"Most realistic" coal?

I went to the local pet store & got some aquarium gravel (black) 5 lb. bags, looks great. They had smaller bags also, makes great loads also.

AL

The problem with those types of loads is the excessive weight. You pull lots of coal hoppers and your pulling too much weight.

Rob

Depends on the type of coal, where it was mined, how "old" it is.  Some coals are bluish black and some brownish.  Bituminous is shiny when freshly fractured but weathers quickly to a duller/flat finish.  Size of the pieces have as much to do with the mining process and whether it's been crushed (and by how much) for transport or for it's intended use.  An open pit mine might have chunks the size of beach balls while an underground mine with blasting and/or "chewing" cutters might top out at the size of tennis balls.

What works best for me is reproductions of Lionel Postwar coal.  

In my opinion, both Scenic Express and Brennan's Model Railroading have the best looking realistic "loose" coal on the market. I have also used REAL coal, after smashing the lumps with a hammer, as it makes pretty realistic "mine run" coal for tenders.

As far as "loads" for open top hoppers & gondolas, the best "loads" on the market are from St Charles Model Works ( www.scmodelworks.com ).

We (Fort Pitt High Railers) used a Body shop sand blasting product, Black Beauty.


We cut templates from Masonite for each hopper then applied a very thick layer of Locktite PL construction adhesive. After de-gassing the adhesive, we applied the black beauty.  We then sprayed the coal load with Krylon Gloss Black (51601).

I have the real deal: Famous Reading Anthracite Coal direct from the Reading Coal Mines in PA. It comes in 5 scale sizes.

Dave Z who gets on here somethinmes sells some great stuff - real coal but graded according to type and scale

REAL bituminous coal; Sieved (I suggest a #150 screen).

Just my $0.02

Gilly

You could always just go out to the pile......

Snapped at PPL Brunner Island, Feb 2010.  Couldn't resist an off-hand shot of the test car.  A small portion of the stockpile is in the background.

JZ

I'm the distributor for the Famous Reading Anthracite Coal that Dave is producing.

Hi All

I use Dave Z coal its really very good

Real coal would be best if you have access to some. If your going to the petstore you might as well get activated charcoal instead of black gravel. It is washed clean and looks more like coal than black gravel. It is also very lightweight.

This is creosote from the chimney for my wood burning stove.  Easy to pulverize and light weight. Looks just like real coal. [Not to mention, its free!]

Tom

Anthracite is harder stuff and probably a bit better for the use.  It's as real as bituminous coal.

I agree. Bituminous vs Anthracite is just a regional preference. Plus I have ready access to bituminous at our coal boiler at work.

Gilly

I ate at a Coal Fired Pizza restaurant and asked about the bags of coal.  The manager told me they sell 40 lb bags for cheap.  All you would need is a hammer and a sieve.

it probably helps that you're from a state which borders PA or WV.   50 lbs of good coal usually sells for about $12-$15 on the east coast, but shipping to CA can easily triple that price.

Well, if you were shipping it to CA, probably best to simply crush it here and ship less of the finished product.

My state doesn't actually border PA, but the coal is cheap.  My state is PA!

hey, i had a Wilkes-Barre zip code for four years myself (about 40 years ago now).  too bad i couldn't see far enough into the future to predict my current situation.  i'm about six months away from needing ~50 lbs/ weekend...

cheers...gary

No coal fired power plants in CA?   What's that little gem going into?

i have heard that west coast coal fired power plants use Utah coal,

... horrible stuff for live steamers, high in sulfur content and impurities.

for a small quantity of really nice hard coal, you might try checking the Discover Live Steam site.  some guys in NJ are selling 22lb boxes (as much as can fit in a USPS large flat rate box) of Welsh coal.  it is 'pea' size, which is a bit large for O scale, but breaking coal, which is rather fragile by nature, into smaller pieces is easy.

 I just used Ballast and spray painted it matte black. Once it is dry, I go back and dot it randomly with a glossy black paint pen. This gives it a dull and shiny appearance. 

A large flat rate box will do a lot of coal cars and tenders!