Post
by Glenn Brooks » Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:38 am
Mike,
From what I remember, 12000 btu coal is probably good stuff. Upper end of the range for bituminous. Low grade might be around 6-9 k BTU. Really good high end stuff from yesteryear topped out around 15,000 btu. This stuff is probably as good as you can find these days.
The other thing to be aware of, is ash content. This might be as important as BTU and sulpher. Ash content translates to clinker size in the fire box. The stuff I use now produces a fair amount of clinkers after each run - a real nuisance for 1.5” scale locos as the fireboxes on smaller locos are really small compared to 12” ga. But not a big deal in my Ottaway, You probably won’t be bothered by ash, but just something to keep in mind.
Lastly, any coal you can find these days is likely “good” coal. Out west here, the supply chain has all but disappeared. I mean, nobody, but nobody sells it anymore. So any source you find is likely a rarity. Good idea to buy some while you can.
Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum
Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge
Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....