Crushed charcoal for coal loads?

[IronBeltKen]

I want to find something a little less dense than Black Beauty to use as live 'coal' loads in my hopper cars. Can untreated charcoal [stuff that is NOT pre-soaked with lighter fluid] be crushed and used for this purpose? Anybody here ever done it?

 

[Railrunner130]

Two things-
First off, I've tinkered with the idea of using charcoal for weathering. While I think it would look OK, I think it would leave an incredible mess. You'd probably have to use a clear flat spray to seal it.

Secondly, give this stuff a try. I don't recall which one I use off hand. But it will do exactly what you are looking for.
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/BAL-C/page/1

 

[Railrunner130]

Here it is.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/Show/category/ballastandcoal/page/2

 

[IronBeltKen]

Thanks for replying!

Using charcoal was a 'Plan B' that I thought I might do if my locos (a pair of P2K SD7's) weren't able to pull a 20-car train. But I did an experiment and found they handled it quite easily.

It may be a tad heavy, but Black Beauty is definitely a cheaper price/lb compared to Woodlan Scenics.

 

[Boris]

I want to find something a little less dense than Black Beauty to use as live 'coal' loads in my hopper cars. Can untreated charcoal [stuff that is NOT pre-soaked with lighter fluid] be crushed and used for this purpose? Anybody here ever done it?

I have considered it myself, but it is prone to powder. I tried Anthracite and it didn't look right - too shiny, so I run a lot of empty hopper trains.

Joe

 

[Railrunner130]

You don't need to fill the entire hopper with the "coal". There are many tutorials on filling your coal cars.

Use wadded newspapers and cover them in white glue. Follow that up when it dries with a top layer of glue and apply the "coal".

I figure that the WS bag will last me a very long time provided that I don't waste it and "recycle" what the glue didn't soak up.

 

[Boris]

You don't need to fill the entire hopper with the "coal". There are many tutorials on filling your coal cars.

Use wadded newspapers and cover them in white glue. Follow that up when it dries with a top layer of glue and apply the "coal".

I figure that the WS bag will last me a very long time provided that I don't waste it and "recycle" what the glue didn't soak up.

Another solution, mentioned in a recent model magazine, is to use the foam packaging material that comes with so many RTR products, shape the foam to fit the car, and apply the coal product on top and glue it. Based on memory of the coal loads en route to the generating plants it was mostly mine run with some larger chunks.

Joe

 

[Cjcrescent]

Aquarium charcoal works well too. Sometimes you have to crush it, but it does work. Cheap too.