Small Powerplant for Coal Mine

[Chris Rock]

Hi all,
I've been away for a while but have had a chance to do a little work on the railroad the past few days. Here are some images of a small powerhouse I've mocked up for the coal mine. As always, any comments, constructive or even negative are welcome. I do think the stacks need to be taller.

[up148]

That's going to be beautiful when it's finished and especially when it's blended in with your scenery. Nice job!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Nice mock up, Chris. Great idea on planning. Like the stonework idea; going to carve plaster?

Stacks taller? Maybe.....going to be brick eventually?

Is that the envisioned future location? If so, how do the doors facing the track side work - how does whatever get in out that change in height? Not a vehicle so transport of what up the hill by what/how in through the double doors? Just thinking about purpose and use.

[rogruth]

Smokestacks do seem to be taller than surrounding buildings in which people work.

[Chris Rock]

Thanks. These are the types of comments I was looking for BEFORE I build this thing. I also got some good comments on OGR. I have to chew on some of this and get back to you guys.

[Chris Rock]

I should have posted these earlier to show where I was coming from with these smaller power plants and to answer questions.

[Chris Rock]

Nice mock up, Chris. Great idea on planning. Like the stonework idea; going to carve plaster?

Stacks taller? Maybe.....going to be brick eventually?

Is that the envisioned future location? If so, how do the doors facing the track side work - how does whatever get in out that change in height? Not a vehicle so transport of what up the hill by what/how in through the double doors? Just thinking about purpose and use.

Rufus,

I picked up polyurethane stone walls at the Strasburg train store a few years ago. The curves above the windows and doors will need some work with plaster and putty and then scribed. The windows and doors I think are Tichy and San Juan or I forget the other supplier that sold?

Preferably the stacks will be steel. I don't really see a taper in the steel stacks in the photo above or any of the steel stacks I've seen. Look at all the steel wires holding them steady.

I see the power plant being located where it is. The coal would come into the plant building through conveyers from the mine building in front and I'm thinking through a chute right through the roof, or I guess it could come down the side wall.

For the door on the side facing the tracks, I was thinking it would be for ash to go out into a hopper or gondola which would be taken elsewhere to spread or pile up along the tracks. Putting that door there was a 50/50 proposition from the start and I was pretty unsure of it. I was thinking something like a makeshift janky type removable chute, maybe even made out of corrugated siding, would go from the doors and rest on the edge of the hopper or gondola.

Something about the real operation of the Nuttalburg mine struck me in that the refuse went from the mine conveyer to a bin alongside the tracks, and then it was shoveled into a gondola. The manual labor involved in many things back then is something I'm trying to keep in mind.

An alternative to all of this could be to turn the building into a converted bath house or shop. In this case I'd put in 1 brick stack since they probably would not remove the brick stack.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Okay, seems thought out and having a plan for that larger door facing the track will add interest detail.

[Chris Rock]

Thanks, I appreciate the questions. You never know when someone will give a plausible response for why it doesn't make sense at all. I still have to think about some alternatives with this project. I'm going to give it some time and move to something else for a while.

[up148]

I still have to think about some alternatives with this project. I'm going to give it some time and move to something else for a while.

Excellent thinking. Most major decisions improve with a little time. You could get an epiphany that changes everything.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

You could get an epiphany that changes everything.

I once thought I had an epiphany, but it was just gas.

[robert.]

You could get an epiphany that changes everything.

I once thought I had an epiphany, but it was just gas.

change you coal burner to gas.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

You could get an epiphany that changes everything.

I once thought I had an epiphany, but it was just gas.

change you coal burner to gas.

Huh?

[Chris Rock]

Butch, I think you are right, looking at it from a different perspective will help.

Over the weekend I tried again to come up with some ideas and I think I moved the ball some. I've come up with a whole new set of questions and observations.

I've looked at 50 or so photos of coal mine arrangements in my collection of books.

One thing that stood out is often times there don't seem to be tracks even servicing smaller power plants. There often don't seem to be conveyers going to the smaller power plant from the mine. There don't seem to be conveyers coming out of the smaller power plant for ash or even portable conveyers sitting around. I can see the pipes for steam going out in a good number of photos so that is something but I think I'm really missing something here.

It leaves me with a lot of questions.

Were trucks or carts bringing the coal to these plants?

How often was the ash cleaned out and how much would come out of a small power plant?

Would there be enough ash to fill a hopper, truck, cart or wheelbarrow in one round or would it be piled up or go into a bin until it could fill a hopper or gon. I know there are bins for slack, but I don't necessarily know that I've seen bins for the ash, and it seems like there would be conveyers to it to fill a gon or hopper and the bins would be prominent.

I would have thought that there would be a conveyer from the mine to the power plant to deliver coal. I would have thought there would be a conveyer to get the ash to the tracks into a gon or out to a truck to take it somewhere else. It struck me that bringing a gon to the plant side door to put some ash into it but NOT come close to filling it would not make sense, so was it just taken away in trucks or just spread around the grounds. Initially I was thinking in terms of hoppers full of ash but now I'm wondering if I should be thinking in terms of wheelbarrows full of ash.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Would there be enough ash to fill a hopper, truck, cart or wheelbarrow in one round or would it be piled up or go into a bin until it could fill a hopper or gon.

Might have parked an older hopper or gon nearby for ash. PRT ran ash motors in to collect and transport it out of Philly.