I’ve got a passel of BN coal gons that need loads. I’m planning making my own. I’ll shape some balsa wood and paint it black. But the coal. What to use?
I am curious what people think is the best “coal”.
Ed
Best coal??? The real stuff. I’ve primarily used Woodland Scenics Mine Run and Lump coal, which - IIRC - is made with real coal. Lump coal is coarser than mine run and looks great in a tender.
Tom
Hi Ed,
A couple of years ago I was strolling through our local Dollar store when I came across some bottles of coarse shiny black ‘gravel’ that was pretty close to HO coal in size. It weighs about the same as a similar sized bottle of sand would so I think it is real rock. I believe it was intended for use in the bottom of dried flower arrangements. There is enough in the two bottles to cover a whole bunch of loads. The best part was that they were only $1.00 per bottle!
I would suggest making your loads out of foam, paint them with black acrylic paint and then glue the ‘coal’ in place. You also might want to glue a big steel nut or a washer into the bottom of the load so you can lift them out with a magnet.
Pardon the dust in the car!
Dave
Coal from balsa. That’s right up there with grinding my own ground foam and forging my own track nails.
How about some aquarium gravel and black spray paint.
I use Arizona Rock & Minerals real coal. I cut a rectangle of 0.040" styrene and make a shape I like atop that with Sculptamold. Then glue the coal atop.
IMG_7550 (2) by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
IMG_7549 (2) by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
I decided to use balsa instead of foam because I figure to use my table and chop saw to cut it to size–something that seems un-fun with foam. It’s a $20 experiment.
Thanks, guys, for the suggestions. If I pull it off, I’ll probably have to replace all my Athearn Bethgon coal loads so that the loads all match. It’s a unit train, after all.
Ed
Paul’s Arizona Rock suggestion came in while I was writing the last post. What’s intriguing about that is that I’ve been meaning to order some more ballast. Might combine the order.
Ed
I “use” to dabble with Aquarium’s ( I had 10 )
I seem to recall there’s a Black sand for the bottom of certain Salt Water Aquarium’s. It come’s in 3 or 4 grit’s, from fine , to course. The course stuff look’s a lot like scale coal.
The only “real” coal load I have made used Woodland Scenics lump coal.
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After a few years the “coal” started to turn gray. I painted is gloss black, all OK.
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I do not think it is real coal.
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-Kevin
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If you use a Keurig coffee maker and use their water filters, cut one open and you will see what looks like shiney coal. It looks the same size as the coal in my HO tenders.
Yeah, real coal can’t be beat for looks, but tends to be somewhat messy as it never all gets stuck down. If the loads won’t be handled much, then it works well.
I tend to have a lot of open loads that are handled. MTs go one way and come back with loads. So ease of use and neatness are top priorities. I use humidfier media, an open cell foam product that is easy to cut and glints a bit like coal naturally, for most of my “loose” open loads. Up close, it’s not as nice looking as real coal, but from 3’ it’s hard to tell the difference.
The gon right behind the K-class in this pic has such a load. Looks pretty good and is also very light.
Even at close range, the effect works pretty well.
I spray the coal loads with satin black paint. I also have some other loads made from the same material, but painted in the appropriate paint. Crushed limestone is painted with flat white, etc. There are some stone loads under the rock bin chutes in the background here, although looks like these ones could use another coat of white paint in this pic. The loads in the gons in front are raw ties, glued up of wood cut to fit glued on top of a rocker block of pink foam so punching one end causes the other end to rise up to get it out more easily,.
For anyone looking for pre-made coal loads made with real coal, I can highly recommend DC Rail and Hobby Depot loads. I’ve met the owner and his wife many times at DC area train shows and there coal loads are excellent. They also made very nice scrap metal loads, ballast loads, limestone etc.
Their website is being rebuilt at present but they are on eBay as well. They make loads for most major brands and are usually willing to make loads for models not on their load inventory list.
For example, I have an E&C gondola but they didn’t have a metal scrap load for that model. The owner went around the train show and bought one so he could make a metal scrap load to fit that gon.
Next time I saw this guy, he had a load for my gon E&C. BTW, I believe Intermountain will be releasing gondolas that were formerly E&C, bonus!
The cars I’ve got are the Intermountain Aero-flo. I couldn’t find anyone admitting to making loads for these cars, and I’m not going to send off money on the hopes that “something” will fit.
So that’s why I’ve arrived at making my own. A side benefit is that, if I want to do coal loads for other models, they’ll all have matching coal. Which seems like a good idea, if the coal is supposedly all from the same bulk loader.
Ed
Ya’ takes yer lumps…
I was thinking you were modeling an earlier era until you mentioned the Aero-flo gon.
Back in the War years you could see sizes from bowling balls to peas:
Hoppers_coal_Williamson-WV-1943 by Edmund, on Flickr
Here’s variety:
Hoppers_loaded by Edmund, on Flickr
(Sorry, best photo I could find at LOC)
I guess with the advent of flood loaders and unit trains the size is pretty much standardized.
I like the way Kadee has their weights attached to the load so they nest way doen in the hopper near the doors but screws to the load near the top. Good design.
I have a bunch of old Tyco/Mantua clamshell hoppers, so I can load and dump coal. I ended up with a jar of Woodland Scenics “cinders” ballast, which is black and very light. On the one hand, it doesn’t add much to the weight of a car, even fully loaded, but on the other hand it doesn’t dump very well because it’s so light.
I have used the Arizona R&M coal in a set of old BB hoppers that are light as feathers.
I quit running “live loads” when I ran it through a closed turnout and dumped a load all over the layout…
But, it made some excellent looking loads, and I glued a layer over the other cars “pre made” loads, making them look much better.
Made mine out of foam, but the wood should work. I just found it easier to shape the foam. I do go along with Dave, as I paint my loads with full strength glossy black latex paint and sprinkle the coal right onto the paint, no gluing necessary. I also put a washer in the foam and use a magnetic pick up tool to take the loads out.
Good luck,
Richard
I use “live” (loose) loads in most of my open cars, and use coke breeze (fine coke used for steelmaking) as coal (it’s not really quite black enough, though)…
…and Black Beauty blasting medium as Anthracite…
I also use the loose coke breeze in my steam locomotive tenders…
Most plastic tenders need to be modified with an actual coal bunker if you’re not satisfied with the usual plastic “coal heap”.
The coke breeze is fairly dusty when manually loading or unloading the hoppers, but those operations are done off-layout.
Wayne
DC Rail and Hobby Depot, yes, very nice looking loads. Saw them for the first time at the October show at Timonium. I purchased some coal, soil/rock and the ‘CAUTION! SHARP MATERIALS! CAUTION!’ scrap metal loads. I will be looking for them again at the next show.
I have salvaged and cut open the water filters with 1/4’’ lines in and out in the past that had been made with loose carbon inside to make your water taste better. I’ll have to keep an eye out for Keurig water filters, free is good. thanks Bis.