What type of conveyor system do operations use to load coal into the tender? Is it a smooth belt, belt with ribs, drag chain? For those that have installed a newer conveyor, say with in the last 20 years, what manufacturers are out there to talk to?

Ed

I believe C&TS has Red Devil Coal Loaders in Antonito and Alamosa, both inherited from D&RGW. You could ask them.

We used a front-end loader to load coal.

Coal dealer delivered coal by truck, dumped it on the ground.
Loader scooped coal, went up a ramp, dumped coal in tender, went back to coal pile to repeat process.

Phil Mulligan

When I was at Chama last year, they were using a front end loader to coal the tenders.

I generally see belts with ribs because they are typically fairly steep, loading coal from directly beside the track. Where I see smooth belts there is a much more gentle grade.

Bart

The Red Devil type loaders I've seen use ribbed belts at a fairly steep angle. They were made with a feed hopper that could be supplied by one of the tipping coal trucks that used to be common when coal was a home heating fuel. and the hoppers can be easily supplied by a Bobcat or similar loader that cannot access 'tender height' without the risk of damage.

Part of my issue with big front-end loaders is that they may grind and break the coal even when carefully used, both scooping and dumping. I understand there's no longer cost-effectiveness in providing 2" sized and washed coal to locomotives, as was advocated in the late Forties, but I think a great part of the particulate-ejection issue during excursions is related to the fines content 'as fired' and the less damage to the fuel in handling, the better...

Looking to the future, it should be very easy to 'electrify' a Red-Devil-style loader so it can be powered without an IC engine, and perhaps more easily moved around and swung side-to-side to spread loading with small wheel motors. That might be cheaper than electric front0-end loaders with enough reach...

Just as a f'rinstance, when I was looking a half-century ago at duplicating the effect of coal 'shoots' for high-speed loading of tenders, I thought about making wider versions of the Red Devil (with belt size common to that used to bring fuel forward from trailing 'auxiliary bunkers' to what might have to be a small working feed bunker on a STE). This might involve a belt 48" or wider, and this implies more driving power and counterweighting (which I did using water loaded with heavy particles, shifted in and out of a separate service tank like the counterweighting on some portable forklifts). One point is that this can be fed from multiple sources easily, so two loaders or trucks can access it for "twice the throughput' without having to wait to take turns at the hopper.

Someone might contact the Detroit Stoker people to see if some components of the 'ashaveyor' system that was installed on Badger could be adapted or provide components for a portable coal-loading system.

.

Ed I agree with Kelly on this one. The conveyor is another mechanical entity who is going to demand operators and mechanics to run and maintain a one purpose operation. I have thought about buying one for home/farm. Smaller Hough or other brands would easily work for me and my perceived needs. Actually I don't need one I want one. But at MC or just about any small RR it would come in handy like the lull or bobcat. In the case of MC I would get no smaller than a mid sized unit so it won't be overwhelmed with other projects it end up being asked to do. My free 2 cents. Regards, John.

Unfortunately the loader in Antonito was scrapped per this October 5, 2007 post by Earl Knoob.

There was also a NGDF thread about how the Red Devil loaders replaced coal trestles:
Red Devil Coal Loader AFE info

PRSL in Ocean City NJ had a guy with a scoop stand in a hopper car and toss coal from the car to the tender. A photo of this action shows an E6s 4-4-2 next to a stainless steel RDC. Which is the next train?

Phil Mulligan

I believe I have seen conveyer belts used at both the Durbin Rocket operation and the Western Maryland Scenic, in the days when they ran the 734. I have not been down to see the 1309 yet.....give me time. :)

/Kevin Madore

WMSR fuels 1309 using the Showalter-era electric-drive belt conveyor. The inlet hopper is loaded using a front-end loader. The coal currently used is about 2"+, and does not break up very much at all during the process of handling.

Howard P.