# Coaling stations question



## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

Hello All
Question: I have seen some nice builds going on here concerning coaling stations and in the near future I would like to construct one for my RR, question is which one. I have seen photos of the tall ones where there is a big bin on top of pilings that has elevators to fill it. The tender parks underneath the shute on the side and out comes the coal. A coaling tower. 
The shorter ones are usually 2 story units with generally smaller coal cars dumping into a bin and the hoppers are underneath to catch it. I'm assuming the smaller cars come right out of the mine, load the bin which load the hoppers and off they go to be processed. 

Times have changed and the rare steam engine is usually filled with a bucket loader out of a pile a dump truck left but lets go back 100 years and model what was used then. 

Coaling towers? Coaling bins? I'm a little confused. There should be a book that has photos or sketches that explains the different types of buildings and their purpose. 

A little direction please.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Pola made a very nice coaling station (tower) kit about 20 years ago when i built mine. I have no idea whether or not they are still available.










It works nicely with narrow gauge locomotives (1:20.3 to 1:24). I've never parked a 1:29 steamer under it, so I don't know how they would look. My guess is that it would be too large for 1:32, but I don't know for sure as I don't have any trains in that scale.

Chuck


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Maybe the following will be found to be of help, it's available through Google books and you can download a copy (*FREE*) of the book in PDF file format.

Google Books - Buildings & Structures of American Railroads (c. 1893)[/b]


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Here's another book you may find of interest.

Railway Track & Structures (c. 1921)[/b]


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## Jerrys RR (Jun 28, 2010)

Hi Steve,

Those are a couple of great books. I had not been aware that entire Google books could be downloaded.

Thanks for the links,

Jerry


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

Steve C! What wonderful resources! I wonder how my company would feel about me printing an 866 page book? LOL! 

Seriously though, thank you very much for the links. 

Robert


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

Just some idea starters: 

http://www.narrowtracks.com/minibunch/layouts/John_Chlebowski/2005-08.htm 

Scroll down to the Sargents Coaling Trestle! 

The Vance Coaling station is probably more doable (further down the page.) 

Interestingly enough, on the C&S, they would park gons on an elevated track, and the firemen would shovel the coal into the tender, two tons at a time, then shovel it into the firebox. I'm guessing you wouldn't want to get into a barfight with a C&S fireman! 

Robert


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

Wow those 2 links there are a true "mine" of information. I inquired about coal and was given gold. It wil take soem time to dig through all that info. 
How many ink catridges would be used up printing 866 pages??? 
Nice photo of your engine servicing area Chuck.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey guys, glad you found the resources to be of interest and use to you.

_"I wonder how my company would feel about me printing an 866 page book? LOL!"_ *Robert:* Don't know if you're able to use a flash drive at work, but if so, you could download the file direct to the flash drive or copy it over to the flash drive after downloading it and take it home with you. I would think the company wouldn't look kindly at printing it out though.










_"I had not been aware that entire Google books could be downloaded."_ *Jerry:* Yes, so long as the work is no longer under copyright then they are available for download, the only problem comes in because MLS being an international community books available to individuals located in the U.S., may not be available to individuals located elsewhere around the globe.


_"How many ink cartridges would be used up printing 866 pages???"_ *Todd:* That's one of the nice things about PDF format files, keep the information in electronic form, find that which is of interest to you and print only that portion out. 

------*****------

*General Comment:* There's another Internet resource for old books available the Internet Archive[/b], while it will come up with the books available via Google Books, but it will also come up with books that are not within the Google system.

Also, make sure to learn how to use the viewing and editing tools made available on the sites too. Like on Google up at the top just above the page of the book you're viewing. There are a fair number of tools to use (see image below), their availability is based on whether or not the book is still under copyright protection or not.










*Magnification/Reduction Tools:* The two magnifying glass icons on the far left.

*Contents Tool:* Some but not all books have the Table of Contents available for navigation.

*Page Navigation Tools:*
[*] *Page Number Text Field:* Manually type in the page number you wish to go to and then tap the {Enter} key and you'll go directly to that page in the book.
[*] *Previous Page Arrow Button* (left pointing)*:* Moves you one page at a time toward the beginning of the book.
[*] *Next Page Arrow Button* (right pointing)*:* Moves you one page at a time toward the end of the book.
[/list] *Plain Text Tool:* Will display a range of pages that have been OCR (Optical Character Recognition) scanned, and the result displayed in plain text that may be selected and copied. Note, the correctness of the scan varies quite a bit you may need to go back to the page image and do some manual editing to get things right (see the following image). Notice that in this mode, in the "Book Page" text field (i.e. upper-left corner of the below image) now shows a range of page numbers and not just a single page number.









[*] To return to the other view of the book, just click the "Page Images" link just above the plain text display area.
[/list] 
*Clip Tool:* Used to select a portion of or a complete page and then create an image that can be accessed in another browser window then saved to your local system (see the following image).









[*] Point to and click the "Clip" tool link.
[*] The mouse pointer changes to a cross-hair, use this to outline the area you wish to copy. Note, blue shaded area of the book page in the above image.
[*] After you release the left mouse button, the small "Share this"dialog will display.
[*] Select all of the URL text within the field labeled "Image:"
[*] Copy this text.
[*] In another browser window, paste the copied URL into the browser's Address field and tap the {Enter} key.
[/list]








[*] The result will be the display of an image of that portion of the book page you selected with the "Clip" tool.
[*] If you right click the image, you can then select the "Save Picture As..." option on the context menu, or maybe the "Copy" option to place it in your clipboard and further transfer it to your graphic editing program.
[*] To return to viewing the book.
[*] Switch back to the browser window that has Google Books.
[*] Close the "Share this" dialog by clicking the "Close" button in its upper-right corner.
[*] Lastly, once again click the "Clip" tool link, and you're back to where you started.
[/list][/list]





















You can also control what document types that are listed, for example using the menu on the left side of the page (see image to the left) you could click the "Full View" option, this will limit the documents displayed to those that are no longer under copyright protection and can be downloaded, which will reduce the number of documents listed that you will need to wade through.

Well, that should give you the basics on Google books. Personally, I like the viewing tools that are available on the Internet Archive site (i.e. the "Read Online" viewer for general viewing of documents and copying pictures, and the "DjVu" viewer for its OCR). Hope the above is of use to you.


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