Coaling Towers

Coal was dumped from hopper cars below into a pit and then carried to the top of the coal tower in a bucket via elevator.

Here are some pics I snapped of the Pennsy's tower at Renovo...

The Plasticville tower depicts an enclosed elevator shaft...

Usually, there is some sort of conveyer belt. Other arrangements had the coal dumped on an elevated track above the track where the engines would be serviced, the coal would then be released when needed with the assistance of gravity.

 Tom

Here is a vintage shot of an elevated track which would carry the hoppers up so that the coal can be gravity fed to the locomotives.

 Tom 

Looks like that Renovo, Pa. one is being preserved!  Wonder if there are others around

the country that are also being preserved, or, at least, survive?....so much is gone....

What type of roof is that?

Concrete covered with a tar like substance?

A roll or shingle type covering?

Thanks!

I really like the Northern  pacific 450 ton coaling towers... they just winched the gondola to the top!

A smaller narrow-gauge version still stands on the East Broad Top in Orbisonia, PA, south of the shops. Trains pass it when they go around the wye and head forward through the yard to the station. The loading track comes from the south. A hopper car or two were pushed up and dumped into two bins. Two chutes filled tenders by gravity. Once I was there when the coal didn't flow, and the fireman had to shove it along with shovels.

The retaining wall made of logs has given way, but last I saw the concrete bins, metal chutes, and the shed on top were still there.

Believe it or not, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western had a similar structure in the yards at Scranton, PA. Hopper cars were pushed to the top and dumped into bins. Tenders were loaded by gravity. A ramp to the Steamtown Mall stands on the incline. One could assume that the DL&W would have built a huge concrete coaling tower there, but this design was simple and efficient.

Does anyone make a kit like the Pennsy Tower?

When did they start using concrete towers?

Photo of Overland model of a 500 ton PRR coaling tower.

Note the outside hoist mechanisim.

As of about 2 years ago the PRR concrete tower servicing Wilmington, Delaware, was still standing but no effort was being made to preserve it to my knowledge.

Not exactly what you were looking for, but Lionel offers a concrete coaling tower.

Stock number 6-37912  found in the 2013 catalog.

http://www.lionel.com/products/coaling-tower-6-37912 

 Speaking of Renovo...The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society's quarterly  magazine, The Keystone, had a nice 30+ page article on the waning days of Renovo as a railroad town. The article appeared in Vol. 48, No. 2 (Summer 2015). Authored by 3 former Pennsy Assistant Master Mechanics, they do a great job discussing what Renovo was like over the years.

Tom

As for the Lionel concrete elevator in the above post, you can still find those at many dealers or on eBay...and possibly in the OGR classifieds or simply put an ad in the "want to buy" on this website.

As for concrete coal towers, the Santa Fe built one in Cushing OK and the MKT had one in Bartlesville OK.  Both still standing.  (source

http://www.altamontpress.com/d....php?1,115752,115779 

I was told there is still a standing concrete tower similar to the Cushing tower standing in Skedee OK.  (not certain about that one)

Hope that helps...

PS:  I am not certain, but I believe I was told the Cushing coaling tower was never used or if it was, it was abandoned within a few short years as the Santa Fe dieselized the entire area about the time of the tower's construction. 

Some forum members referred me to this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Model-Ra...minals/dp/0890244146

It is excellent with explanations, history, pictures, and diagrams.

This Coal Tower was still standing, but not in service when I did an Engineer for a Day program on the Nevada Northern, in Ely, NV in 2007

This how they were actually coaling the locomotives, that is the #40, that I ran that day, as well as the SD9 204

I knew, I had a better pic of coaling #40

Doug

Somewhere in far western Michigan or northern Indiana, very near Lake Michigan, there is an old concrete coal tower still straddling an active double track mainline that I think used to be either NYC or PRR.  Noticed it while visiting a casino in one of two locations, but don't remember which.  Of course, the siding used to deliver coal to the elevator is long gone.

Chuck

How hard would this be to scratch build? 

Here is a picture of abandoned cement coaling tower located in Macon, Georgia.  I took this picture when working Robins AFB in 2009-2010.  Would be a good type to model and add the details, equipment as pictured.

Two of my O scale compatriots have scratch built PRR coaling towers for their layouts. At least one is an accurate full scale model of the Enola coaling tower. Not sure about the other, but it may model Enola also. Both are works of art. One of the fellows has probably 100 or more hours in his with operating chute mechanisms, etc.

One of the fellows layouts was featured in a 2 rail magazine within the last several years.

I'm guessing these were the inspiration for the Lionel 456 coal ramp......

The Reading had sidings - usually level - where hoppers were dumped into bins or on the ground. One is modeled on The Choo-Choo Barn at Strasburg. Another is located at Wanamakers, PA, on the Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern. Now and then one passes on the Amtrak Keystone Service route between Harrisburg and 30th Street Station, Philly. Also on SEPTA routes.

