Coal delivery from train to factory and to local truck delivery

For rail-to-truck coal handling a cheap simple start is the Plasticville Coaling Station.

Lew

The square vertical box structure covers a bucket chain-hoist. The spur should be under the tipple because with the prototype a below-ground hopper would be between the rails to accept coal being dumped from a hopper car. The bottom end of the bucket chain hoist would communicate with this hopper. A dump truck would pull under the chute to receive coal.

Edit: Around $25 on eBay.

Something like this:

Lew

Similar idea as Geysergazer.  Probably not very prototypical but wanted to use my 97 coaling tower. Good luck.

 I have 2 on the layout that load trucks. Both are scratchbuilt and follow no plan. Just built to fit the space. One is just a simple trestle. Using conveyors to load the trucks. The conveyors are HO but have been good enough for 15 years.  I plan at some point to upgrade them. A small office also resides there.

The second one has been on the layout about 6 years. Silos are PVC and the elevator is scratch built from wood. The stairs and chutes are the tedious part. The rest goes together pretty easily. Some ties were removed and a pit was made. You can either load the trucks with the chutes from the silo or use a conveyor. Or just shovel the coal into bags. 

 If you need a conveyor for loading. I picked this up a few years ago from Crow River. Maybe I'll get to building it as this topic reminded me I had it.

Hey I like these ideas so far everyone,  the trestle one is what I wanted to do, but so far have yet to find a good place for that.  More ideas please 

Clem

If you are a Lionel Postwar accessory fan:

Andre Garcia of River Leaf Models made a nice coal dump kit.

 For a small trackside coal dealer. This is a kit from St. Charles Modelworks. Picture was taken off their site. The conveyors have different wheel positions. One pivots to load the bins. The other fills the trucks.

I scratch built loco coal and sand facilities and  Thornton Coal business.

Clem,

  Here's one that seems to have been common in my area of the Hudson Valley and I recall a similar one near Pitcairn Yard in Pennsylvania, too. 

  This is Oak Street off of MacQuestin Parkway in Mt. Vernon, NY.  In this overgrown screen capture from Google Earth, under the green bracket, you can make out bins that would have been used for possibly coal, gravel, sand, etc. The hoppers would be pushed onto a ramp with a open floor to allow the cargo to flow into the bins below. This dates back to the days of the New York Central's Harlem Division. The siding comes directly off the main line. Not far away, the Putnam Division had a similar set-up at Dunwoodie, in Yonkers, NY. 

Once the loads were in the bins they could be loaded onto trucks for local delivery.

Tom 

Dave_C posted:

What an amazing scene!  Beautiful! 

Hey Clem....here is mine from the old layout.

Coal is delivered by hopper car and the coal is dumped into a pit under the coaling tower. Some of the coal is transported up the elevator to the tower and some is transported to the coal sorting bins behind the tower.

Dozers and front end loaders take care of most of the dirty work. The trucks are loaded with conveyors.

The coal from the bins is then loaded into trucks that either serve industries or homes. All trucks get weighed before they enter or leave the coal yard.

Donald

Larger tipple from a drift mine. 

Dave_C posted:

Or just shovel the coal into bags. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the idea; got some simulated bags I wasn't sure how to use. They are a little on the large size. You never know what idea you might get from members photos. And what GREAT photos these are!

jackiejr posted:

Dave_C posted:

Or just shovel the coal into bags. 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for the idea; got some simulated bags I wasn't sure how to use. They are a little on the large size. You never know what idea you might get from members photos. And what GREAT photos these are!

When I was a wee gazer we hauled coal in burlap sacks in the back of our CJ-3 Jeep. The back seat was removable.

Lew

My Grandpa and my Brother digging coal (our land) and putting  it in burlap sacks to go in the back of our Jeep.

Lew

TOO COOL!   Don't know why you wanted to take a picture then, but glad you did. I had no idea folks did this. Thanks Lew.

jackiejr posted:

TOO COOL!   Don't know why you wanted to take a picture then, but glad you did. I had no idea folks did this. Thanks Lew.

I was probably there but my Dad took the pic. I'd have been about 7 at that time (c.1955-1958). That land has since been stripped:

This pic was taken in 1990 during the strip mining of our land in Western Pa. 

Lew

Really good photos everyone.  I really like the below grade trestle type, I just don't now where to do that. So far it looks like the silo type that Dave C. posted is what I'll do. Unless something else comes up

Clem 

In my town I grew up in, Momence, Illinois, BL Tabler & son had a large Lumber, coal, etc.  business built near the Depot. A large building built alongside the road, Railroad Ave., he had his name BL Tablers written on building one could see for miles looking toward his business.

As to coal delivery and how it was loaded onto trucks, an older historian for the town told me that originally he used the coaling station bought from the railroad after they no longer needed it there. With a few conversions were coal trucks could be loaded from opposite side and coal cars dumped as originally designed for railroad use. The tower held the coal used in home heating size and larger sizes were conveyed from under cars to coal piles nearby. This was used until mid 50s until he sold less and less as people were converting to gas heat and tower eventually torn down.

Here's a pic of the original tower and later BL Tabler would build his business around it. Tower is toward left side.  Also one after torn down.  You can see some of the structures of BL Tablers

The Blue Coal Corp facility in Ashley Pa had a section of the breaker that was dedicated to loading trucks. It was called the retail pockets. The trucks would then deliver the coal to the respective customers. Many folks lived in houses that were elevated well above the roads, and coal delivery trucks had scissor lifts that would raise the box, and tilt back. There were dividers in the box that would allow for a portion of the coal to be unloaded if the customer didn't require a full truck. As kids, we loved pushing the coal along the chutes, and then climbing in through the opening under the porch where the coal bin was, and climb on the newly dumped pile. Instead of a door to the cellar, we had boards in a slot that could be removed as the pile got lower. In the early 60's, our coal was about $17.00 a ton. There were mines all around us, and also fan houses to circulate fresh air into the mines. I've heard it said that if you were very quiet, you could hear miners talking under your house. Some intrepid home owners supposedly dug into the mines from their cellars.

JACKIEJR,  who made the black coal dump truck in your fine photos?

POTRZBE posted:

JACKIEJR,  who made the black coal dump truck in your fine photos?

I bought the trucks from NEWRAY. They were sold as tractor trailer combos. Made the dump bed from styrene and removed the fifth wheels from the tractor. The truck with the raised bed I attached a long rivet to simulate a hydraulic actuator. They were cheap enough and were the right time period for my layout. Someday I will get around to detailing the dump beds. Thanks for your compliment.     Although I'm wondering if you are referring to the black truck in DAVE C post?

I built whole coaling operation starting with camouflaging my Lionel coal tower and adding a storage facility and a chute to load my coal delivery fleet of trucks.  Two HO switches with empty and full coal loads go in and out of my mountain coaling operation.

JACKIEJR, it is your coal truck I am fond of.

Someday I want to model this NP coaling tower design.  NP had one in Livingston, MT but I don't think this is a picture of the one there.  But, maybe this will inspire you.  In addition, growing up, we had a granary that was built up against a hill.  A road was graded at an angle on the hill leading to the back of the building.  We used this road to unload grain into the top, and when we needed to get grain out, we would back the truck under the front and just open the chute.  Post what you do eventually make.