Coaling station -- what does it do, exactly?

In rereading my message, I should add that I realize that the 6-16874 isn't operational, and doesn't actually dump coal. Perhaps I didn't make that clear.
Bob A.

I don't know about the toy versions but real coaling stations were usually fed coal by some type of conveyor. Usually a bucket brigade type device where coal was scooped up and them dumped into a large storage area for gravity feed to tenders.

Coaling Tower, fills tenders


Coaling Station, associated with a mine, fills coal cars. It would typically be fed by an enclosed conveyor.

Hi Bob

Not sure what the prototype for this building is but I can see it being used for two applications.

First as a coal loading facility at a mine or mine transfer facility. The building would be placed by a hillside with thrack below. Coal would be fed to the top of the building from a mine via ore jennies or a dump truck. The coal would be dumped into a bin on the structures upper level and the loaded into waiting Hopper via a shute under the building extension over the track. On the right is a opening that looks like it could be also used to load a coal truck as well.

Second the building could be used as a retail coal dealer. This could be on a siding on your railroad. Coal would be brought in on a loaded hopper and dumped into a pit within the tracks under the structure. Coal is raised to the top by means of an elevator within the building and dumped into a bin in the upper level. The coal might be loaded into a truck in the opening to the right which would also be a scale to weigh out the truck.

The building has extensions , windows and doors to simulate housings for the associated machinery and an offic. Adding some catwalks ,signs , exterior lights and weathering can make you a realistic scene.

Hope this helps.

Bob,

I, too, have the Coaling Station. There are 3 versions differing only in paint schemes. Two tracks will be used for my coaling station - one to either side of the "stilts". It will be used to "fill" hoppers.

I plan to add a covered conveyer housing that will descend from the mountain to the coaling station. With the appropriate weathering, I think it will look OK.

Originally, I was looking at the K & P coal mine set for this spot, but it takes up too much real estate.

If you want to see what these conveyor housings look like, search the OGR advertising. Both K&P and BTS advertisements feature photographs (or used to).

George

Here are some pics to show the other side of this accessory:

CandO - Thanks especially for the backside picture; I hadn't seen that view. It shows that a covered conveyer is sort-of built in to the structure, making it more complete.

Thanks to others for your helpful information.

I still can't believe how high the portion over the tracks is. That's a long way for the coal to fall; perhaps we can imagine that there are shutes that pop down closer to the car...
Bob A

Keith

That is a nice looking Coal Truck in your photo. Can you tell us who makes this truck?

thanks

quote:

Originally posted by CandO:
Here are some pics to show the other side of this accessory:

can you give us or tell us where i can find the deminsions of this strucutre i plan to include one in my layout build as well. looks much better in person than in the catalog

You're welcome Bob. I thought the other views would be of interest to some.

quote:

Originally posted by LIRR Steamer:
Keith

That is a nice looking Coal Truck in your photo. Can you tell us who makes this truck?

thanks

Thanks. It is an International Harvester KB-8 Dump Truck made by SpecCast.

quote:

Originally posted by jeremy ferrell:
can you give us or tell us where i can find the deminsions of this strucutre i plan to include one in my layout build as well. looks much better in person than in the catalog

Sure...I'll take and post the dimensions tomorrow.

I have the model in front of me right now. The width is 12 1/2 inches with the opening under the "stilts" 2 1/2 inches wide by 6 1/4 high. Total hight is 10 inches. The foot print depth is 7 inches plus the overhang of 2 1/2 inches for a total of 9 1/2 inches looking straight down on the plan view. The brick part of the building is 6 1/4 wide x 3 1/2 deep x 6 1/4 high.

The platform and shed are 7 3/4 wide x 6 1/2 deep x 2 high (platform) 5 high (shed) and as you can see the platform wraps around the brick building. The shed is 3/4 inches off the building and THERE ARE BUILT-IN RAILS on the platform that are 3/8ths wide in a "T" formation with a mini turntable at the T intersection. This appears to be for a coal cart. The enclosed "convayer" goes from the shed into the top floor of the building.(although there is no opening in the building wall).

