A few years ago, I bought a bag of fake coal. It is essentially tiny little nuggets of rubber or some other syntheic material that looks a lot like coal.
The great thing about this stuff is that it is amazingly lightweight and can thus fill up a few hoppers without adding any real weight to the train.
I keep a database of all the model train stuff I buy – especially the obscure stuff – so that when I want some more I know what to look for. Somehow, this product never made it into the database and I don’t have the original package anymore.
Hi. I don’t know what you are asking about, but I do know that many products, including modern roadways, use compounds for surfacing that is effectively finely ground automobile tire compound. If there was a facility that either produced that grind or that used it close to you, you could get a bag of it for a song…if anything. Another idea, if they still use the light walnut shells, would be to use WS N scale black ballast, or get any colour and dye it.
Only problem with “loose” loads is that in an accident they can get all over the layout, the floor etc. Most folks use a plastic or plaster insert shaped like a coal load, sometimes with additional coal from WS or whoever added to make them less monotonous.
I run “loose” loads (coal, gravel, and scrap) and find that it actually helps you to improve your operating practices, and also encourages you to fix those problem areas in your trackwork. Because the loaded cars are heavy (8 to 10 ounces each) it can also be a good reason why you “need” more locos. [;)] I normally run double-headed locos (steam or diesel) on 13 car coal trains weighing 100 ounces, and just recently ran a 41 car, 21 lb. train of loaded hoppers around the layout. (forwards and backwards). The only major spill I’ve ever had was when my grandson (4 years old) was running a short mixed freight at excessive speed, and managed to run through an open switch before I could get there to throw it. Both the loco and tender flipped over, spilling the loose “coal” in the bunker. I used a soft brush to sweep the bulk of it onto a sheet of paper, and left the rest for the LPBs to scrounge. (I’m modelling the '30s) I did vacuum it up later. [:)]
The nearest thing to crushing and using the real thing I have found is a grit blast media called Black Beauty. A 50 pound bag should be under $5.00 and is at least the size of a bag of plaster. Can’t tell you where to buy it as I have a friendly industrial painter who supplies me. I would assume any industrial paint supplier might have it. Particle size is slightly smaller than HO ballast and should be good for HO and larger scales. It might be a little big for N.
I know what you mean with the rubber. It’s like the Garden Railway guys use for ballast. (light and rubbery) Might try searching some G gauge scenery sites.
Looked at a coal drag lately? They’re pretty dull and all the loads look alike.
This may not be any real help but the stuff you are referring to may be what is put on turf playing fields to keep the turf from getting matted down. I’ve never tried it myself but I guess it could be used for HO scale coal. I’m not sure where you would buy the stuff though.
I use locomotive traction grit (used in the locos, instead of sand, at the steel plant where I worked), or coke breeze, which is the “fines” from industrial coke making. The coke breeze is lighter than the traction grit, and is rather dirty, as much of it is dust. I use it mainly in steam loco tenders. The traction grit is just a bit coarser, but has a bit of a sparkle to it. I use it to represent anthracite, and use it mostly for hopper loads. It may be similar to the Black Beauty mentioned by ndbprr.
Here’s a hopper loaded with the traction grit:
And another loaded with coke breeze:
And a tender, with a partial load of coke breeze:
Some of the breeze is a larger size, and I’ll eventually sift it to separate it into different crusher sizes.
We had coke and two kinds of coal in common use in the 50s. We used anthracite in our house, and the school used “soft coal,” which was lighter in appearance and included lots of crumbs and dust. One day, my friend and I spent several hours using a hammer to break down pieces of each of the three different types to scale size until we had enough for all our hopper cars and several piles and bins around the layout. In the end it looked very good, but we had more than half of it left over, which I just threw into our coal bin.
