Real coal

[MattR]

Evening all

I am wanting some real coal for my evening star. I have some Peco real coal but I’m unsure if it’s actually real - it doesn’t leave any dust on my hands so I’m inclined to believe that it isn’t real but I don’t know that for a fact so happy to be corrected. Can anyone recommend other products?

thanks

Matt 

[ntpntpntp]

Find someone with a coal fire and ask for a small lump.  Crush it up 🙂 I still have most of the lump I acquired many years ago. 

[edit]  Of course, coal for domestic fires is now banned - I checked.   Have you got a steam railway near you?   Otherwise a piece of the smokeless stuff might work as a substitute. 

Edited August 22 by ntpntpntp

[atom3624]

One problem I always see in the 'real coal' added locomotives is many have what would be 20kg chunks of coal - imagine the poor fireman trying to lift that? !!

OK, sizes would be variable, and many could be larger - they had the tools to break the larger pieces prior to shovelling.  I think only GWR at their peak seriously screened and 'hand-picked' their coal - quality and size, so size would be variable.

At 4mm:1 ft (OO scale), 2mm = 6", probably the most 'ideal', with perhaps some 3-4mm chunks, but definitely not bigger.  I would similarly guess 1mm or less (<3") would not be considered, but could be present as coal is friable.

Al.

[SteveM6]

I have two lumps from NYMR and K&WVR. I break bits off with pliers then grind the pieces with a hammer head. I then run the resultant mix through a fine strainer and regrind the larger bits.

[JJ73]

Hello MattR - Check this out :- I live near the M. T. (Monsal Trail here in Derbyshire) & it used to be a Midland Railway line up until 1968 when it closed 🙁Any way you are now allowed to walk & cycle along the 8 1/2 Miles of Track Bed complete with Stations / Tunnels / Viaduct & Bridges!!! Any way if you look really carefully you can still find bits of original Coal which had fallen off the Tenders from the Steam Locos from over 52 years ago for which I have found!!! So if your lucky enough to Live near an old disused Railway Line like the M. T. where you are allowed to walk & cycle along it - have a real close look to see if you can find any Coal which back in the day was sitting inside a Tender & had fallen of & got lost for many decades - may be you can find some & then use it in your Model Locos knowing that it was once destine for a real Loco!!! How C😎😎l is that!!! 😊🚂

[ColinB]

There is a guy on EBay does it. It is supposedly Welsh Coal. I found the Peco stuff looked the most realistic though. The other thing to remember when smashing it up, is it is not good for you, so be careful.

[threelink]

As JJ says the real stuff is to be found on any derelict railway. The best place to look is down the side of embankments - I once found a heap of coal and a set of loco fire irons, probably the result of a derailment. Waste tips on coal mines are another good source. It's easy to crush, looks right and smells right too. The Monsall Trail and other lines have supplied me with a lot of modelling requistes - coal, limestone, sand and soot, to name but a few, all free and in quantities sufficient to last a lifetime 

[Rallymatt]

Another vote for local cycle paths/walking routes along old railway lines. I still find coal along the Consett/TyneDock line that’s now part of NCN Route 7. 
If you know where to look, there are various places where coal naturally comes to the surface, usually only small seams now as all the easy stuff was harvested 100’s of years ago. Beaches in NE England and Wales often wash up sea coal.
Another idea is local steam fairs, with all the options hopefully there will be something close by. 

[Bulleidboy]

I bought three bags (mixed sizes) of supposedly Welsh coal at the Southampton MRE in January. If a tender has a removeable coal load, I just remove it, brush a thin coat of PVA on top of the plastic coal, and then sprinkle the "real" stuff on top. When dry it is replaced in the tender. This method allows you to remove the load should you want to. 

[SteveM6]

I do exactly the same Barry. I often use the space under the dummy coal load for either a speaker or stay alive.

Personally I would prefer it if the designers included a bespoke space for both a sugar cube speaker and a standard Powerbank when they draw them.

[threelink]

I should have added that, when modelling, I save any scraps and offcuts of plasticard, chop them up into coal lump sized pieces and store them in a jar. If I need a coal load I just tip out the plasticard bits, solvent weld them into place and paint them black. Looks ok but doesn't smell right. Real coal is better.

[LY shunter]

Southport beach is also a source of coal but remove the barnacles or they will show up white when crushed

[MattR]

Thanks for all you replies - that's really helpful. I live near the MT in Derbys, actually, so will have a look next time I'm there.  

[threelink]

Be careful if looking down embankments on the MT : some are hellish steep sided with a long drop into the river!

[LesXRN]

A long time ago now, but I managed to get a lump of coal from the Miniature railway at Brookside garden centre in Poynton, Cheshire. It duly went into all of my Loco tenders.

[Brew Man]

I don't know, the smell might be alluring but other than that I think I'd be quite happy with the Peco, (plastic?) stuff.

[threelink]

@Brew ManEach to his own. I like a bit of olfactory realism.. Mind you, Her Grace objected vociferously to my efforts with a dockside layout involving seaweed and gone off  fish. Cant think why.