hillside, a lightly constructed shed covers both the unloading trestle and the coal bins below. The shed is typical of facilities in more northerly climates, where winter snows could prove a problem with off-loading, or accessing the coal in the bins below.

NYW&B