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Post by cf7 on Mar 13, 2024 6:49:41 GMT -8
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Post by Baikal on Mar 13, 2024 8:26:33 GMT -8
Coal was certainly unloaded from rail car (gondola, boxcar, hopper, other) by laborers with shovels. Very common in the past.
Then probably loaded into small steam loco tender or coal bin by shovel.
Less likely coal was re-loaded loose into other cars (again with the shovels). I don't see any bags or baskets for low-vol users though.
Backside fence prevents loading into highway vehicles, indicating the platform was rail-in, rail-out only.
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Post by cf7 on Mar 13, 2024 10:50:30 GMT -8
Thanks so much for the explanation. If I take down or modify the fence, would that open it up for trucks to load up on coal?
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Post by edwardsutorik on Mar 13, 2024 11:05:40 GMT -8
My thought is that it's a coaling platform for steam locomotives. Well, locomotive, as there isn't much room on the deck.
And I expect the coal would be brought in by gondola and transferred either by crane or by hand. I don't see the point of the little building, as no one would be spending much time there. The light on the pole could be useful, though.
I don't see how it could ever be a commercial coal dealer, as it is very small.
I suspect the ideal height of the deck would be "top of tender". And it looks a little low for that.
Ed
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Post by crblue on Mar 13, 2024 11:12:45 GMT -8
Maybe they had one of these  |
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Post by cf7 on Mar 13, 2024 11:56:23 GMT -8
Thanks Ed! I’m thinking I’ll keep looking at other small coal facilities. I’m modeling mostly 50’s era, very small town USA and would like something to unload a single hopper at a time. The Tyco piece is a bit more current than what I want!
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Post by Christian on Mar 13, 2024 12:25:00 GMT -8
I’m modeling mostly 50’s era, very small town USA I grew up in those years in a very small town USA. Both local coal dealers had much larger facilities. This is backwoods WWI era. Check the tank locomotive in the photos. You could use this for a purpose other than coal and unload something other sort of freight car. If you set the platform at boxcar door height you could route almost anything to this platform without showing anything on the deck. The office could be understood as having been needed in the past, but no longer. What my local coal dealers had were link belt style unloaders like Walthers sells, along with hopper car sized piles of coal for lump and stoker. And a dump truck. Very compact. One dealer had blue coal. The other had unmarked coal. |
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Post by edwardsutorik on Mar 13, 2024 14:20:43 GMT -8
Thanks Ed! I’m thinking I’ll keep looking at other small coal facilities. I’m modeling mostly 50’s era, very small town USA and would like something to unload a single hopper at a time. The Tyco piece is a bit more current than what I want! I think Christian's Link-Belt loader suggestion is great. Also springing to mind is a dump ramp. It'll probably take more room, though. Here's a short one:  If you search for "coal unloading trestle", you'll find many variants, most of which you can shorten. Ed |
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Post by canrailfan on Mar 13, 2024 17:58:05 GMT -8
Coaling of steam locomotives on branch lines was done manually up to the end of steam. Coal often arrived in boxcars instead of hopper cars. The following link shows how coaling a locomotive was done in Chipman, New Brunswick in the 1950s. (Scroll about 3/4 down the page.) Coaling Dock. Chipman, New Brunswick(The coal would have to be delivered in boxcars for this set-up to work. I don't see any other way to load the buckets.) |
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