Coal and Ballast loads

I have seen some rolling stock come with a simulated load of coal etc. Is there and easy and lightweight method for making your own loads on these cars?

Russ

 

Greenshirt,

Go to your local auto recycling center and get a charcoal cannister from a damaged auto. Cut it open and inside you will find lots of HO/N scale "coal". Spread it out and let it dry/air out ( get rid of the gas smell) for a day or two. Fill your hoppers and coat with dilluted Elmer's glue. Instant coal load.
Dean
The Train Doctor

 

i did this once and it works. take a peace of foam that can be eaten away by paint"i like to use pink cuz paint eats it away" and cut it to the size you need. then use a shure form and shape your coal load. then use a black or any color paint u want for your load. then spray on the paint and you got a coal load and adds bairly any weight and it is removeable and you can add any model coal from arazona mineral co and or woodland senics if you want. if u do put on coal, spray with a 50/50 concrate"50%water 50% white glue". when that drys, spray with dull coat to get rid of the glue shine. and there you go

 

Better yet, do you have fish tanks? Try the carbon that comes out of the filters. Very light and easy to work with.

 

Hey, I've tried the carbon from the aquarium before. Works good and looks good. If you try this with used carbon, be sure to rinse it good and let it dry before using. If you don't have a source for used carbon, it can be found anywhere tropical fish are sold and is pretty cheap.
If you don't want a car full of the carbon or want removable loads, cut and shape some strafoam and glue the carbon to the top of it. Makes for some neat coal loads.

 

Coal is sold by size. Today, most of the coal that I see moving in unit trains is extremely small sized. It is meant to be burned rapidly in power plants the smaller size means greater surface area and faster combustion. Very rarely will you see large size "lumps" of coal in a railroad car unless it is going to a prep plant to be crushed or sized.. Most of that is hauled by trucks as the demand is far less than what is profitable for a railroad to haul in quantity. I use Woodland Scenics "ash" to represent coal mined by the long wall plow method.

 

I had a few of empty de Luxe coal cars. I modified them like this:

1. I put the car on a balance and filled it with clue and lead bullets until it reached a weight of 460 grain.

2. I cut a thick piece of foam with the size of the car.

3. I clued the foam in the car, put clue on the foam and strew Woodland coal ballast over it.

4. I drop some thinned clue on the coal surface and strew another layer of coal ballast over it.

When all this is dry, it really looks great (fishing for compliments - I know). With this ballast the surface is not so regular like some plastic inlets and you have the impression of many single pieces of coal.

Daniel

 

a while ago i was bored with seeing my 2 hoppers running around the track empty, so all i did was load it up with some ballast. about the 3rd time around the track the cars derailed lucky i didnt have scenery etc i just vaccumed the ballast up.
i dont think just filling the hopper up with ballast would be such a great idea tho, too heavy... plus messy derailments... but at least its realistic

 

If you want to simulate a coal load, I'd suggest using coal. Anything else may come close, but will never look quite right.

I model in HO, but the same basic ideas apply. I recently filled 12 coal cars on my layout, and then glued the loads in place with the usual elmers/water/alcohol mix used for ballast. I failed to put a foam filler in the bottom of the cars, so it is indeed a heavy load, but then coal IS a heavy load...

I picked up the coal at a local supplier and mashed it down on a piece of plywood on my front porch until I got it small enough. Put some foam in your cars first, add the coal on top the way you want it, and "ballast" it in place with the usual glue mixture. It'll hold together, mess-free, and you'll be able to tell people that your coal trains are really carrying coal.

Mark in Utah