Interestingly, there are projections and holes in the floor of this second story floor that look like they were made for some future animating of the building. Of particular interest is the 1/4 x 1/4 inch hole directly above and in the middel of the "stilt" area opening. A direct hit to the train Hopper or coal car or truck parked below.

This is a very substantial building and I have used one for kit bashing as well as built "stock". It would be very easy to add an additional enclosed convayer like the Walther # 3518 HO cinvayer kit, or a coal cart tressle from an adjoining mounten mine. The roof could easily be REMOVABLE to fill with coal and a "dumping mechanism" installed to make it an "operating accessory". Adding lights would also be easy.

Paul Goodness

I almost forgot to mention that in O GAUGE RAILROADING Run 247 & 248 Jim Policastro wrote an article for "a small railroad you can build - part 1 & 2". In this "Reading Central Railroad's Doorway to the Northeast" and "Completing the Reading Central Railroad" there are photographs of a modified Backman #45979 Coaling Tower with the enclosed conveyer going directly from the mountain mine into the coaling tower.

That Jim Policastro is such a clever boy!

Paul Goodness

quote:

Originally posted by paul goodness:
Interestingly, there are projections and holes in the floor of this second story floor that look like they were made for some future animating of the building. Of particular interest is the 1/4 x 1/4 inch hole directly above and in the middel of the "stilt" area opening. A direct hit to the train Hopper or coal car or truck parked below.

Paul Goodness

When this already built version came out, I posted my above photos. Another forum member mentioned that one of the kit versions, from years ago, came with some type of chute to load coal into hoppers.
It would be neat to make this operational.

The original 1970's version of this building had a chute to dump coal into hoppers. To open the chute, you pulled a plastic tab that stuck out the back. To load the plastic coal, you took the roof off. It was fully manual, but charmingly so.

I wonder why they stopped making the chute. Maybe some locomotives were hitting and breaking them.

When I get time this Winter, I'm going to try and make a chute for mine. As Paul said, it has the opening for it. Also the upper roof is not attached...it just rests on the structure.

Seaboard99, Wow, I sure would like to see that shoot mechanism! I bought my Lionel # 12904 kits back in 1998 @ Charles Ro for $25.95 and in 1999 from Island Trains for $14.00. Neither has the shoot mechanism.

Did the "shoot" project down from the floor hole? Or did the coal just fall from the hole without any directing piece? There is no slot for a lever in the back wall of my kits but there is a slit next to the floor hole.

I assume there were "breakers" and size screans in the top floor structure but I wonder what the use of the cantilevered dormer over the front door was used for? What would have been in there? Given the location of the windows to the left of the front door, I think that there were stairs going up the left side of the brick building to the breaker area above.

I am surprised at the small size of the coal bucket tracks and small shed. It does not look like there would be enough VOLUME of coal to supply the breakers. Adding another conveyor from the mine directly to the top floor would look like it could supply the breakers.

Interesting discussion.

Paul Goodness

quote:

Originally posted by CandO:
You're welcome Bob. I thought the other views would be of interest to some.

quote:

Originally posted by LIRR Steamer:
Keith

That is a nice looking Coal Truck in your photo. Can you tell us who makes this truck?

thanks

Thanks. It is an International Harvester KB-8 Dump Truck made by SpecCast.

When I was a kid in SW Philadelphia some of our neighbors who had their coal delivered would get it from trucks like this. But, there was a very big difference in the tail gate assembly. It did not swing out like the above, what it had was a door in the center that was about 24 inches square that had a levered handel on it that caused the door to lift up in channels on each side.

The driver would pull up to a house, that had windows about three feet by two feet in the front. They would raise the bed as shown and then run steel chutes from the base of the 24 in gate through the open window. When the driver would pull down on the gate lever it would force the drop door open in the up position and gravity would do it's thing pushing the coal down the chute and into the coal bin in the customers basement, right on the floor.
The noise was tremendous, I can remember that sound like it was yesterday. You would be forced wake in the morning even if the delivery was a block away. You can say it was one of the city sounds I leaned to love growing up. That rumble always ment someone was going to be warm tonight and the winter snows are not far off.

The company was named Rayson Coal and their terminal was located at 57th and Woodland avenue. I think they are called Rayson steel now at the same location.They deal inn scrap. It has been many years since I have been past there.