I see a resemblance to a 456 Coal Ramp there.

I can come up with five still standing in Michigan, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Durand, Battle Creek, and Mid Northern Michigan, small town, NYC track.  I don't have any pictures, but most of them would be either Grand Trunk or NYC owned.  They're out there if you look.

C&O, Thurmond W.Va:

GGD did a concrete tower years ago, but hard to find.  Lionel did the cylindrical-shaped tower as a kit and a built-up later on.  I actually have a Lionel one showing up any day now.

Renovo's concrete tower was built in the 1930's timeframe - I've never been able to find an actual build date.  I do know it was built Ogle of Chicago - a company that built many coal towers across the country.

GGD proposed doing a concrete tower but it never came to fruition. Another run of the previous GGD wooden coaling tower is expected during 2016.

Somebody offered on the Bay, months ago, a series of built-up wooden coaling towers, of different styles...I did nothing, as I thought most were too large for the short line

I was modeling, but there was variety, and any would have looked good or could have

been detailed and enhanced for a Class 1 model.  I think there was a smaller one that might have worked for me. Did anybody get one of those? They were on for a while,

and then they were gone.

How realistic is this Lionel version?

I think if we go back to the original question of HOW the coal got into the coal tower...

There seems to be several coal towers that are readily available on the market, if you look for them that have the "how" included in the kit itself.

The Lionel "456R coal ramp" is a simple model similar to the Northern Pacific arrangement shown in the prototype photos first shared by MNCW.  The car is positioned on an elevated ramp above a large "funnel" or "chute" and gravity does the rest.  Unless coal is frozen in the hopper or the chute.  Then the junior man on the job site gets the unpleasant and dangerous job of clearing that jam.  Oh the joys of steam era railroading abound.

The simple Bachmann wooden coaling tower lets machinery (chain bucket hoist and/or auger) lift the coal into the storage bin with gravity feed out the chute into the waiting coal tender behind the locomotive.

The basic coal tower in the above photo shows the housing for the "bucket conveyor" or "coal elevator" on the right side of the photo, that square that goes from the ground to the tower.  If you were to correctly model this as a coaling tower, you would have a track that was used to service the tower with incoming coal.  That track would be UNDER the tower and BETWEEN two sets of legs.  There would be a hole in the ground (typically concrete lined with a metal grate for coal to be discharged from the loaded coal hopper positioned directly over grate.  An auger would move the coal over to the hoist or lift or elevator which would then lift the coal into the storage bin overhead.  The coal would fall by gravity when the door to the chute was opened allowing the coal to fall into the carefully positioned tender behind the locomotive on the track below.  Thus your coal tower typically would require two tracks, one for inbound coal hoppers and one for locomotives that need to fill their tenders.

This photo is of a Lionel "concrete" coaling tower:

Shows a couple of sections of track simulating the inbound coal track between the tower legs and the "service" track with the coal chute ready to be dropped to the tender behind the locomotive.

The Lionel "3 piece" concrete tower kit in the photo below:

Shows the coaling tower as in the above structure (the Lionel structure is available as the tower or the 3 piece package) but the 3 piece photo also includes a crew shed as well as the unloading shed so that coal can be unloaded into the auger and underground machinery in "unpleasant" weather.

Pretty much, ALL models, regardless whether they are more detailed or less, will require the same process of inbound hoppers with coal loaded in them, a place to unload the fuel into the machinery that will lift the coal into the storage bin.

 In case anyone is interested GGD(Golden Gate Depot) is making some more of their Ogle coaling towers and are accepting orders.

 This is a great model of a wooden coaling tower that stands 22 inches tall.

Douglas

TrainHead, the structure in your above post is actually intended to be a "coal tipple" where coal would be loaded from a truck (or other means of transportation from a mine not located on the rail itself) and dumped into the coal hopper spotted under the loading spot.  I do not recall seeing a prototype photo of a structure that looked quite like that, but if you like it, use it...

Here's the Lionel tower I reviewed this week; it's a lot taller than I expected.  It really needs to be weathered.

Here are two photos of my coaling facility. Everything is scratch built. Of particular interest is the coal transfer mechanism based upon prototype practice for some prototypes. Hope they help inspire you to build something to suit your own situation

Bob

Bob,

   That looks great. Nice job. I like the auger...is that a drywall screw? Either way, it looks very realistic.

  Tom

Bob,

  Very nice, and prototype in design and detail.. great job!!

Jesse 

It's a piece of wood dowel wrapped with a small diameter piece of solder.

Bob

Flanger, I like that smaller coaling tower.  Somewhere I have a soft-bound Kalmbach

book on coaling towers, but none pictured seemed exactly right.  Putting that auger

in for three rail may get interesting, but that complex really looks nice.

Hi Flanger,

Great job.... I love it! Can you share the plans? Thanks.