Operating coal mine tipple

Sounds like a neat project. This is not exactly what you describe, but here's a video of an operating coal loading structure in HO from a while back. Thought it was an interesting project, may give you some ideas anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOsz_HFZD5E

I would use a wood hand augur drill bit.

Any good hardware store has them in all sizes.

You could use a junker lionel coal loader for a loader belt and motor, beaters are cheap.

A cheap battery screwdriver or drill could power the augur, run the drill off dc not a battery for speed control.

OGR advertiser AAA Precision Turntables Division of National Magnetic Sensors Inc. has an Operating Modular Conveyor System pictured in this August/September run #279 on page 15. Address is: 141 Summer Street, Plantsville, CT 06479 Phone: 1-860-621-8402 Web: www.aaaturntables.com .  The web sight has not been updated to show the conveyors but I have talked with the owner on the phone and he is an interesting guy.

I have been thinking of a similar project myself but have not started it. I was thinking exactly what totrainyard suggested of using a wood cutting auger bit with electric motor to turn it in a aluminum pipe with a length-wise opening. The advantage of the AAA conveyor is they will make it to your desired length and it looks "prototypical",not toy-like. I was thinking of using Lionel's coaling station.

Paul Goodness

Many thanks to Paul Goodness, totrainyard and rtr12 for their immediate responses.   For some reason, I couldn't reply at the time to them on the Forum.

Re the auger in the bottoms of the coal bins, at this point, the best option appears to be ERTL Toys 1/16 scale  grain auger (Item No. 12948) which is manually-operated but appears to be modifiable to motor-driven.

As to the loading conveyors, it looks as though the conveyor-elevators from the old Lionel No. 397 coal loader (more recently Nos. 6-14004 and 6-14157) are exactly the right size.   These don't show up in current Lionel replacement parts lists, so I guess I'm looking for a couple "junkers" which have functional elevator structures with the end rollers intact.   Anyone out there with junked 397s that still have solid conveyor-elevators that you're willing to part with?

Bill Hoerger

FWIW, from the last couple of catalogs, Lionel appears to be upgrading and releasing many of their popular accessories in command control versions. The 497 coaling station 6-82026 and the 6-81315 coaling station were in the last catalog. I am not that familiar with Lionel accessories, but was thinking the 497 was just a newer model of the 397? Perhaps parts would also be interchangeable? Who knows, maybe the next round of catalogs will also contain something new and interesting in the coal loading department?