I am debating building a coal trestle. I have found one from the 1920s with concrete piers that I think would serve as a good starting point. However I do have a few questions.
1) The distance between the piers seems to be determined in part by the size of hopper cars at the time. Basically a string of hopper cars could be spotted on the piers so that they would dump in alternating bins (Bin 1-3-5-7) without having to move the car. With our oversized couplers should I make the widths of the bins a half inch wider each so I can keep this feature, or should I stick with the prototypical bin width.
2) What was typically placed at the end of the coal trestle to prevent cars from being pushed or rolling off the rear?
3) It would not be possible to spot a hopper over the last bin, so what would it be used for? Coal that was unloaded by hand? A storage area for a truck or the coal conveyor? Something else?
4) The prototype had fuel oil tanks as well. How was oil transferred from a tank car into the fuel oil tanks? Since they are at the same level gravity would not be an option. Are there any pictures of this being done for a small fuel dealership?
Any insights appreciated.
