I was in Petsmart the other day buying aquarium supplies the other day and I noticed they sell large jars of activated carbon for use in filters. The stuff is pretty light and might make a halfway decent coal load if it were crushed up a bit more. Has anbody tried this?
I did that back in the 90’s. It worked out pretty good.
I’m sure it would look fine and absorb odors the same time. [swg]
I raise tropical fish in addition to model railroading, but I would never use activated carbon in that fashion. The black residue that comes off of activated carbon would just lead to a potential mess.
Rich
Yes, but coal dust is not clean either…
sfb
I have a bottle of that Petco stuff I’ll let you know
Like Jeffrey, I’ve used the stuff without any difficulties. I was in a model railroad store in Billings the other day and the owner was selling “real Montana” coal that had been ground up to what appeared to be HO scale. Picked up a package but haven’t used it yet. I also picked up some coal from the tender of a Shay while visiting Cass West Virginia but haven’t had the courage to grind it up…it makes a nice memento of that day.
Wayne