Real coal for your Coal Hoppers

[Mitch]

Every coal train that comes up the Conemaugh line has the cars "front loaded". Most train cars are loaded when the full train is completely coupled together, and in some cases the railroad has made a huge loop around the coal loading facility, such as at the Whitetail mines in W.Va. The engines are put on a type of "cruise control" whereby they move slowly under the hopper. The shoots open and the coal begins in the front of the car, and is piled slightly higher in front and tails off in the rear as they begin closing the hopper doors. And each car is weighed as it rolls under the tipple. I've paid attention to many coal trains moving east through our area, and all the cars are loaded this way. From what I've seen, none of the toy train manufacturers make a coal load that looks real, in comparison to modern times. Maybe 60 to 80 years ago it may have been piled in, and even allowed to overflow, but it don't happen now days. The ones that MTH makes are hideous. No such thing as 3 perfect piles in the hopper. And the power plants mostly use very finely ground coal, which is either fed into the boilers by a screw (auger), or is blown in.

[rogruth]

Mitch,
You are correct for modern coal loading. I do not know when it started to be as you describe.
I also agree that nice piles were seldom seen in hoppers in the mid 1900s but I do remember some like that.
I think some of the old tipples had two or three spouts to fill a car. I think most were one long even pile.