Hello everyone. I just recently aquired a N&W Y6b 2-8-8-2 and twelve coal hoppers as well as a caboose. I’ve wanted the loco and cars for a long time but because I’m not a rich man and bills come first I had to save up for it… Anyways, it will be a long time before I buy another train that means as much to me as this one does. I never knew that I could be so in love with a train which as best I can gather is from the late 1950s and which fits in with my transitional layout perfectly. Any other coal hauling fans out there?.
Eastern mountain, heavy steam locomotive coal drags … railroading doesn’t get any cooler than that!
I think the Y6b is the most beautiful beast.
Enjoy your prized railroading possesion!
Does Coke count? If so, I am one- Wheeling and Lake Erie modeler.
if your a N&W fan get yourself a copy of O. Winston Link’s steam steel and stars. lot of Y6 photos .
Yup.
But just being ever so slightly different, my coal haulin’ train is a re-creation of coal trains along the Columbia River in recent years.
There’s a set of BN Bethgons hauled by SD70MAC’s.
And a set of BNSF and BN and assorted Bethgons hauled by SD70ACe’s and ES44AC’s.
But it’s still coal
However.
If I was to do coal in the east “back in the day”, I think I might do the Virginian. So much neat motive power: 2-10-10-2’s, Alleghenys, jack-shaft electrics…
Ed
I have several coal trains that can make up more than one.
BNSF- 18 Bethgon coalporters, and 3 hoppers.
Conrail- 17 3 bay hoppers.
Union Pacific- 16 Bethgon coalporters.
Long coal drag. AHM plastic Berkshire on point.
I could use my Athearn Genesis SD75M’s to pull some coal hoppers lettered for Santa Fe.
Or use some ATHG BNSF SD70ACe’s/ES44DC’s to pull some Bethgon Coalporters.
Not sure if coalporters ever ran on the Surfline though.
My freelanced RR, the Grey Mountain & Dalton RR, hauls anthracite from colliery to (almost) tide water (up the Hudson River from NY Harbor) in the year of 1910. Camelback Consolidations pulling wooden hopper gondolas with helper assistance.
Jim
Well, I have 11 coal hoppers lettered for the STRATTON & GILLETTE. So I guess the railroad must be serving some coal mines somewhere. None of the mines will be on the layout, but coal could pass through or be delivered.
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-Kevin
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It’s hard to live in Atlanta, and not be a coal-hauling fan; we have the Scherer Coal Train going through from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to the plant in Juliet, Georgia. The trains are either BNSF, or Norfolk Southern; this brings alot of variety to railfanning, and they usually run every eight hours in either direction as well.
Do I like coal hauling on my rails?
Sure, I haul it by the trainload for a power plant (like you, though, only a dozen cars at a time). I use “live” loads, so the 12 hoppers and a caboose weigh 100oz., and two or sometimes three steam locomotives are needed to move it up the many grades…
I also have six modelled coal dealerships on the layout, so there are lots of hoppers in mixed freights, too…
…and since my railroads rely almost 100% on steam power, there’s a lot of locomotive coal coming in, too…like this load being shoved up the coaling tower grade to the dumphouse…
Wayne
David!
I counted 28 coal hoppers in that train. Impressive!
I have managed to accumulate more than 30 Canadian Pacific 34’ 2 bay hoppers over the past few years. I haven’t gotten around to tuning them up yet with Kadees and proper weight, but I do look forward to the day when I can run all of them together. That will likely happen on the new club layout after it is built as I have put my own layout construction on hold because of back problems. It’s all I can do to get the groceries out of the car these days, let alone handling sheets of plywood.[|(][banghead][tdn]
Cheers!!
Dave
How about western coal haulers. D&RGW unit coal trains FTW
One of my favorite coal hauling pictures as the PRR used these N1s locomotives to haul iron ore from the ports to the steel mills and coal north to be loaded on the lakers.
Rick Jesionowski
Big fan here! Was a coal mining engineer myself for the last decade in Wyoming, and I model the D&RGW in the transition era, so lots of drop bottom gondolas. Got a few of them with some steam, hopefully this video link shows up:
Love to see the N&W and all those little hoppers too!
How about the most powerful steam locomotive of them all, a C&O H8 2-6-6-6 Alleghenney pulling a longstring of coal hoppers.
I guess that depends on how we define “most powerful”. [:)] The Y6b, because of it’s ability to route high pressure steam to the large front cylinders could start the heaviest train.
My small 14x16 layout is modeled after the Western Maryland Ry in coal country. I have 2 medium sized coal lines located on-line and I can only get away with 10-12 car trains of Stewart 2 bay hoppers and a lot of 2-8-0’s and Russian Decapods. My beautiful Potomacs have been permanently parked due to length.
Coal is always such an interesting thing to model. The cars are pretty cool and it allows for a lot of creativity with mine structures and all.
Roger Huber
Deer Creek Locomotive Works