types of coal

[hoppercar]

made a two hour drive to my supplier for some coal for my new engine, got home only to find that g ave me 500 pounds of that awful hard anthracite, that's only good for stove heating. from now on I need to specifically ask for soft coal, as I don't think many people anymore know about hard and soft coal. I think where it gets confusing, is that I have heard it go by so many trade names. I've heard,nut coal, blacksmith coal, steam coal, Welsh coal, pocahantas coal, forge coal, .fortunatley, I called where I got it, and they have soft coal, that happens to come from the pocahantas mine....guess I need to strictly ask for soft coal from now on, and eliminate all this confusion

[RONALD]

We drive up to Burlington, Wisconsin to occasionally pick up coal from these guys: https://www.centaurforge.com/Coal-Coke/products/277/

They have two locations, Burlington, and Austin, Texas.

Lot cheaper if you pick up.

[Jacob's dad]

Where did you go to get the coal?

[hoppercar]

southern indiana. ...graber home supply in odon indiana

[Pontiacguy1]

Soft Coal= Bituminous Coal Hard Coal= Anthracite Welsh coal comes from the Welsh mines in England. Pocahontas coal comes from the Pocahontas coal fields in West Virginia. Nut coal refers to the size of the coal lumps, as does stoker coal, pea coal, rice coal, Buckwheat coal, egg coal, slack, mine run, etc... Add to that, not all bituminous coals are the same grade or the same BTU/lb. The range is from about 8,000 BTU/lb up to about 14,000 BTU/lb, which makes a huge difference. I've had people bring me coal to try that acted like little more than high-grade dirt... Couldn't keep pressure up, couldn't keep the water level up, had to stop and raise steam all the time. Changed back to the other coal and things were just fine again.

IT IS very confusing, especially if you're new to the hobby. Get the wrong coal, and you'll be wondering why your locomotive has gone lame on you.

If you're getting coal out of the Pocahontas seam, then it should work really well in your locomotive.

[hoppercar]

yeah...i know what your saying....I've been building engines for 40 years now ( gee, has it been that long?????)... seems like good coal just keeps getting harder to find, ...seems, like I have never heard as many names for good quality coal as I have recently. guess from now on I need to be specific about it being soft coal, and where it's coming from if the supplier knows that. sure don't want any more of that anthracite, or get stuck with are crummy southern indiana coal thats full of slate and slag....

[Soot n' Cinders]

Down here, Alabama coal is good stuff. It’s smokey but it doesn’t clinker and it doesn’t cost too much. Last I bought coal I paid $15 per 50lb bag. What I have came from Buck Ice in Columbus, GA

[Fred_V]

Tristan, can you mix it with soft coal?

[Steam Engine Dan]

Tristan, can you mix it with soft coal?

actually fred if the buck ice coal is as smokey as Tristan says it is. you would be better of mixing it with anthracite to cut down on the smoke. as well as sifting out the dust and fines. unless you want to have what is called the photographer's blend. where you mix two different grades of bituminous to make so much smoke for photographers. but I don't recommend that.

[steamup]

If you can get Coal from the Pocahontas coal seam, it is usually some of the best soft coal available. High BTU content and Low volatile content. This means hot fires with less smoke. Only thing the US Navy would buy when ships were coal fired. No one else could meet the specifications. Pocahontas #3 seam is legendary. Great stuff to use for live steam.

Note: Blacksmith coal can be misleading and some use anthracite for blacksmith coal.

Sold by http://reboysupply.com/blacksmith-coal

Also: http://www.penncoal.com/blacksmith-live-steam.html

Shipping is usually more than the coal is, so if you can find it locally, that is best.

[Glenn Brooks]

Regarding making smoke with coal... I fire my 4-4-0 Ottaway with fairly high BTU coal of unknown origins. Probably western mined coal, as I am in Washington State. My coal supply came with the loco, and had been mined at least 40 years ago- so no historical knowledge of the coal mine survived. So I sent a sample off to a lab and the test result came back very nearly 14000 BTU, but with a 5% ash content. So it leaves clinkers at the end. No big deal.

When firing, I found out, if I throw to much coal on the fire, it smokes like crazy. Which all coal will do. To alleviate smoking the rest of the neighborhood out of their homes last fall, I tried an experiment. Gradually added small shovelfuls of coal, one at a time, when raising steam from a cold start. I discovered I had NO SMOKe at all throughout the firing process. Once I had operating pressure I made sure to feed smaller, more frequent amounts of coal to the fire. And, It didn’t take any longer than usual to fire the Loki. Complete, clean combustion meant I wasn’t smothering the fire, and repeatedly cooling , then warming, the combustion chamber with excess coal every time I added a bit to the fire.

After I ran the loco, I tried smaller, more frequent applications. Again, no significant smoke. As opposed to my previous copious clouds from way to many shovels at a one time.

So I’ve concluded, at least for my personal supply of the black diamond - Smokey coal is more a function of how much you throw on the fire, rather than than the BTU rating.

I can see how low grade coal might smoke more. But I still bet firing technique has more to do with excesses unburned coal gas than low btu’s.

Anybody else experience this??

Glenn

[hoppercar]

that's the secret with any coal fire...just enough, to not choke off air supply, so the volatiles will ignite