No coal in Oregon ...

Oregon has no abandoned coal mines to climb around?  I know it has gold mines on

the Rogue River, for I got good and lost in the Siskiyou...

A few lumps can usually be found along any line that has been around since the steam era. Another option is activated charcoal for aquarium filters.

I just threw away about 15lbs of coffee grain sized activated carbon from the water filters at work. I thought about using it on the layout but after I got sprayed with a leaky filter canister I wasn't in the best of moods to want to keep it.

Jerry

eBay has anthracite or bituminous for about $10 a pound shipped.

Petco pet stores, aquarium charcoal filter material.  Russ

http://www.petco.com/product/1...CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

Look at the second picture.

You may want to look at blasting medium, here is a link to one at a common store.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?urlRequestType=Base&catalogId=10051&storeId=10151&productId=14286&langId=-1&errorViewName=ProductDisplayErrorView&categoryId=&parent_category_rn=&top_category=&urlLangId=&cm_vc=-10005

They come in many sizes, and is inexpensive.  it is coal.

Rich

There’s one coal-fired power plant in Oregon, the 500 MW plant in Boardman, which is still operating and receiving coal from Wyoming by rail.  I take it you are nowhere near there or the railroad route that serves it?

Bill

I'm hearing I should check out the BNSF line over in Vancouver where the coal trains to the power plant north of there  go through.  And thanks to the offers to obtain some!  If I strike out I'll be asking for sure.   Great forum; many helpful folks!

I think the "Mean Greenies" have been using any available chunk of coal to replace their hearts, so that might have something to do with the unavailability of coal in your local Kerrigan.

One of the mine kits I have built is of a small mine out on the Illinois prairie, which is

not what I expect a coal mine.  I understand coal is common in the geology.  I am wondering if there aren't, or weren't, coal mines in Oregon.

try scenic express or see if you can find someone with extra roofing granules

I have real anthracite coal in 5 scale sizes direct from the Reading Coal mines in PA.

You may want to look at blasting medium, here is a link to one at a common store.

 

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?urlRequestType=Base&catalogId=10051&storeId=10151&productId=14286&langId=-1&errorViewName=ProductDisplayErrorView&categoryId=&parent_category_rn=&top_category=&urlLangId=&cm_vc=-10005

 

They come in many sizes, and is inexpensive.  it is coal.

Advert calls it coal slag. What is that?

That is coal considered too small in chunk size for burning in most applications.

In Northwest Colorado we used to spread it like sand on highways for winter traction.

Being black on the snow, it helped melt off as well.

Beats heck out of the salt they use here in New England. Salt makes the cars RUST.

Slag is the by product of the smelting process that contains the unwanted contaminants. The exact composition of "slag" varies depending on what metal is being refined and what process is being used. Limestone is used in steel production as a flux which combines with things like sulfer and phosphorous, and then floats to the surface of the charge where it is skimmed off.

I grew up in Michigan when iron and steel was still in production there and many roads were made with slag, commonly referred to as "cinders". This stuff is not friendly to either feet or tires, especially large chunks of it- it is like bubbly asteroids with extremely jagged surfaces. I had never heard of slag being used for blasting medium, but I think it would be a good, aggressive abrasive.  This material was also used to make lightweight cement blocks because it contains a lot of air pockets- kind of like pumice. This is where the term "cinder block" comes from. I suspect the product that Russel is thinking of is actually post combustion cinders from coal power plants, or possibly "shaley" coal , that is shale that is not quite coal, layers of which can be found adjacent to usable coal seams. Coal can be used in any size, a lot of modern power plants actually use powdered coal and "spray" it into the combustion chamber.

Here's a link to what coal slag is:

Coal Slag

Jerry

Try this:

http://activerain.com/blogsvie...ines-who-da-thunk-it-

(I hope that link came out right. If it didn't, I promise to figure it out next time.)

Illinois has a BIG coal mining industry and a long history. Unfortunately, all a lot of people can think about are Cherry Mine and Centralia, but there's a colorful history involved.

--Becky

Grainger has coal slag available as a blasting medium.  It's is a lot heavier than coal.