chipped plastic for coal?

Well, Lionel's coal, I believe, is chipped plastic.....or at least it once was.

Chipping plastic pipe!!!   Holy Moly, what kind of 'chipper' ya got there, pal???  Last one I saw was at the plant I once worked at....Did injection molding in high volume....had a 'chipper' for regrinding sprues/rejects.....talk about a monster that sounded like total mayhem inside!!...all nearby employees wearing ear protection.

You might also check Scenery Express for bulk 'coal'...  I imagine it's durable and available in different sizes based on scale, accessory demands, etc., etc., etc.. 

I'm sure others will chime forth....

KD

Black ground rubber looks good for a coal load and it's light weight for the volume. But I don't know how well it would flow through a loader. I think the old Lionel "coal" was ground bakelite? You could try grinding your own material if you use screens to sift out uniform sizes of material.

I've seen sifted regrind used.  If you know anyone in the injection molding business, PVC, Polycarbonate, or even ABS should be fine and if you sift it down to the size you want, it should look good.

I think I remember Harry saying that all of the coal on the ground in our coal yard at the club is sifted plastic regrind.

BRADA,

Send me your address, and I'll send you some rubber chips from our high school track. They've been laying around for years, and the bags are dry rotting. The chips are approximately 1/8", and are random shapes. Just pay shipping, and I can send you whatever you need. I was going to use this material to make my coal loads, but it was too difficult to bind together, so I decided to use Black Beauty instead. I'm guessing shipping would be between $5 and $8.

Don

Henning's Trains sells big bags of simulated coal.  The makeup?  Chipped plastic grindings from injection molding other parts.  It's ground up, sifted to be a consistent size and bagged.  It works great in Lionel coal accessories.  No coal dust and consistent operation.

I tried making my own and decided it would be easier to buy it. Try it-might work.

MTH's coal that is sold in the bag as a separate sale accessory is chipped plastic. Was slightly disappointed opening it - I was assuming it would be the same coal used in steam locomotive tenders. Most pieces were good enough stand-ins. Some had to be through out - it was obvious it was  a plastic rod. 

Find an injection molding business that gets delivery of their chips by train. The chips are transferred by a hose and there is always a ton of chips on the track.

BradA posted:

I am seeking to build an operating coal tipple.   !

Look forward to seeing that in operation.  Seems like it was 20-25 years ago that Harry Roberts offered one along with his operating bascule bridges and operating rotary dump.  There was one for sale at his estate auction.  Dumped coal into hoppers that he produced - dumped their loads into a pit - under the table augur transported them back and reloaded the tipple.

Sounds like a good project that should keep you off the street and away from stealing hubcaps for the entire winter,

As a kid I bought a bag of American Flyer coal (that I think may still be around here somewhere).  It seemed to be made of chipped plastic rod, less than 1/8" in diameter, and cut into less than 1/8" sections.  It was very uniform, though.

I must be the odd man out here. I like to use coal for coal....

Gilly@N&W posted:

I must be the odd man out here. I like to use coal for coal....

Not really. I like it as well for loads and other applications where it's static.  I had a couple of John Armstrong's hoppers that came with real coal loads - loose, and fine as long as everything remained upright.

In an operating system on a layout, it could get messy, although that might add a bit of weathering and realism in appearance.  It could also jam up an operating apparatus. 

You might try this, it is used in cigarette urns to snuff out the butts.  Looks just like coal, very small, no odor, never tired it but it looks like it could work.  Has anyone else used this product to simulate coal? 

Rubbermaid Commercial Products BS25 Black 5lb Sand for Urns