Who makes a more realistic coal load?

Chris, I thought the Die cast hoppers from Kline had real coal loads on them already.

By wanting a "more realistic", "better looking" one, not sure what that means.

Real coal doesn't get any better than , well, real coal.

Only thing that changes is type of coal and size. 

Perhaps you mean you like a more finer (smaller chunks) load?

I'd try Hopper Topper in PA.  The guy's e-mail is (or used to be) don195657@yahoo.com.  He was in the Orange Hall last year.

 

- Mike

St Charles Model Works, offers the most realistic hopper car coal loads, as well as gondola loads of scrap wheels & scrap metal.

Don Kane is great. He is usually in the Orange Hall on the East End.  Very good prices and super helpful. He has wonderful iron ore loads for ore cars too.

don195657@yahoo.com

 

Buzz

Not all of the Kline hoppers came with loads. Some of the early offerings did not.

 

Bob thatcher use to offer a real coal load. He has since passed. Not exactly sure where that offering can still be found now.

 

That is correct.  This one has a plastic load.

I offer real Anthracite Coal.

How do you ship that? 

Well....1 hopper at a time...

I use Dennis Brennan's coal.  I spray a light coat of loctite spray adhesive over the crappy plastic coal load that comes with the hopper.  I then poor his coal over it.  I let that dry for a few minutes and tap off the excess.  Then I drizzle a water/elmer's glue mix over the entire load.  Once that dries the bits of coal are surprisingly secure.  I will post pics later if you like.

Chris - This doesn’t really answer your question, but it might help you get there.

 

I have tried Weaver, Lionel and Hopper Topper for the Lionel 6456/6476/6176 hopper.  The Weaver looks OK, but I had to sand it to size using a sanding disc on the table saw (which put off quite an odor).  The Hopper Topper uses real coal I think, but the coal doesn’t have much of a mound.  The Hopper Topper coal pieces are also smaller than the others which you may or may not like.

 

I could not find anything to fit the K-Line 5310/5312 so I made some using foam insulation cut and shaped to size, flat black latex paint and crushed pieces of anthracite applied to the wet paint.

 

I wouldn’t mind seeing the pictures from T4TT as that looks a lot easier and less messy.

I've made several gondola loads just like Lehigh74 does:  Foam, latex paint & coal.  No glue needed.  I can crank them out in about 15-20 minutes.  Hopper loads take longer because of the angles involved.

I use Dennis B's anthracite coal and matte med. glue. Looks fantastic!   

In my opinion Conway Coal makes THE best coal loads.

I agree that the best looking coal loads are the ones you make yourself.

 

I have posted these pictures previously, but that was quite a while ago.

 

 

I like the idea of useing the coal load I have now beacause I won't use it for anything else and I know I'll have the proper fit.   Thanks for all the suggestions guy's. 

 

Thanks Dennis.  I just placed an order.

It may be possible to use the plastic load, but spray it with matte medium and sprinkle some real coal on it. Just an idea, although I haven't tried it. It may be that the coal would have to be relatively fine in size so as not to bulge over the hopper sides, although often the plastic loads rest a bit below the sides so it may not be much of a problem.

That sure sounds like the easiest way to go in your case.  It will look great.

Easy to make yourself with the coal that Dennis Brennan sells

I took gandydancer’s advice and bought a few bags of Conway Coal.  Interesting history and great service.  It looks pretty good on his LVRR drag so I’ll probably use it to redo the loads I made for the Kline hoppers and perhaps the plastic ones I got from Lionel.

Chris

You can make your own load but you can Also:

take the plastic load spread it with white glue and then pour on black ballast or if you can get it black diamond  granules used for sand blasting. I just did a few MTH load last week and they came out great for pennies.

Steve

True for a few cars but, doing close to 80 or 100 cars, I found the St Charles Model Works loads were the easiest and best looking.