The recent thread about this reminded me of something I've been meaning to ask: just how shiny is coal? Since I live in a place where we burn wood, I have have zero experience with coal. I suspect that the harder Eastern stuff would look different from the softer Montana-type variety...?
The "coal loads" in my Lionel tenders and K-line hopper are quite glossy; the load in my Atlas hopper is not hardly shiny at all. Should I "gloss up" that Atlas load?
Mark in Oregon
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I bought a chunk of coal at the Ivy Land gift shop in New Hope PA, It definitely has a shine to it. Of course considering what they charged me for it I hope somebody compound and waxed that thing! 
We burned coal when I was a kid in Kentucky. The coal we got was had a shine to it almost like glass. I got the job of shoveling it through a basement window into the coal bin. Sure miss the smell of burning coal.
Anthracite coal, (hard coal), tends to be shiny when cracked, but can become dull after being exposed to the elements. Bituminous coal, (soft coal) is duller.
I vividly recall home delivery anthracite coal of various sizes and it was shiny coming out of the coal truck IF you ordered the slightly higher priced WASHED coal. I'm not certain but think the various local retail home/business heating coal dealers would perform the "wash" on their stock based on customer orders as opposed to the wash occurring at the breaker. The coal car hopper loads outbound from the local breakers were generally very dirty unless the breaker used water to control the large amount of dust generated during the loading process. You would see an occasional "glint" or shine on a couple of coal chunks that were broken open near the top of the coal car load or if it rained but the loads were mostly dirty.
Coal will have a Luster along one face that can be quite shiny, while the other sides of the hunk of coal will be dull and grimy. Depends on the bedding of the coal deposit.
Steve
Keystone posted:I vividly recall home delivery anthracite coal of various sizes and it was shiny coming out of the coal truck IF you ordered the slightly higher priced WASHED coal. I'm not certain but think the various local retail home/business heating coal dealers would perform the "wash" on their stock based on customer orders as opposed to the wash occurring at the breaker. The coal car hopper loads outbound from the local breakers were generally very dirty unless the breaker used water to control the large amount of dust generated during the loading process. You would see an occasional "glint" or shine on a couple of coal chunks that were broken open near the top of the coal car load or if it rained but the loads were mostly dirty.
Several coal companies coated the coal with a sprayed dye; an example, Blue Coal. This was not only a marketing gimmick, but a means to control dust. I was under the impression that only the top layer was sprayed at the Huber facility in Ashley, but all the coal was sprayed as it made its way along the conveyor. I have a coffee can full of the blue powder dye.
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