Atlas vs Micro Trains 3 Bays

[MK]

Add some black sand from Hobby Lobby with Elmer's glue and that will change your mind.  Seriously.  One bottel will do every load, steam engine, and coal pile you have and your children and your children's children, LOL.

Tell me more!  So just mix up the concoction and paint with a brush?  How thick of a coating and will they stay still while drying or slide down?

I don't have a Hobby Lobby near me but I do have a Michael's.  What type of craft would use colored sand, meaning in which department should I look for these?

[Mark5]

Add some black sand from Hobby Lobby with Elmer's glue and that will change your mind.  Seriously.  One bottel will do every load, steam engine, and coal pile you have and your children and your children's children, LOL.

Yes, I've done that in the past. If you model a coal road though, this won't fly very far, as the loads will be too uniform (for 1960s/1970s coal - before "flood" loading became common).

Long time ago I would cast my own loads with plaster, then paint and coat as you describe - the effect is a big improvement. In the era I model, coal was loaded in several grades as well.

http://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/abcs-of-coal/

https://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/abcs-of-coal-loads/

Mark

[peteski]

"Black Beauty" - some sort of shiny black material used by road repair crews over the crack-sealing goop works well too.  I wonder if the Hobby Lobby stuff is Black  Beauty?

[Lemosteam]

Tell me more!  So just mix up the concoction and paint with a brush?  How thick of a coating and will they stay still while drying or slide down?

I don't have a Hobby Lobby near me but I do have a Michael's.  What type of craft would use colored sand, meaning in which department should I look for these?

@MK , No I just use a hobby brush to spread a 1:1 coat of ELMERS on the load into all the crevices and edges, and then, over a basin to catch overflow, I sprinkle the black sand onto the wet ELMERS, gently packing it down, and keep adding it till the white ELMERS is covered. Then I tip the part (I do this on tenders and coal loads) over the basin to let excess fall off and set it aside to dry. Takes minutes.

@Mark5 , glue some pink foam shavings atop the load, let dry and carve till you like the shap, and then see above.

[MK]

Thanks!  What section of a craft store should I go to find this black sand?  Also, could you post a picture of the end result?

[Mark5]

In the old days any hobby shop would sell bags of coal type stuff in a bag (I still have some Highball).

These days, AZ has multiple sizes: https://armballast.com/product/113-coal-2/

Even Woodland scenics sells it in a few sizes, though I don't know if it would work for N scale.

Like John, I simply used Elmer's glue then sprinkled the black gold on it.

Mark

[Lemosteam]

This beats coal hands down my opinion.

@MK https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Kids-Crafts-Activities/Crafts/Black-Sand/p/23517

Work in progress:

[peteski]

That black sand looks just like black beauty used by the paving crews.

[Mark5]

For those that didn't read the links above, coal used to ship in many different sizes. This was true at least into the 1970s, as I recall the stark contrast between lump coal and the more common sizes.

Lump (or Broken)    3 1/4 – 10
Egg    2 7/16 – 3 1/4
Stove    1 5/8 – 2 7/16
Nut    13/16 – 1 5/8
Pea    9/16 – 13/16
Buckwheat    5/16 – 9/16

(from the link above)

You can see what I'm talking about on the cover of this C&O Historical Magazine issue:

https://cf.cohs.org/repository/archives/web/cohm/cohm-2007-08.pdf

Or here:

https://wvhistoryonview.org/image/002032.jpg

Mark

[High Hood]

Don’t forget fines, almost like dust. One of the local loudouts once or twice shipped a special train of fines to Michigan via CSX for some special purpose.

[nkalanaga]

And that is why old coal processing plants, whether at the mine or at a central location, had so many loading tracks.  One for each grade!  The only way you'd see a mine with one track is if it shipped "mine run" coal, usually short-hauled to a processing plant.

That's also why the East Broad Top could survive as narrow gauge for so long.  The coal all had to be cleaned and graded anyway, so could be transferred to standard gauge cars at the same time, and the rock went directly to a brick plant, no transfer needed.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

MR has an article on upgrading the cars in the June issue on page 24.

[Mark5]

MR has an article on upgrading the cars in the June issue on page 24.

They probably used Railwire to get the info ... 

[nkalanaga]

Mark:  Did mines ship bigger chunks than the "lump"?  When we first moved to NE KY, there was a coal dealer in in town, and they had pieces big enough one would need a wheelbarrow to move them.  But I don't know if those were delivered, or they had to go to the mine and get them.

Our town hasn't had a railroad since the 30s, so I know they didn't come by rail, unless the C&O delivered the coal to the nearest station, and the dealer picked it up there.

[Mark5]

Mark:  Did mines ship bigger chunks than the "lump"?  When we first moved to NE KY, there was a coal dealer in in town, and they had pieces big enough one would need a wheelbarrow to move them.  But I don't know if those were delivered, or they had to go to the mine and get them.

The biggest stuff I remember seeing in coal cars (hoppers) was the lump - up to 10".