I don't know of anyone who heats their homes or businesses with coal any longer. All of the homes in my old neighborhood have long since converted to natural gas or oil.

My friend had coal up until we where in our teens. I use to love to help shovel it into the heater. Mikes father, also named Mike would always correct me for putting tomuch in. "What do ya think your doing running a steam engine, kid?" he would say. Then close the lesson with," your going to cook us out of here"!

One of those memories that must be lived to be appreciated.

quote:

One of those memories that must be lived to be appreciated.

Thanks for the memories. I remember sitting up with my mom watching old movies on the late show as she kept watch over the furnace during those bitter Pennsylvania winters.

I, too, am looking for a good coal dump truck for my "things I like" layout. This may fill the bill.

Hey Guys,
They make these trucks with various railroad heralds. In the Anthracite region the building that loads the coal hopper cars (not tenders) is called a Breaker. Unprocessed coal is loaded into the breaker via various conveyor systems. A very large heavy round drum spins inside the building and breaks the coal down to smaller pieces. These pieces are then sorted by a screen system into various bins by the conveyor system, such as nut, rice, etc. In the past, hopper cars were loaded under the breaker. In recent operations, they are now loaded off a large stock piles via a front end loader. You can make either kit work as a "breaker", since you can have both small breakers and very large complex breakers. The best model I have ever seen of an Anthracite breaker was mentioned earlier and it is make by K&P out of York PA. It's very accurate to the real thing. I still heat part of my home with rice coal. It sure beats the price of heating oil these days.

incorporate a#97 coal loader elevator into the kit works wonderfully!!!!!

I picked up a twin for that IH dumptruck at York, as I had recently discovered this

Spec Cast offering (there are White as well as IH versions, too) and today a stake

bed IH came in that I wanted to haul "sugar beets".  I will repaint both plus a Matchbox 1932 Diamond T stake bed also acquired at York, but will try priming, as have had to redo some, not necessarily Spec Cast,  lately in repaints.

Trucks like this used to deliver coal directly from Kentucky mines to our old green garage's coal bin.  We, as kids, used to have a chore of going out with a scuttle

and a sledge hammer and breaking up enough to fill it and carry it back in to fuel

kitchen and sitting room stoves. 

My mother converted to "city" water and gas at the same time, so no more pumping the well out back, cold trips to the johnny house, which we soon tore down and filled

in, or coal deliveries.  I remember how disappointed the truck driver was to lose a

coal customer.  Us kids did not miss lugging coal buckets, the cold privy, nor snails pumped up from the well, and I doubt if our mother did, either.

I thought I would show you my version of that coaling station. Many moons ago it was either in OGR or CTT that they showed how to kitbash this factory out of the Lionel coaling station kit. It now has become my small time cheese factory!

FYI,

The tracks that are molded into this structure are a pefect fit for N gauge coal hoppers.  It does add a little realism to the building.

 

Paul Edgar

Golden Gate Depot version of coaling tower with "Dump House" on the right hand track where the coal is dumped [released] into the pit and chain/bucket conveyed up to the top for gravity feed down to load tenders. Fuzzy photo is a couple of years old. These Service Yard structures have all been removed for working the corner behind it.

Weathering of coal, water & sand towers by Harry Hieke,diesel fuel tower built by Joe Fauty @ Model Structures. Cornerstone Switch Tower. Ash Dump Tower by David Duhamel not shown.

I have this kit as built by one of the better builders on the forum (Sorry, for the moment I can't recall who)

I'll be using it a part of the Coal Mine on my layout.

On the real mine I'm emulating, the chutes are canvas tubes so the trucks can run under them and be filled with very little spillage.

And since it's canvas, hitting it with projections will just push it aside with no damage to anything

I think I'll add that to my building as it seems a very practical method.

It's in HO scale, but gives you an idea of a facility that would load hoppers.

 

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3017

if anyone has any information on this 97 coal elevator with the marbleized tray and base,please e-mail me with your answers at rpenepent1@roadrunner.com, Thanks, Ray

Here is a picture of a coaling station that is dumped into by sending hopper cars up a ramp to empty there load down into the station.