So Walt, do you have know a PA source I can contact for
anthracite?.
Any info is much appreciated.
Tony D.
At 09:06 AM 1/19/01 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>Hi,
>My home state, Pennsylvania, was "blessed" with two very distinct types of
>coal: Anthracite in the Eastern coal fields, and Bituminous in the Western
>fields. I lived in the soft coal, or Bituminous area.
> The Reading RR (not pronounce like 'reading' this stuff) served that
> area
>and since coal constituted a major portion of their revenue, they developed a
>fire box that would take advantage of the local coal. I'm no authority on
>Anthracite, but I do know it burns with less ash and has less tar and
>'coking' crud in it. It is also much harder, it takes a heavy built machine
>to crush it, thus it is often called hard coal.
> On the other hand, the coal from my area of the state was known as soft
>coal.
>It was easier to crush, full of tar and sometimes high in sulfur, and would
>form a clinker crust on top that was very difficult to break up. Wasn't much
>fun getting up on a cold winter morning and have to go to the basement to
>poke the fire and get it going again. I had a smile that that lasted for
>weeks when we were permitted to install a natural gas burner in the old
>furnace. Just flick the thermostat, and you had heat. Also gone was the coal
>bin in the basement - that was where I was introduced to Palentology as a
>youngster. Looking for fossils was the only thing I could do when I was
>exiled to the coal bin for being a bad boy. With the coal bin gone, I now was
>allowed to sit on the cellar steps and could longingly look at the big box
>with the word LIONEL on the side. My trains were stored on a shelf opposite
>the stairway. That should have been considered cruel and unusual punishment,
>all I could do was immagine the log loader, flagman, operating crane with
>magnetic pick-up, my 1666 Prairie type loco, operating barrel gondola,
>operating log car, sunoco tanker and a caboose plus a pair of turnouts. All
>of that for $40.50 back in 1941!
> How did I get from steaming with coal to Lionel memories.... must have
>been one of those 'brain fxxts'.
>Keep your steam up!
>Walt
